Mt Sinai South Nassau Announces Annual Golf Outing Honorees, Award Winners

OCEANSIDE, NY — While the golf world waits with bated breath for The Masters to tee off Thursday morning, one Long Island hospital is already getting the ball rolling on a golf outing of its own. Mount Sinai South Nassau, holding an annual golf outing May 11, announced that it would be honoring Breslin Realty VP Justin Breslin, MSSN Chair of Emergency Medicine Jay Itzkowitz and Nassau County Veterans Service Agency Director Ralph Esposito at the outing.

In an announcement of the honorees, Mount Sinai South Nassau said Breslin would be the honoree, while Itzkowitz would receive the hospital’s “Lifesaver Award” and Esposito would be named the “Community Service honoree.” The outing will take place at the Seawane Club in Hewlett Harbor, the Rockaway Hunting Club in Lawrence and the Rockville Links Club in Rockville Centre, with proceeds going to MSSN’s “Bringing Heart Home” campaign, which seeks to provide access to cardiac care along the South Shore and across Long Island.

“We are grateful to the many companies and individuals who have supported our annual golf outing year in and year out, raising millions to help Mount Sinai South Nassau become the go-to hospital on the South Shore,” co-chair of the outing Tony Cancellieri said. “The new Fennessy Family Emergency Department and the new Feil Family Pavilion could not have happened without support from our community.”

The outing is just part of the “Bringing Heart Home” campaign, which has a $5 million goal over three years. That money, hospital officials say, will help finance the costs of equipment and infrastructure at the hospital, ultimately allowing for new cardiac services to be offered at the Oceanside campus. Where families might’ve had to travel to Manhattan or the North Shore previously, MSSN officials said the new facilities could allow them to receive their care right at home on the South Shore.

That dedication to the South Shore, hospital officials said, factored into the decision when selecting some honorees for the outing. In Breslin’s case, the contribution has come in land use. Hospital officials highlighted Breslin’s firm’s role in transforming Lynbrook’s Mangrove Feather Factory into a 201-unit luxury building dubbed “The Langdon,” and the construction of a 215-unit development in Baldwin known as “The Grand,” currently in its final planning stages.

“Justin Breslin and his firm have demonstrated a commitment to improving life on the South Shore and we are grateful that he also is supporting the hospital’s efforts to elevate the level of cardiac services available right here in Oceanside,” Dr. Adhi Sharma, President of Mount Sinai South Nassau, said. “And Dr. Itzkowitz richly deserves the recognition for his daily leadership of our Emergency Department (ED), which sees some 70,000 patient visits a year, helping members of our community who come to us often at their most vulnerable moments. He is always cool under pressure and truly is a lifesaver in the literal sense of the term.”

Living in West Hempstead with his wife and family, hospital officials said Itzkowitz has been instrumental to the Fennessy Family Emergency Department at MSSN, especially as it nears the end of a $50 million renovation effort that expanded the emergency department’s size. Part of that renovation, officials said, was the introduction of a new triage area, individual exam rooms and a new behavioral health space.

That expansion came with a collaborative effort to reduce the rate of patients leaving MSSN without being seen, hospital officials said, dropping it from 7 percent of patients to below 2 percent.

Finally, there’s Esposito, a 2018 inductee into the New York State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame and director of the Nassau County Veterans Service Agency. Esposito was also dubbed “Legionnaire of the Year” by the Nassau County Legislature in 2009 and 2010, and received the “Kind Person Who Cares” Award from the United States Marine Corps for his work in support of the Toys for Tots donation drive.

Esposito has been a member of the American Legion since 1964, when he was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy after serving for three years. In the time since his discharge, he has also spent 44 years as a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, 43 years with the Elmont Fire Department and was named Elmont’s “Person of the Year” in 2006. In his personal life, he has spent 46 years as a husband to his wife, Joanna, with whom he has two sons, John and Michael, and four grandchildren.

“Ralph Esposito has dedicated his career to serving our country and helping the veterans who have sacrificed so much to keep us free and safe,” Jeff Greenfield, co-chair of the hospital’s golf committee, said. “We commend and celebrate his commitment to our community.”