GLEN OAKS, NY -- The Zucker Hillside Hospital today broke ground on a 130,000-square-foot, $125 million inpatient pavilion. Constructed with the generous support of North Shore-LIJ Health System trustees Donald and Barbara Zucker, the new two-story building will consolidate outdated living quarters dispersed across the psychiatric facility’s campus, significantly improving the coordination of services and treatment along the continuum of care.

The new pavilion, expected to be completed in 2012, will house 115 inpatient beds — 57 for geriatric patients, 37 for adults and 21 for adolescents -- increasing capacity and services by 13 beds to a total of 221 beds. This modern, patient-centered facility will be surrounded by a tranquil and sprawling environment that preserves the unique history of the Zucker Hillside campus, located on the grounds of Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical Center.

The new building’s two-story design will feature units radiating from a central rotunda that will include spaces for gatherings among patients, families and clinical teams. The inpatient pavilion will have space designated to meet the specific needs of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, memory and mood disorders. It also will feature classrooms for school-age patients; secure outdoor areas for relaxation, family visits and exercise; and group and individual counseling rooms.

“Behavioral health disorders affect nearly half of the population during the course of a lifetime and account for more disability and missed days of work than any other illness,” said Michael Dowling, North Shore-LIJ Health System president and CEO. “Updating the facilities at Zucker Hillside enables us to meet the needs of this often-overlooked patient population and gain recognition as the premier center for behavioral healthcare in the New York metropolitan area.”

“Psychiatric illness and addiction cause heartache and alter lives. Their devastating impact scars families for generations,” said John Kane, MD, vice president of behavioral health services for the North Shore-LIJ Health System and chairman of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside. “This new pavilion will help us treat these disorders to change that, healing families and returning people to society’s mainstream.”

Named one of the nation’s top 20 psychiatric facilities this summer by US News & World Report, Zucker Hillside has been a leader in healing individuals with mental illness for more than 80 years.

Innovation and Compassion
Founded as Hastings Hillside Hospital in 1927 by neurologist Israel Strauss, MD, the private hospital provided the first formal therapeutic community — a modality specializing in the use of meaningful tasks like gardening that assist patients as they work through the recovery process. As psychiatry has evolved, the hospital has led treatment: The facility has been at the forefront of psychotherapy and psychopharmacology, inpatient specialty services and outpatient treatment — and continues to play a historic role in establishing modern psychiatric remedies.

In 1999, Mr. and Ms. Zucker emerged as advocates for the facility. In recognition of their ongoing support, the hospital complex was renamed The Zucker Hillside Hospital. Their insight and generosity not only allowed the building of the most recent addition, but also the construction of the 89,000-square-foot, $33.3 million Ambulatory Care Pavilion, which opened in 2004.

To view a video about the new project and the work of Zucker Hillside Hospital, click HERE.

To learn more about how you can help build the new Zucker Hillside Hospital, contact Cecelia Fullam, senior vice president of the North Shore-LIJ Health System Foundation, at 516-465-2566, or go to: http://support.NorthShoreLIJ.com/zucker.

Contacts: Michelle Pinto/Terry Lynam
516-465-2649/516-465-2640
mpinto@nshs.edu / tlynam@nshs.edu