The South Nassau Communities Hospital's Center for New Beginnings has received an award from the New York State Department of Health for reducing early deliveries without medical need between 36-39 weeks gestation. Research shows babies born full-term have better outcomes than pre-term or early-term births. The Center aims to provide compassionate, high-quality maternity care to mothers and newborns through its private family rooms, neonatal intensive care unit, and lactation and parenting education programs. South Nassau has received numerous quality awards for nursing, patient safety, and maternity care.

1. For Immediate Release March 27, 2014
Contact: Damian Becker, Manager of Media Relations
(516) 377-5370
State Recognizes South Nassau for Providing Safe, Quality
Care for Mother, Child
Oceanside, N.Y. – South Nassau Communities Hospital’s Center for New Beginnings has
been named a recipient of the New York State Department of Health’s Perinatal Quality
Collaborative (NYSPQC) Obstetrical Improvement Quality Improvement Award. NYSPQC aims
to provide the best and safest care for women and infants in New York State by preventing and
minimizing harm through the use of evidence-based practice interventions.
The project’s main goal is to reduce early deliveries without medical indication between
36 and 39 weeks gestation. Research shows that babies born full-term (from 39 up to 41 weeks)
have better outcomes than those born pre-term (before 37 weeks) or early-term (from 37 up to 39
weeks). Some early deliveries (before 39 weeks gestation) are unavoidable for medical reasons.
However, some scheduled early deliveries—by induction or Caesarean section (C-section)—may
not be medically necessary and could be postponed until the baby is full-term.
“This award is emblematic of our belief that at South Nassau Communities Hospital
nursing is about great practice and great care,” said Sue Penque, PhD, RN, CNP, chief nursing
officer and senior vice president of Patient Care Services at South Nassau. “Our singular
commitment to this belief ensures that our patients receive quality, compassionate care they
deserve, whether they are mothers and newborns in the Center for New Beginnings or
grandfathers receiving a dialysis treatment at our outpatient dialysis center.”
“The nurses and obstetricians work together as one team to ensure that the mothers and
babies receive the attention and compassionate, high-quality patient-centered care they deserve
and expect us to provide,” added Alan Garely, MD, chair of obstetrics and gynecology.
The NYSPQC Obstetrical Improvement Quality Improvement honor joins a multitude of
others South Nassau has earned for outstanding quality in 2014, including: Joint Commission Top
Performer on Key Quality Measures®; Get With The GuidelinesStroke Gold Plus Quality
Achievement Award; American Nurses Credentialing Center’s (ANCC) Magnet® recognition;
News From:

2. Joint Commission Advanced Certification for Primary Stroke Centers; Joint Commission Disease-
specific Certification in End-stage Renal Disease; Home Health Quality Improvement (HHQI)
Gold Medal award and HomeCare Elite™, listing South Nassau’s Home Care as one of the top
home health care providers in the United States (for the ninth consecutive year); and an “A” grade
in hospital patient safety from The Leapfrog Group, the gold standard for comparing hospitals’
performance on the national standards of safety, quality, and efficiency that are most relevant to
consumers and purchasers of care.
South Nassau’s Center for New Beginnings has a “five star” rating for patient safety and
quality care by an independent national hospital and healthcare ratings organization. The rating is
based on an in-depth evaluation of the quality of maternity and gynecological care, over a three
year period, in the 19 states, which includes New York, where hospital patient outcomes data is
publically available.
Last year, the Center’s team of compassionate, experienced maternity nurses, obstetricians
and high-risk pregnancy specialists delivered 1,958 babies. In addition to advanced maternal-fetal
medical technologies, the Center features 26 private family/newborn rooms with first-class hotel
like accommodations, spacious labor and delivery rooms, and a 6-bed neonatal intensive care unit
(NICU).
Premature deliveries and newborns with developmental complications or conditions
receive the specialized care they need in the neonatal intensive care unit. Staffed by board-
certified neonatologists, the unit is equipped with dedicated medical technologies for premature
newborns and newborns with special needs. For mothers needing a C-section delivery, the Center
has a dedicated state-of-the-art surgical suite to ensure that they experience a model of family-
centered care.
The center has been designed specifically for the family. Parents experience the entire
birth process in the comfort of the unit’s private labor and delivery suites and continue to learn
about and bond with their precious newborns in their spacious and private postpartum rooms.
Central to our Family-Centered philosophy is our 24-hour visitation policy, allowing members of
the family to celebrate and participate in this special event.
The accommodations and compassionate care are complemented by breakfasts, lunches
and dinners prepared by an award-winning culinary services department and a comprehensive
parent-child education program, which helps parents prepare for pregnancy, childbirth and
beyond.
The Lactation Resource Center, staffed with a team of International Board Certified
Lactation Consultants to assist and support the breastfeeding family, is an integral component of
our comprehensive program which also includes:
• Maternity Orientation and Tour

3. • Prepared Childbirth Class
• Preparation for Breastfeeding Class
• Breastfeeding and Working Class
• Baby Care Class
• Breastfeeding Support Group
• Prenatal Yoga
• Mommy-Baby Yoga
• Infant/Child CPR
• Sibling Class
• Teddy Bear Clinic
• Safe Sitter® Class
For more information about our Center for New Beginnings, call the Department of
Parent-Child Education at (516) 377-5310. Comments or questions regarding this column can be
sent to healthmatters@snch.org.
South Nassau is the only hospital on Long Island to win four major awards for quality in
recent months, including for nursing excellence, patient safety and top rankings from U.S. News
& World Report & from the Joint Commission.
Designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC),
South Nassau® Communities Hospital is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 455 beds,
more than 900 physicians and 3,000 employees. Located in Oceanside, NY, the hospital is an
acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac,
oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, maternity, mental health and emergency
services. In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, South Nassau provides
emergency and elective angioplasty, and is the only hospital on Long Island with the Novalis Tx™
and Gamma Knife® radiosurgery technologies. South Nassau is a designated Stroke Center by
the New York State Department of Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the
American College of Surgeons and is an accredited center of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery
Association and Quality Improvement Program. In addition, the hospital has been awarded the
Joint Commission’s gold seal of approval as a Top Performer on Key Quality Measures, including
heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care; and disease-specific care for hip and joint
replacement, wound care and end-stage renal disease. For more information, visit
www.southnassau.org.
# # #