Bank of America Awards $500,000 Grant to South Nassau's Heart Health Center
The Bank of America Charitable Foundation has awarded a $500,000 grant to South Nassau Communities Hospital in support of the hospital’s Center for Cardiovascular Health and its program for medically underserved individuals.
Oceanside, NY, February 07, 2010 --(PR.com)-- The Bank of America Charitable Foundation awarded a $500,000 grant to South Nassau Communities Hospital in support of the hospital’s Center for Cardiovascular Health and its HOST (Heart Outreach Study Tract) Program for medically underserved individuals. The grant will also be used to support free cardiac health screenings throughout the year.
“Both the Center for Cardiovascular Health and the HOST program allow the Hospital to extend their exemplary services to the men and women who need them most,” said Robert A. Isaksen, Long Island market president, Bank of America. “This commitment to the community is a shared ideal, which is reflected by our financial support.”
“On behalf of our patients and the board of directors, administration, doctors, nurses, and staff members, I humbly thank the Bank of America for its generosity, trust and support,” said Joseph A. Quagliata, president and CEO at South Nassau. “We are a mission-driven organization that understands that our singular purpose is to provide standard-setting healthcare services to the patients we serve regardless of their race, creed or ability to pay.”
Cardiovascular disease remains particularly prevalent in the communities served by South Nassau, where more than 40% of residents are low-income and/ or minority individuals – a population that is disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease. Community surveys show that both African-Americans and Latinos – regardless of socioeconomic status – are less knowledgeable about cardiovascular disease symptoms, risk factors, and methods of prevention. These factors are compounded by the fact that patients in poor and minority communities are frequently diagnosed at late stages of disease, thereby depriving them of the benefits of treatment advances in the management of cardiovascular disease.
South Nassau’s HOST program was developed to address these and other medically underserved communities and, since its inception in 2007, the program has provided educational services to 1008 members of the community and health assessment and screening services to 403 individuals, at no cost to participants. Outreach and education is accomplished through partnerships, seminars and community-based health screenings. Health education seminars focus on cardiovascular disease risk factors, signs, and symptoms and behavior changes that can reduce these risks and current treatment options. Those who are identified as at elevated risk are referred for follow-up, either through the South Nassau Family Medicine Center, or with a physician of their own choosing.
South Nassau’s Center for Cardiovascular Health provides a wide range of coronary and peripheral interventional procedures, including balloon angioplasty, stenting, and thrombolytic therapy. The center’s electrophysiologists treat the range of cardiac arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms) and defibrillator complications and specialize in diagnostic studies; implantation and testing of pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators; and radio-frequency catheter ablation for the treatment of irregular heartbeats. Cardiac imaging services provided by the center include nuclear cardiology, stress, trans-thoracic, and transesophageal echocardiograms and diagnostic peripheral vascular ultrasound for patients with peripheral arterial disease.
South Nassau earned two prestigious honors for excellence in cardiac care in 2009: the Gold Performance Achievement Award in Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The GuidelinesSM (GWTG) program and Accreditation of its echocardiography lab from the Intersocietal Commission for Accreditation of Echocardiography (ICAEL).
###
“Both the Center for Cardiovascular Health and the HOST program allow the Hospital to extend their exemplary services to the men and women who need them most,” said Robert A. Isaksen, Long Island market president, Bank of America. “This commitment to the community is a shared ideal, which is reflected by our financial support.”
“On behalf of our patients and the board of directors, administration, doctors, nurses, and staff members, I humbly thank the Bank of America for its generosity, trust and support,” said Joseph A. Quagliata, president and CEO at South Nassau. “We are a mission-driven organization that understands that our singular purpose is to provide standard-setting healthcare services to the patients we serve regardless of their race, creed or ability to pay.”
Cardiovascular disease remains particularly prevalent in the communities served by South Nassau, where more than 40% of residents are low-income and/ or minority individuals – a population that is disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease. Community surveys show that both African-Americans and Latinos – regardless of socioeconomic status – are less knowledgeable about cardiovascular disease symptoms, risk factors, and methods of prevention. These factors are compounded by the fact that patients in poor and minority communities are frequently diagnosed at late stages of disease, thereby depriving them of the benefits of treatment advances in the management of cardiovascular disease.
South Nassau’s HOST program was developed to address these and other medically underserved communities and, since its inception in 2007, the program has provided educational services to 1008 members of the community and health assessment and screening services to 403 individuals, at no cost to participants. Outreach and education is accomplished through partnerships, seminars and community-based health screenings. Health education seminars focus on cardiovascular disease risk factors, signs, and symptoms and behavior changes that can reduce these risks and current treatment options. Those who are identified as at elevated risk are referred for follow-up, either through the South Nassau Family Medicine Center, or with a physician of their own choosing.
South Nassau’s Center for Cardiovascular Health provides a wide range of coronary and peripheral interventional procedures, including balloon angioplasty, stenting, and thrombolytic therapy. The center’s electrophysiologists treat the range of cardiac arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms) and defibrillator complications and specialize in diagnostic studies; implantation and testing of pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators; and radio-frequency catheter ablation for the treatment of irregular heartbeats. Cardiac imaging services provided by the center include nuclear cardiology, stress, trans-thoracic, and transesophageal echocardiograms and diagnostic peripheral vascular ultrasound for patients with peripheral arterial disease.
South Nassau earned two prestigious honors for excellence in cardiac care in 2009: the Gold Performance Achievement Award in Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The GuidelinesSM (GWTG) program and Accreditation of its echocardiography lab from the Intersocietal Commission for Accreditation of Echocardiography (ICAEL).
###
Contact
South Nassau Communities Hospital
Damian J. Becker
516-377-5370
southnassau.org
Damian J. Becker
516-377-5370
southnassau.org
Contact
Categories