Huntington Hospital gets a makeover

Huntington Hospital gets a makeover

Mather Hospital is set to join Northwell Healht. Photo from Huntington Hospital

It’s out with the old and in with the new at Huntington Hospital.

As of 2016, North Shore-LIJ Health System changed its name to Northwell Health as part of a rebranding and marketing campaign for the largest private employer and health care provider in New York across 21 hospitals including Huntington Hospital. The institution just finished its first month after a major facelift to the health system, and staffers said they were excited about the changes to the structure.

“Being highly visible and clearly understood within and beyond the New York metropolitan area requires strong brand recognition,” Michael J. Dowling, president and chief executive officer of Northwell Health said in a press release. “The Northwell Health name is a reflection of our past and a beacon of our future. It’s unique, simple and approachable, and better defines who we are and where we are going.”

Huntington Hospital first joined the North Shore-LIJ Health System in 1994, and has been able to expand its resources and services available to medical staff and patients because of this partnership. With this name change, Northwell Health administrators said the health system intends to build recognition and distinguish the organization “in a cluttered health care market,” according to a press release. Dropping a specific reference to Long Island was also an intentional move to broaden the scope of the coverage area, officials said.

“Our trustees recognized the need for a more consumer-friendly name that did not confine us geographically and reflects our emergence as a regional health care provider with a coverage area that extends beyond Long Island,” Northwell Health Board of Trustees Chair Mark L. Claster said in a press release.

Administrators from Huntington Hospital said they see the name change as a positive step forward.

“There’s a general excitement in the hospital over it,” said Susan Knoepffler, chief nursing officer and vice president of nursing at Huntington Hospital. “It has given us a new opportunity to put our hospital and the health system out there to the public.”

Knoepffler said the name change helps bring a focus to the preventative side of medicine and overall wellness that the hospital aims for.

Gerard X. Brogan, executive director of Huntington Hospital, echoed Knoepffler’s sentiment.

“It serves to sum up what our mission is,” he said in a phone interview. “We are focusing on how to promote wellness throughout the community. It’s really something we feel is the core of our mission as a community hospital.”

Reflecting on the history of Huntington Hospital, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, Brogan said the objective of this hospital has always been to provide medical care for the public and commit to helping people stay well.

‘The focus is to provide the community with the best healthcare right in their own backyard, and this will help make the community aware of the tremendous resources they have access to,” Brogan said.