Shelter Island Reporter Editorial: Two leaps forward for critical care

For too long, a stroke on Shelter Island and the North Fork has come with a second emergency: distance.

That reality is beginning to change. With Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital earning a Primary Stroke Center designation and Peconic Bay Medical Center preparing to open its new $7.3 million Bill and Ruth Ann Harnisch Neurosciences Center, East End health care is making a long-overdue shift — bringing time-sensitive critical care closer to home.

Until now, many East End stroke patients needing advanced care faced ambulance rides to either Stony Brook University Hospital, 27 miles from PBMC, or South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, 37 miles away. For those on the eastern tip of Long Island, the trip could stretch close to 60 miles, costing precious minutes when, as Peconic Bay Medical Center president Amy Loeb put it, “every second counts.”

That distance hasn’t just been inconvenient — it has been consequential. Last year alone, roughly 300 stroke-related cases were transferred out of PBMC for care elsewhere.

The new neuroscience center aims to change that. The facility, backed by a $5 million gift from philanthropists Bill and Ruth Ann Harnisch, will bring roughly 30 dedicated staff members — including two neurosurgery specialists expected to join this summer — under one roof. Hospital officials say the first patient could be admitted by the end of the month.

Led by Dr. Richard Jung, the center is designed not just to treat patients, but to attract the kind of specialized talent that has historically clustered at larger, up-island hospitals. As Ms. Loeb noted during the ribbon-cutting event at PBMC, held on National Doctors Day, it is intended to serve as a “beacon” for recruitment as much as a hub for care.

At the same time, SBELIH’s new stroke center designation signals that even smaller, rural hospitals are building the systems needed to diagnose and treat strokes quickly — with around-the-clock imaging, lab services and coordinated protocols now in place.

The Greenport hospital was awarded the status last week by the Joint Commission, marking the culmination of more than two years of work to meet national standards.