FEMA Gives South Nassau First of Two Approvals for Long Beach, Oceanside Buildings

FEMA has recently ruled that two projects proposed by South Nassau Communities Hospital will have "no significant impact" on the environment, paving the way for Long Beach to have a larger emergency health provider following Hurricane Sandy.

The storm ruined the Long Beach Medical Center, which was the hospital that had served the Barrier Island for decades. In the wake of the storm and the hospital filing for bankruptcy, South Nassau, which is located in Oceanside, purchased the hospital. It opened an emergency clinic there, which is operating now, and applied for FEMA funding.

South Nassau was approved for $170 million in funding from FEMA. Some of that money ($40 million of it) will go to create the Medical Arts Pavilion in Long Beach. It won't be a full hospital, but it will be a full-time, 24/7 emergency room for Long Beach, which South Nassau says its studies have shown will be sufficient to meet the medical needs of the community.

The bulk of the FEMA funding will go to South Nassau's Oceanside campus, which also serves Long Beach. It will fund a four-story expansion of the main hospital, enlarging the emergency room, adding new operating suites and ensuring the building will be more storm resilient.

"The project sites are currently completely developed in medical facility uses and those conditions will not change," the report stated.

The FEMA approval the hospital received was one of the first steps to beginning construction. The plans, however, still need approval from state and local agencies.