Valley Stream
CoMMuNity uPDAtE infections as of Nov. 30
2,666
infections as of Nov. 23 2,553
HERALD
V.S. doctor is out on ‘Bachelorette’
Girl Scouts donate food
Convenience store robbery reported
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DECEMBER 3 - 9, 2020
Vol. 31 No. 49
A new leader at LIJ-V.S. Medical director transition comes amid Covid-19 resurgence with many unknowns. “I couldn’t help but be forced to become specialized, coming Dr. Corey Karlin-Zysman was from a place hit as hard as we associate medical director at were,” Karlin-Zysman, 44, Northwell Health’s Long Island recalled. Jewish Medical CenColleagues said ter, in New Hyde she played an intePark, when the first gral role in getting wave of the coronavithe team through the rus pandemic hit crisis. “LIJ probably New York in March. went through the At the time, she most difficult time it said, LIJ was among has ever gone the hardest-hit hospithrough, and she was tals in the country, part of the leadertreating more than ship team that really 900 patients at a medgot LIJ Medical CenDr. Corey ical center designed ter through, and had Karlin-Zysman for 589. Her responsius come out stronger bilities were manion the other side,” fold, including helping to man- Dr. Nancy Kwon, vice chairwomage an increasingly overwhelm- an of emergency medicine at the ing caseload and ensuring medi- hospital, said. cal staff safety while balancing “I couldn’t have asked for a the various care regimens of better teammate,” said the cenpatients suffering from a disease Continued on page 10
By PEtER BElfioRE pbelfiore@liherald.com
Christina Daly/Herald
Visible from the Space Station? Neighbors and friends gathered on Sunday to watch the lighting of Valley Streamer Jose Perez’s Meyer Avenue house. Growing up poor in Ecuador it was a childhood dream of Perez’s to one day create the most elaborate Christmas display, and he adds more to it each year. Story, more photos, Page 3.
A reason to give thanks
Masjid Hamza food pantry expands services By NiColE AlCiNDoR nalcindor@liherald.com
Since its unveiling in August, the food pantry at Masjid Hamza, in Valley Stream, has opened once a week, on Mondays, providing vital aid to families and individuals affected financially by the coronavirus pandemic. And with the need increasing, volunteers took Thanksgiving as an occasion to expand the pantry’s services. “Every Monday the number
of families getting food is growing more and more, as the pandemic continues to have a financial impact on people, and I wanted to give back even more during this past week to allow for people to be covered and happy on the holiday,” said Ruhee Kapadia, of Valley Stream, the mosque’s outreach coordinator. “We thought about the fact that there might be an extra-special need for food donations this Thanksgiving, and we were right. We ended up having dozens more people than
usual call outside of the Monday hours this past week, because they needed donations for Thanksgiving.” Normally, Kapadia said, the pantry feeds about 120 families a week. In the days before Thanksgiving, however, with pickup hours expanded beyond Monday, it fed 200 families with 5,300 pounds of food. It also provided toiletries and clothes. Kapadia said that giving to the food insecure has long been a Continued on page 5
Our COvid-19 traCker With the Covid-19 test positivity rate rising across the country, the Herald is adding a weekly coronavirus tracker to the upper-left corner of our front page to help you gauge what’s happening in your area from week to week. the number is an aggregate of the communities that this newspaper covers. data is obtained from the nassau County Covid-19 dashboard, which provides the total number of cases reported in an area since the start of the pandemic, and is updated regularly.