Good Samaritan hospital named Level 1 Trauma Center

Good Samaritan University Hospital is now recognized as a Level I Trauma Center for its ability to treat the most severely injured patients and conduct trauma research and education, Catholic Health said.

The West Islip hospital has been named an adult Level I Trauma Center, the highest of five levels, by the American College of Surgeons, which evaluates hospitals’ trauma programs. Top-ranking trauma centers can treat all injuries and accept patients transferred from hospitals that are not as well equipped to handle complex injuries.

The American College of Surgeons conducts in-person visits and reviews records to determine whether hospitals qualify as trauma centers. If the group verifies that the hospitals qualify, the state Department of Health can designate them as trauma centers. Good Samaritan's status as a Level I center is under final review, according to the state agency. 

The 437-bed Good Samaritan is the only hospital on the South Shore of Long Island to hold Level 1 status, according to the American College of Surgeons.

Rockville Centre-based Catholic Health's Good Samaritan can provide “total care for every aspect of injury, including those that may be life-threatening and disabling,” the hospital’s president, Ruth E. Hennessey, said in a statement Thursday.

Level 1 Trauma Centers, and those ranked slightly lower at Level II, are equipped to handle complex traumas such as those caused by high-speed vehicle collisions, motorcycle accidents, gunshots and stab wounds, said Dr. Charles Fasanya, trauma medical director and associate director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Good Samaritan. They also are qualified to treat the severe injuries seniors can suffer when they fall, Fasanya said.

Good Samaritan has been a Level II Trauma Center for adults and children since 2017, and it retains Level II status for pediatric patients. Level I and II centers must provide speedy, round-the-clock treatment by in-house general surgeons, as well as prompt care by neurosurgeons and other specialists, among other requirements, according to the American College of Surgeons.

Level I Trauma Centers also conduct research and education and treat a minimum number of severely injured patients, according to the surgeons' group. Good Samaritan investigates ways to improve trauma care, trains medical residents based at Stony Brook and NUMC and is launching its own surgical residency program, among other programs, Fasanya said.

“This is a substantial achievement,” Fasanya said of the designation. “It's quite a complex process, it involves the whole hospital … maintaining that level of excellence.”

The other Level 1 Trauma Centers on Long Island are Stony Brook University Hospital, NYU Langone Hospital — Long Island in Mineola, Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park and North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, according to the American College of Surgeons.

South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore and Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside have been designated Level II Trauma Centers, state records show. Those centers are not required to do research and education, and they can refer patients to other hospitals for treatments such as microvascular surgery.

Long Island also has four Level III Trauma Centers, which can treat many types of injuries and can transfer patients who need higher-level care. Those hospitals are Long Island Community Hospital in Patchogue, Huntington Hospital, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead.

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in 2012, she has also covered real estate and the business of health care.