The grade was awarded by The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog organization, which assigns grades to nearly 3,000 general hospitals nationwide based on over 30 national performance measures. The “A” grade represents the highest standard for patient safety.

“This recognition affirms the exceptional work of our entire PBMC team in maintaining a culture of safety, compassion and clinical excellence,” president of PBMC Amy Loeb said. “Every member of our staff, from physicians and nurses to support teams, plays a vital role in delivering care that our patients can trust.

“As our hospital continues to expand to meet the growing needs of the residents on the East End, we remain focused on ensuring that patient safety is at the heart of every step forward.”

The current grades reflect data from 2021-2024.

Doctor and nurse communication and responsiveness, ICU physician staffing levels, total hours of nursing care and cleanliness are among the measures for determining grades. Grades are given out each spring and fall. PBMC received a “B” grade this past spring.

“Earning an ‘A’ grade means Northwell Health made a true commitment to put patient safety first,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “We congratulate the leadership, board, clinicians, staff and volunteers who all had a role to play in this achievement.”

Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital was the only one on Long Island to receive a “D” in the 2025 rankings. The hospital has far fewer beds than PBMC — 70 compared with 144. That could lead to a difference in staffing, patient care, and other criteria The Leapfrog Group grades on.

Hospital officials said in a statement that since last year, they have implemented substantial patient safety improvements, and these efforts continue to advance, “resulting in premier quality and safety rankings across several nationally recognized organizations.”

“This one survey does not reflect the quality of care provided by our exceptional staff,” SBELIH officials said. “Our teams care deeply about the communities we serve and are dedicated to achieving the highest levels of quality and safety.”

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Quannacut Outpatient Services held a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday, Nov. 6 — three months after opening its doors on East Main Street. It was attended by around 30 people, including Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital leadership, clinic workers and local elected officials.

So far, 25 people have registered for the clinic, SBELIH chief administrative officer Paul Connor told The Suffolk Times at the ceremony.

The clinic offers telehealth, co-occurring and primary care medical services. It also provides medication for addiction treatment, psychiatric evaluations and acts as a New York State Department of Motor Vehicle treatment site for driver’s license reinstatements.

Quannacut Outpatient provides highly specialized programs that address both immediate and long-term substance use and mental health needs, as well as the impact on families, significant others and support systems. It offers individual and group therapy for mental health and substance use.

The clinic is an arm of SBELIH, and recently received licensure from the New York State Office of Mental Health. The license has expanded the hospital’s ability to provide comprehensive behavioral health care to the region.

Assistant vice president of neurosciences and psychiatry Dr. Kristie Golden Campo, who started working as a case manager at 21, praised the clinic’s efforts. When she started, she said she had a case load of clients from Huntington to Port Jefferson. She drove one of her clients out to Greenport to get services at the time from SBELIH, formerly known as Eastern Long Island Hospital, for treatment of her co-occurring disorder.

“There is no better place for this integrated license to exist,” Ms. Golden Campo said. “This has been something that Eastern Long Island Hospital has done for a long time, and they’ve done it better than any other facility that I can remember.” 

Mr. Connor added: “Here on Long Island, where our communities stretch across rural and suburban landscapes, the lack of access has real consequences.”

The OMH license will allow the clinic to “close the gap” of services and connect people to the help they need closer to home, he said. It can be reached at 631-369-8966.

“I think a lot of us know people who could use these services, and I think that gives us great comfort knowing that they can be offered,” Southold Town Supervisor Al Krupski said of the clinic. “And, it gives us even more comfort knowing the people who are here are the ones who offer those services.”

Greenport Village Mayor Kevin Stuessi lauded the hospital’s achievements, calling health care one of Southold’s greatest exports. 

“This is something that affects many of our friends and family,” he said. “I’ve certainly seen it in my family as well.”

The clinic opening comes at a time of need: One in five U.S. adults live with mental illness, according to the National Institute of Mental Health as recently as 2022. 

Nearly 49 million people in the U.S. over the age of 12 struggled with substance abuse in 2023, only 6% of whom received treatment, according to a 2023 survey by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. That same survey found that nearly 21 million American adults suffered from both a mental health disorder and a substance use disorder, or co-occurring disorders. 

For more information on treatments available at Quannacut Outpatient Services, visit elih.stonybrookmedicine.edu.

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Thanks to the Center for Advocacy, Support and Transformation, Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital and Southold Town all residents of the North Fork, Shelter Island and beyond are invited to find resources to build a healthy foundation at the annual health fair. 

The three organizations are continuing their collaboration that started in 2019 to bring all kinds of personal health and wellness support to the Peconic Recreation Center on Oct. 16.

From 2 to 6 p.m. connect with over 20 providers, including Fidelis Health Insurance, The Retreat, Family Service League of Riverhead, THRIVE Recovery Long Island, and Southold Fire Department.

Read more about the Fall Health Fair on northforker.com

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“It’s really an opportunity to start somewhere safe and new. We talk about people, places and things when it comes to a person’s recovery,” said Elizabeth Donner Day, director of SBELIH’s Quannacut Outpatient Services. “[It may be] leaving a home environment or an unsafe, domestic violence relationship to a place where a person can just take care of themselves … The opportunity to just focus on yourself in early recovery is really important so that you can build that foundation and go forward, whether it’s getting a a full time or part time job, saving up to move into a new place, or gaining custody or or visitation back with children.”

The homes join the already established recovery residence for men in Mattituck to provide supportive housing for up to 34 residents at a time. Residents receive services through Stony Brook Medicine’s network, including medical and mental health care, substance use counseling and vocational guidance. Each location is tailored to meet the needs of different populations and address housing and health disparities for the East End.

This home is part of the hospital’s addiction continuum, one step in a multi-part process to help people suffering from an addiction disorder to get back on their feet. “We’re very proud to open these two new recovery homes. These are exclusively female homes, which are in desperate need in Suffolk County. They’re open to anyone who qualifies,” said Paul Connor, chief administrative officer for Stony Brook ELIH. “We have another 12-bed home in Mattituck. [There are] 10 acute detox beds at the hospital and 27 rehab beds in Riverhead. We have a large outpatient addiction program.” Non-binary and transgender patients are also accommodated in the new homes.

Estimates from the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health indicate that 2.8 million New Yorkers aged 12 years and older had a substance use disorder in the past year. Substance use disorders are associated with numerous potential adverse impacts to the health and well-being of an individual as well as their family and community. Of New Yorkers admitted to treatment in 2022, 27.9% were female. In 2023, the American Addiction Centers reported that 20.7 million females 12 and older had a substance use disorder. Additionally, National Institute on Drug Abuse research suggests that women are more susceptible to cravings and relapse. 

One of the most compelling success stories from the overall program involved a young man from Stony Brook who went through the continuum. “He went through our program, he got his act together, went out west and is a ranch hand on an active horse ranch,” said Mr. Connor. “He was a young kid who got into trouble, and we provided some stability and training for him to be able to contend with that.” While the patient experienced a relapse, which is often part of addiction recovery, “the second time around, it worked, and he continues to be sober.”

Ms. Day sees the establishment of these recovery homes as a bridge towards a better future for individuals affected by substance use disorder. “It really is very humbling to work with a person who’s on their path to recovery, and it’s not always easy, but I think that mental health, addiction, physical health, they all have their own stigma, and they touch everyone in some way,” said Ms. Day. “So being able to have a home where women can find support and resources to rebuild their lives, working on their healing, working on their recovery, and working within our community, I think that’s what I’m most excited about, is just that it’s it’s an opportunity for hope and healing.”

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Last week, The Suffolk Times spoke to Dr. Lawrence Schiff, Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital’s vice service chief, emergency medicine, about the current state of the fentanyl crisis on the East End, the impact of over-the-counter Narcan and what exactly happens when first responders reach a suspected opioid overdose victim.

Despite a countywide rise in fentanyl-related deaths in recent years, Dr. Schiff said that, anecdotally, opioid overdose deaths have dropped significantly on the North Fork since the summer of 2021.

He also hailed the Food and Drug Administration’s March 2023 approval of an over-the-counter version of Narcan, or naloxone, as a “game changer” in saving lives in the crucial few minutes after a victim stops breathing.

“The thing I’d like to tell the family members and friends [of opioid drug users] is that Narcan works. Narcan has now been approved to be over-the-counter by the FDA, and we do give it out here liberally in the emergency department to patients who suspect that they have a substance abuse problem,” he said, as well as to friends and family members who regularly interact with the users.

“So Narcan is a very, very big drug for [first responders] , potentially, to utilize and reverse the opiate while they’re in the field, even before they get to the hospital. That has definitely been a game changer for both EMS in the field … and the police that actually utilize this when they find patients.”

Dr. Schiff said speed is everything when it comes to saving the lives of overdose victims.

“The brain will start to die if it does not get any oxygen within four minutes. So seconds do count, absolutely. And the sooner they get the patient breathing again is important,” he said. “EMS is very good at [artificial respiration] for somebody — it’s part of their training. And it’s what we do here in the emergency department as well. So we can artificially breathe for somebody, but the Narcan is really what reverses the opiate inside them that gets the patient breathing on their own.”

Dr. Schiff described the process first responders go through in evaluating and treating a suspected overdose.

If a patient isn’t breathing and has “pinpoint pupils,” the doctor said, it’s likely an overdose. The first responder or ER doctor immediately begins asking vital questions: “Where were they found? Do they have a history of drug use and abuse in the past? Are there track marks on their arms or any other part of the body? Were they found with drug paraphernalia around them? Who called it in?”

Dr. Schiff said it’s often friends of the victims who will call 911 or bring a patient in, or parents — and they can often provide key, timely information about what the user took. But in other cases the victims are found alone.

“A lot of times, we cannot tell exactly what they took, if they took something,” he said. “We just have to go by the history and kind of do our best, and treat them based on what we know, and their physical presentation.”

In an email, Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley concurred with Dr. Schiff that overdose deaths in the area are down from two years ago, but he said that overdoses themselves are not.

“I agree with the doctor’s assessment — as we have not had as many overdose deaths recently, but that’s not to say that we still don’t respond to individuals overdosing on their drug use on a regular basis. I think the introduction of over-the-counter Narcan kits being made available to the public has helped cut the amount of actual deaths associated with these calls. I can think of a recent overdose call where the victim had been given [three to four] doses of Narcan by a friend before we even arrived at the house, and this is becoming more commonplace.

“It does seem that almost any type of narcotic sold on the street is cut with fentanyl — increasing the odds of an overdose,” he added.

The chief said it can be difficult for officers to see residents they’ve revived from an overdose in the past go back to opioid drug use again and again.

“I think our officers become frustrated that subjects will overdose more than once, even several times, and they use Narcan as their safety net to bring them back,” he said. “To watch this cycle occur, it definitely takes a toll on responding police and medical personnel.”

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Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, the Greenport Village Business Improvement District, Greenport Harbor Brewing Co. and Community Action for Social Justice have joined forces to install Narcan rescue stations in various North Fork establishments. The hope is that these emergency kits — which include two Narcan nasal sprays, rubber gloves, a mouth covering to safely administer CPR, fentanyl testing strips and directions — will help prevent potential opioid overdoses.

“Any way to save a life,” said Julie Petrocelli-Vergari, a special event coordinator at Raphael winery in Peconic, one of the nine locations across the North Fork that now have the kits on hand. “I just wanted to do the right thing and have them available in case of an emergency. It’s so scary.”

The need for naloxone, the generic name for the drug used in Narcan nasal spray, is apparent nationwide as the opioid crisis continues to ravage communities. The nasal spray inhibits an opioid’s ability to bind to receptors in the brain, which could help stave off a fatal overdose. The drug specifically combats drugs that contain opioids, including heroin, fentanyl and prescription painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin. It cannot treat overdoses related to non-opioid drugs such as cocaine, benzodiazepines or alcohol.

The initiative to bring the lifesaving treatment to area businesses comes a year and a half after six people between the ages of 25 and 40 — Navid Ahmadzadeh, Swainson Brown, Nicole Eckardt, Fausto Rafael Herrera Campos, Matthew Lapiana and Seth Tramontana — died of opioid overdoses after ingesting fentanyl-laced cocaine.

The first two Narcan stations from the SBELIH program were installed at Greenport Harbor Brewing Co.’s Peconic and Greenport locations last month. Claudio’s, Ellen’s on Front, Front Street Station, Macari Vineyards, Little Fish, East End Seaport Museum and the Greenport American Legion have also committed to the program.

“My opinion is that everyone should have access to Narcan, not simply only those people who have an opiate use disorder, but people who know somebody who may have an opiate use disorder,” said Dr. Lloyd Simon, the medical director & vice service chief of addiction medicine at SBELIH. “And to be honest, anybody can run across somebody who has overdosed, anywhere at anytime.”

Other community members are stepping up to prevent drug overdoses, including Samantha Payne-Markel, Mr. Tramontana’s girlfriend before his death. Educating and training the public to use Narcan is a key focus of her Gold Boots Foundation, which she launched in honor of Mr. Tramontana and named after his signature look. Last September, the foundation hosted a mini golf fundraiser, during which attendees observed a presentation on how to properly administer Narcan.

“The Narcan stations are so important and I think they are going to make a difference for sure,” Ms. Payne-Markel said. “I hope it’s not true, but I think it’s very possible that these stations, by the end of the summer, could save someone’s life.”

Administering the Narcan spray is fairly intuitive, according to program participants who have undergone the training, but it is important to be aware of the signs of a potential drug overdose.

“The initial thing is likely alteration of their mental status, whether somebody appears suddenly sedated or lethargic or seems to be asleep while they’re sitting at a table,” Dr. Simon said. “We had a case not too long ago where somebody was found sleeping in a bathroom in a local pizzeria. That was the indication of their overdose.

“When they’re actually starting to get cyanotic — with [their skin turning] that blue color, that’s really advanced,” he continued. “That is when they’re really at risk of actual death.”

Any local business looking to install a Narcan rescue station may visit the hospital’s website to sign up for the initiative. The program is underwritten by SBELIH, CASJ, the Greenport BID and the Greenport Harbor Brewing Co., so there is no cost to the individual businesses for the kits or the Narcan training.

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The Feb. 12 decision came from the New York State Department of Health. Facilities such as hospitals, nursing homes, home healthcare and hospice agencies, diagnostic and treatment centers, physician offices, dental offices, local health departments and office-based surgery practices are no longer mandated to require their staff to use masks and can set their own masking policies.

According to Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital’s visitor policy, the hospital is “carefully evaluating” its policies and procedures following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in addition to the state health department.

“For now, our policy has not changed and everyone — patients, visitors, employees, students, vendors — must still wear well-fitting masks covering the nose and mouth in all Stony Brook Medicine hospitals, patient care settings and off-site clinic locations,” according to the hospital’s visitor policy.

In a recent interview, chief medical officer of Stony Brook Medicine Jonathan Buscaglia said there has been no pushback from the staff in the hospital’s decision to continue masking.

“Our hospital staff has been extremely supportive of our efforts to continue our masking policy,” he said. “We’re certainly aware that a minority of hospitals have decided to relax the mandate, but as far as Stony Brook Medicine is concerned, we are presently sticking with our ongoing efforts to mask in all areas of patient care.”

When asked, Mr. Buscaglia couldn’t comment if he expects the hospital’s policy to change any time soon.

“Certainly, we’re still in flu season and we still are starting to see a significant amount of respiratory illnesses with hospitalizations, so that is always affecting our decisions for all our safety precautions in terms of infectious diseases, infection control, but it’s very difficult for me to say when we expect that to change and if we expect that to change,” he said.

Riverhead’s Peconic Bay Medical Center will also maintain its mask policy, according to the hospital’s medical director, Jeffrey Zilberstein.

“Essentially, we’ve decided as a system that in a preponderance of concern for [our] patients and members, we’re going to continue to mask just because it remains to be a respiratory viral season,” he said. “We still see significant transmission of respiratory viruses and we want to make sure that we [not only] keep our patients safe but also our team members.”

The masking would be for all public areas. Dr. Zilberstein said he doesn’t expect the policy to be in place at the hospital forever. “It’s really going to be following where the data and science take us,” he said.

According to their mask protocol, New York University Langone, which has medical offices in Riverhead, Mattituck and Greenport, will require masking for their staff who have not been vaccinated against the virus.

“Staff are required to wear a mask on all NYU Langone owned or leased property if they have not received influenza and COVID-19 vaccinations per policy or after a positive COVID-19 test or COVID-19 exposure,” said Michael Phillips, the hospital’s Chief Epidemiologist, in a message to NYU Langone medical staff.

NYU Langone patients, visitors and staff are required to wear a mask if they are in an open setting where immunocompromised patients may be receiving care, in areas such as the emergency department or infusion suites, according to their protocol.

According to the CDC’s COVID-19 tracker, the positivity rate for COVID-19 in the county is at 5% positivity rate and has gone down .35% in the last seven days. In Suffolk County, 88.8% of the total population have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 78.8% completed the primary series and 14.5% received the updated bivalent booster dose.

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