Eastern Long Island Hospital's Auxiliary Honored For Dedication

GREENPORT, NY — The Eastern Long Island Hospital was one of two groups of hospital volunteers honored recently for their commitment to their communities.

The Healthcare Association of New York State named two recipients of its 2017 Auxiliary of the Year Award: the auxiliaries of Eastern Long Island Hospital and John T. Mather Memorial Hospital, which both provide "invaluable contributions to their healthcare organizations and communities," the organization said.

“The volunteerism, population outreach, and advocacy that New York State’s auxiliaries provide are tremendous assets to our hospitals,” said HANYS President Bea Grause. “HANYS appreciates the hard work of all our member auxiliaries and volunteers and their ongoing commitment to the health of all New Yorkers.”

HANYS established the Auxiliary of the Year Award to recognize numerous ways that auxiliaries help strengthen New York State’s healthcare system, a release said.

This year, the award was presented to two auxiliaries that "demonstrated outstanding achievement in community outreach, collaboration, partnerships, advocacy, and new initiatives within their communities," the release said.

One award was presented to an auxiliary for a healthcare facility with 100 beds or fewer, and a second award to an auxiliary affiliated with a facility with more than 100 beds.

ELIH's Auxiliary was HANYS’ small hospital category winner — and was honored for making a "historic milestone contribution of $400,000 to Eastern Long Island Hospital in 2016, with more than $3.7 million contributed in the past 10 years," the release said.

The Auxiliary was also the recipient of the 2016 North Fork Chamber of Commerce Community Service Organization Award; the Auxiliary used the 2016 Community Service Award as a springboard to increase Auxiliary membership and promote the hospital in newspapers, on the Internet, Facebook, and CBS News Radio, the release said.

The Eastern Long Island Hospital Auxiliary’s grassroots advocacy includes reaching out to state and federal elected officials on healthcare issues via telephone and letter-writing campaigns, the release said.

Awardees were honored at a ceremony at HANYS’ Annual Institute for Healthcare Auxiliaries and Volunteer Leaders in Saratoga Springs on October 26.