South Shore University Hospital Unveils $500M Campus Transformation

Press release from the Southside Hospital:

October 20 2020

Northwell Health announced today a $500 million, five-year investment in recently renamed South Shore University Hospital (SSUH) as part of its ongoing billion-dollar effort to expand both services and quality of care to Suffolk County residents.

SSUH, formerly Southside Hospital, first opened its doors in 1913 and has undergone clinical transformation through the decades that kicked into overdrive once Northwell acquired the hospital in 2005. The latest development is the construction of a new, $71 million, 45,560-square-foot Women & Infants Center.

The two-story facility will double the number of Caesarean section rooms to four and create 29 private rooms for women, their significant others and their babies to comfortably bond after delivery. This hospital-within-a-hospital will have its own dedicated entrance and an upgraded, 16-bay neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and double the number of recovery areas. Construction is slated to be completed by the end of 2022.

Capping off the half-billion-dollar modernization and expansion of the campus, SSUH is also developing plans for a $441 million pavilion that will include additional private inpatient beds and operating rooms.

“We are proud of what South Shore University Hospital has become and remain steadfast in our commitment to continue its growth and expansion as Northwell Health’s flagship hospital in Suffolk County,” said Michael Dowling, Northwell’s president and CEO. “From backing up Peconic Bay Medical Center, Mather Hospital and Huntington Hospital’s cardiac catheterization laboratories to being our major trauma center in Suffolk County, South Shore University Hospital provides critical services throughout the region.”

Over the past 10 years, Northwell has invested $470.4 million to improve the hospital’s infrastructure and strengthen its clinical and technology capabilities, including numerous physician recruitments that have established SSUH as Northwell’s Suffolk County tertiary hospital. Among the clinical and capital improvements:

• A cardiac surgery program recognized with the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ top ranking for aortic valve replacement and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgeries
• An advanced lung care program that enables the hospital to provide a full spectrum of cardiothoracic care from a single location, with new cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology labs in the Entemann Cardiac Center
• A Level II trauma center verified by the American College of Surgeons, complete with a Federal Aviation Administration-approved helipad that allows the hospital to more efficiently care for patients in need of trauma and emergency care
• New, expanded neurosurgical and neurological capabilities, including a state-of-the-art biplane angiography system that can be used to quickly remove blood clots from stroke victims, and the new Linda and John Bohlsen Neurosciences Center
• The newly renovated and expanded Bohlsen Family Emergency Department that is capable of caring for more than 100,000 patients annually
• A state-of-the-art hybrid operating room that combines interventional, imaging and surgical services all in one place

The hospital’s recent name change reflects its expanding reach as a regional destination for high-quality care on Suffolk’s south shore and an important academic teaching center that trains medical residents, fellows and students in obstetrics/gynecology, and emergency and family medicine.

“Rebranding Southside as South Shore University Hospital provides a platform to tell the hospital’s story in a way that’s unencumbered by perceptions of the distant past,” said Donna Moravick, NP, referencing its status as a financially distressed hospital before it became a fully owned member of Northwell. “The name change represents an exciting milestone that positions the hospital for even greater success in the years ahead.”

A new name not only communicates the change in the hospital’s status as a modern, high-tech facility but also aligns it with other Northwell flagship locations — North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset and Staten Island University Hospital — and the health system’s standing as a major academic enterprise with medical and nursing schools, and one of the country’s largest graduate medical education programs.

“While we will always maintain our community-centered approach to care, the rebranding of Southside as South Shore University Hospital signals a new beginning that more accurately reflects the hospital’s extended service area, advanced clinical programs found only in top-tier medical centers and continued emergence as an academic teaching facility training the next generation of clinicians,” said Stephen Bello, PA, senior vice president and executive director of Northwell Health’s Eastern Region.

South Shore University Hospital annually treats 24,000 inpatients, 73,000 outpatients, 62,000 emergency patients, and performs 7,000 surgeries.

This press release was produced by the Southside Hospital. The views expressed are the author's own.