32 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • DECEMBER 3, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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Suozzi, Northwell Health announce ‘Geriatric Center of Excellence’
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Congressman Tom Suozzi and
Northwell Health’s CEO Michael
Dowling on Monday, Nov. 30, announced
the creation of the fi rst Geriatric Center
for Excellence at Glen Cove Hospital.
Th e Geriatric Center for Excellence
will serve as a national model for geriatric
care and community coordination.
Glen Cove Hospital, located at 101 St.
Andrews Ln., will be equipped to work
alongside the local community to provide
care to seniors, partner with assisted
living facilities, nursing homes and the
Glen Cove Senior Center, and to attract
the country’s top professionals and best
practices.
“Caring for our older adults is a big
responsibility, one that we take great
pride in,” Dowling said. “Our aging
population will face health issues that
require the right care at the right time
which is why we have increased our services
including at Glen Cove Hospital.
Th is recognition is humbling and a true
testament to the exceptional care we are
providing our elders.”
Suozzi, who served as mayor of Glen
Cove in 1994, said he fi rst spoke about
the creation of a Geriatric Center at
the hospital with Dr. Maria Torroella
Carney, Northwell’s chief of geriatrics
and palliative medicine, who formerly
served as commissioner of health in his
administration.
“For years, building the Glen Cove
Hospital into a premiere facility has been
a goal of our community,” Suozzi said.
“Today, achieving that goal took a big
step forward.”
According to Suozzi, there were conversations
about possibly shutting down
the hospital fi ve years ago. It has three
nursing homes, three assisted living
facilities, multiple senior citizen complexes,
a senior center and groups in
the community focused on senior citizen
issues.
From a personal perspective, Suozzi
has long supported the hospital where
he and his children were born, he said.
It’s also where his mother worked as an
operating nurse, and his father served on
the board of directors before becoming
mayor of Glen Cove.
Having grown up with all four of his
grandparents — three of whom were sick
— living at his home, and the passing
of his parents at the ages of 93 and 95,
Suozzi said he has always been intimately
familiar with senior healthcare needs.
“I brought my parents to the hospital
when they were elderly, and it’s very
overwhelming. If they didn’t have me
or my brothers or sister helping, I can
see them being easily overwhelmed,”
Suozzi said.
Th e new Geriatric Center for
Excellence, Suozzi said, will help to
provide a model for what is needed
to help senior citizens navigate the
diffi cult challenges that they face
in their lives, entering into a hospital
setting when they’re scared, afraid
and, sometimes, alone.
Ron Panzok, 66, a resident of Fresh
Meadows, who recovered from COVID-
19, attested to the care he received from
Northwell Health’s team of medical professionals,
who helped him every step of
the way.
“I had a very good experience there. I
couldn’t walk or lift my left arm and they
brought me back,” said Panzok, who is
left -handed and had severe illness on the
left side of his body.
In March, Panzok had spent fi ve
weeks in a COVID coma at
North Shore University
Hospital in Manhasset, and
then another two weeks
at the hospital before he
was transferred to Glen
Cove Hospital for two
weeks of rehabilitation.
According to
Panzok’s wife, Bonnie,
the doctors encouraged
him, saying that
his left side would
improve and he would
start walking again.
“He did so well, that they
asked him to go into another
patient’s room, who was feeling
really depressed, and to tell him his
story and to show that he could get better,
too,” Bonnie said. “Th at shows Glen Cove
is really interested in doing whatever they
can to help their patients physically and
mentally, too.”
Panzok is now walking with a cane and
is doing much better. He is looking forward
to celebrating Hanukkah.
Meanwhile, the announcement of the
center at Glen Cove Hospital comes as
Northwell Health is recognized as an agefriendly
health system by the Institute
for Healthcare Improvement
and the John A. Hartford
Foundation.
Th is recognition will
help build upon the
Parkinson’s treatment
center, rehabilitation
center and brain injury
center already established
at the hospital.
Kerri Scanlon, RN,
Glen Cove Hospital’s
executive director,
said they have
developed profi ciencies
in care for older
adults starting from the
moment they enter the
hospital, and have built
vital connections
to the community
that provides a continuum of care
post-discharge.
“Our revolutionary Parkinson’s rehabilitation
disease program is another facet
that helps people grow older with dignity
and a focus on preserving their independence
and quality of life,” Scanlon said.
Among some of the steps that Northwell
has taken to earn the recognition is having
all its emergency departments achieve
geriatric emergency department accreditation
through the American College
of Emergency Physicians, providing
falls prevention education and bringing
together multi-disciplinary co-management
teams to provide the best management
of people with hip fractures.
Additionally, Northwell has developed
a dementia memory care program
through the University of California in
Los Angeles, which incorporates neurologists
and psychologists and aims to help
families understand the stages of this disease
and how to manage their loved one’s
mood.
Northwell Health and Zucker School
of Medicine have expanded its specialized
fellowship training opportunities in
geriatrics and palliative medicine in order
to further educate the next generation
of physicians.Glen Cove Hospital is in
the process of building a caregiver center
with the help of $400,000 from the
Glen Cove Hospital advisory council-run
annual appeal.
Carney said Northwell Health has been
steadily and thoughtfully adding
services and protocols over the
last several years to provide
expert and improved care for
older adults.
“We aim to promote longevity,
safety and independence
for a person as they face a
challenging aspect of life
and as needs evolve across
a lifespan. I am proud of
Northwell for all of its eff ort
to provide the best care
possible for this population,”
Carney said.
Ron Panzok and his wife Bonnie speak about his recovery at Glen Cove Hospital.
Photos ourtesy
of Suozzi’s offi ce
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