When I gaze at the night sky and look for landmarks like Orion’s Belt or the Big Dipper, I recall my delight as a child reading a picture book on Donald Duck and there he was, on the last page, as a constellation in the sky.
It taught me that constellations are assigned arbitrary names – is that a big bear (Ursa Major) or is that a big dipper? The stars composing the constellation may differ in age, size, location and chemical composition. It is only their position with respect to our sun that makes them a constellation.
I think of political platforms in the same way. As an old man of 88 years, I remember political campaigns since the 1940s, and in 1940 I saw Roosevelt being driven in an open car in Midtown Manhattan, campaigning for a third term. In those days Republicans took pride in less government interference and, in addition to less taxes and less regulation of business, they favored less interference in our private lives.
They were opposed to bans on family planning and the contraceptives chosen for birth control. In those days the religious right was not sought by either party, and the religious right was still recovering form the pro-fascist sympathies of the KKK, the crushing defeat of Bryan in the Scopes evolution trial in Dayton, Tennessee, on the teaching of evolution in the public schools and the America First movement whose attacks on Roosevelt were slanderous and did not cease until Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
In those post-WWII days, it was the Democrats who were saddled with states’ rights, Jim Crow laws and the religious right. It was in 1948 that the Democrats split into the Dixiecrats and the liberal Democrats.
The Dixiecrats tried forming their own party and failed. It was Nixon and Reagan who accepted the “Southern strategy” to give the Dixiecrats a new home in the Republican Party, and we have continued to see the trend, each party tilting left or right as voting opportunities, demographic change and political opportunism create new constellations of values or platforms for each party.
We live in an inconsistent world with neither extremism nor inconsistency a desired product of our political parties, but nevertheless becoming a reality. While we may be limited in how we shape the political climate, it does help to know that politics lacks the rigor or testing methods of science. We need to keep a healthy skepticism when endorsing the platforms of the party appealing to our political prejudices and ideals.
Elof Axel Carlson is a distinguished teaching professor emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University.
Parents across the North Shore are hoping their teenagers will soon get to sleep in — even during the school year.
Many studies now point to the benefits of teenagers starting high school later in the day, and some residents are delving into the research and discussing the issue with other parents.
It may take work, but we think the idea is important and we hope district officials will keep their minds open.
Studies have shown that teenagers do better when their first class starts after 8:30 a.m. Start times in our coverage area can vary with East Setauket’s Ward Melville High School’s first class bell ringing at 7:05 a.m. Many other high schools start well before 8 a.m.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 8 to 10 hours of sleep per day for teens “to promote optimal health.” The reason why many teenagers don’t get the recommended hours of sleep each night may have nothing to do with tons of homework, juggling activities and spending time on electronic devices. It may just be that children tend to fall asleep a few hours later when they become teenagers due to biological changes. The outcome when you add early school start times to late nights? Many teenagers walk around like zombies, constantly sleep deprived.
Insufficient sleep, which can cause drowsiness and impaired memory, can affect an adolescent’s academic and athletic success, as well as health and safety. Scientists have found that over the long haul, sleep deprivation in one’s younger years can lead to more severe problems in the future, including obesity and engaging in risky behaviors such as drinking and drug use.
It’s an invalid excuse to say kids need to get used to waking up early to prepare for the workforce. It’s equally detrimental to call out young people for spending too much time up late. The science says these rhythms are to be expected.
In the past, it was considered beneficial for high schoolers to come home after school earlier, so they could babysit their younger siblings. Today, most high school students are involved in sports and clubs, and aren’t available to help out with this task. And with the existence of after-school programs, there are many opportunities to make life easier for working parents.
An earlier morning for elementary students could also prove beneficial to working parents, who need to get kids on the bus before work. Furthermore, teenagers are able to get to the bus stop without the supervision of their mothers or fathers.
While it may be true that a change in start times can create issues when it comes to scheduling sports games, schools start at different time all across the leagues. Some student-athletes are already waiting around for games to start after the last bell rings. The most important thing, beyond both sports and academics, is a kid’s mental health and well-being.
While it may not be possible for all high schools to start at the same time to create the perfect scenario for sporting events, it is feasible for each district to listen to parents and, more importantly, find a start time that will help their students reach the fullest potential.
The ways of the past don’t always pave the way to future success.
You know Murphy’s law, right? Whatever can go wrong will go wrong. Well, it seems that we need to update Murphy’s law. To that end, please find a few of my experiential and observational corollaries.
• Your kids know more about electronics than you do. Yes, I know there are information technology people who are keeping up with the latest apps, some of whom may actually write the apps. But most of those people stop using their phones or looking at their work when they go home. Your kids are using them all the time. They are professional app users, while you likely know one app extremely well.
• You will receive a message from your airline when it doesn’t help. I appreciate how airlines, and even Expedia, offer to send you updates on your flights. Most of the time, however, the text that the plane is delayed two hours will arrive just after the car that’s brought you to the airport pulls away from the curb.
• Following the rules at the doctor’s office, the DMV or anywhere else you might be a captive audience rarely works. I recently went to a doctor’s office half an hour early because the email requested that I arrive then for my first appointment. I waited more than an hour for a consultation that lasted a few minutes.
• You’re likely to leave out a critical word at a critical time in a critical email. Let’s say someone proposes an idea at work that you find wholly objectionable and unworkable. You respond: “I can agree with this idea.” Forgetting the word “not” then means that your boss, who proposed the idea in the first place, now gives you ownership of a process that is even worse than it seemed when you first read the email through your sleep-deprived eyes.
• The cute baby that made you smile in the airport or the bus station will be sitting behind you for hours. In the few moments when he’s not screaming, he’s kicking your chair right behind your head, rendering the noise cancellation headphones you bought utterly useless.
• In the world of TMI (too much information), you’re likely to hear something that makes you wish you had a plastic bubble. Someone near you on a subway will be talking to his friend on the phone about a strange rash that’s spreading everywhere while coughing violently into the air.
• The cable or appliance repair person who gave you a four-hour window when he might arrive at your house will come at the beginning of the window, the end of the window or in those three minutes you stepped out to get a cup of coffee just down the street. When you return to find the note indicating how sorry he was that he missed you, you have an adult tantrum which terrifies the neighbors and their kids, who will no longer come to your house during Halloween.
• Complaining about the performance of an athlete who never seems to live up to his or her potential means that athlete will do something incredible within moments of your most vocal complaint. That will be the case unless you’re complaining because you secretly believe that will lead to a winning effort. In that case, the athlete will meet your low expectations.
• The year you move to a place where you’re assured there are no hurricanes, you watch the familiar sight of wind tearing through your backyard, as a hurricane fells trees you have owned for all of two weeks. Ah, cypress tree, we hardly knew you.
This week there was a mini-reunion at my house of college classmates who happened to be in the area. One actually came in from Arizona, but she was making her annual New York visit anyway and included a trip to my house from the city. It was great fun to see the nine women who arrived for lunch and chatter. As classmates we do share a lifetime bond and, as contemporaries, we share a lot of history and culture. We don’t have to stop mid-sentence and explain our obscure references to younger listeners because everyone gets the point.
Each of us is curious to see how the others have aged. We mentally compare wrinkles, double chins, weight gains. We talk about our children, our grandchildren, our husbands and, in a couple of cases, ex-husbands. We tell each other about good plays we have seen, worthwhile books we have read, interesting trips we have taken. But these are superficialities. What we really want from each other is to share wisdom. After all, we have been around the block a few times by now and hopefully have learned a few things in the process.
So we ask the question of the group: At this stage of life, what is a most important insight you have had?
One answers, “To be appreciative.” I can certainly relate to that. To wake up in the morning and know you have the gift of a new day, and if you are lucky, to do with that time as you wish. Some who came still work, others are retired. Most people who come to reunions, I think, are basically happy with their lives. So since the miserable ones don’t come, those who do make it find common currency in appreciation. “I have had a good life so far, I’ve been very lucky,” is a frequent refrain.
“To be in the moment,” posits another. Yes, it’s a cliché, but one with significance. To be fully aware at any given point of where we are and what is happening around us is to enjoy a full existence. Feeling the sand give way underfoot during a walk on the beach, hearing the calls of seagulls over the water as they search for dinner, feeling the soft wind coming up from the southwest as it blows against one’s cheek, smelling the salt in the air as the waves break against the shore — all of those experiences enhance the present moment.
“Let it go,” offers another. Now we are getting into deeper discussion. We carry guilt to some degree, all humans do. We also carry anger, or fear, perhaps. We may struggle with resentment, envy, an affront, disappointment, hurt, traumatic memories and any number of other negative emotions. Have we learned after all this time to let them go? Or at least have we learned how to work through them so they lessen in our hearts and minds?
“I have learned how much it pleases me to make connections,” was another response. “If I am somewhere and meet a stranger who is striving for a goal, and I know something or someone else who could perhaps help that person to realize his or her ambition, I enjoy connecting them.”
That comment made me think of one of my favorite analogies, that of comparing life to a game of billiards. We glance off each other as we move along, perhaps exchanging a few words in just a few moments that have meaning.
I remember one day waiting for the light at Ninth Avenue in Manhattan on my way to the Lincoln Tunnel and New Jersey. How many times I had made that trip, and always the same way. But this one time I noticed that the pick-up truck waiting next to me was turning in the opposite direction despite having New Jersey plates. So I rolled down my window and called out to the driver, asking where to turn. He yelled back his answer, the light changed and we both drove away. But his way shortened my trip by several minutes. In that brief exchange, he changed my life positively. How meaningful even the briefest connection can be.
As you might tell, we had a good time at our mini-reunion.
Increasing the quality of food that you eat has a tremendous impact. Stock photo
Micronutrient-dense foods are most satisfying
By David Dunaief, M.D.
Dr. David Dunaief
Why do we eat? Hunger is only one reason. There are many psychological and physiological factors that influence our eating behavior, including addictions, lack of sleep, stress, environment, hormones and others. This can make weight management or weight loss for the majority who are overweight or obese — approximately 72 percent of the U.S. adult population — very difficult to achieve (1).
Since calorie counts have been required on some municipalities’ menus, we would expect that consumers would be making better choices. Unfortunately, studies of the results have been mostly abysmal. Nutrition labeling either doesn’t alter behavior or encourages higher calorie purchases, according to most studies (2, 3).
Does this mean we are doomed to acquiesce to temptation? Actually, no: It is not solely about willpower. Changing diet composition is more important.
What can be done to improve the situation? In my clinical experience, increasing the quality of food has a tremendous impact. Foods that are the most micronutrient dense, such as plant-based foods, rather than those that are solely focused on macronutrient density, such as protein, carbohydrates and fats, tend to be the most satisfying. In a week to a few months, one of the first things patients notice is a significant reduction in their cravings. But don’t take my word for it. Let’s look at the evidence.
Effect of refined carbohydrates
By this point, many of us know that refined carbohydrates are not beneficial. Well, there is a randomized controlled trial (RCT), the gold standard of studies, with results that show refined carbohydrates may cause food addiction (4). There are certain sections of the brain involved in cravings and reward that are affected by high-glycemic (sugar) foods, as shown by MRI scans of trial subjects.
The participants consumed a 500-calorie shake with either a high-glycemic index or with a low-glycemic index. They were blinded (unaware) as to which type they were drinking. The ones who drank the high-glycemic shake had higher levels of glucose in their blood initially, followed by a significant decline in glucose levels and increased hunger four hours later. In fact, the region of the brain that is related to addiction, the nucleus accumbens, showed a spike in activity with the high-glycemic intake.
According to the authors, this effect may occur regardless of the number or quantity of calories consumed. Granted, this was a very small study, but it was well designed. High-glycemic foods include carbohydrates, such as white flour, sugar and white potatoes. The conclusion: Everyone, but especially those trying to lose weight, should avoid refined carbohydrates. The composition of calories matters.
Comparing macronutrients
We tend to focus on macronutrients when looking at diets. These include protein, carbohydrates and fats, but are these the elements that have the most impact on weight loss? In an RCT, when comparing different macronutrient combinations, there was very little difference among groups, nor was there much success in helping obese patients reduce their weight (5, 6). In fact, only 15 percent of patients achieved a 10 percent reduction in weight after two years.
The four different macronutrient diet combinations involved an overall calorie restriction. In addition, each combination had either high protein, high fat; average protein, high fat; high protein, low fat; or low protein, low fat. Carbohydrates ranged from low to moderate (35 percent) in the first group to high (65 percent) in the last group. This was another relatively well-designed study, involving 811 participants with an average BMI of 33 kg/m², which is defined as obese (at least 30 kg/m²).
Again, focusing primarily on macronutrient levels and calorie counts did very little to improve results.
Impact of obesity
In an epidemiological study looking at National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, results demonstrate that those who are overweight and obese tend to be lacking in micronutrients (7). The authors surmise that it may have to do with the change in metabolic activity associated with more fat tissue. These micronutrients include carotenoids, such as lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin, as well as vitamin B12, folate and vitamins C, E and D.
However, supplements don’t compensate for missing micronutrients. Quite the contrary, micronutrients from supplements are not the same as those from foods. With a few exceptions, such as vitamin D and potentially B12, most micronutrient levels can be raised without supplementation. Please ask your doctor.
Steroid levels
The good news is that once people lose weight, they may be able to continue to keep the weight off. In a prospective (forward-looking) study, results show that once obese patients lose weight, the levels of cortisol metabolite excretion decreases significantly (8).
Why is this important? Cortisol is a glucocorticoid, which means it raises the level of glucose and is involved in mediating visceral or belly fat. This type of fat has been thought to coat internal organs, such as the liver, and result in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Decreasing the level of cortisol metabolite may also result in a lower propensity toward insulin resistance and may decrease the risk of cardiovascular mortality. This is an encouraging preliminary, yet small, study involving women.
Therefore, controlling or losing weight is not solely about willpower. Don’t use the calories on a menu as your sole criteria to determine what to eat; even if you choose lower calories, it may not get you to your goal. While calories may have an impact, the nutrient density of the food may be more important. Thus, those foods high in micronutrients may also play a significant role in reducing cravings, ultimately helping to manage weight.
References:
(1) www.cdc.gov. (2) Am J Pub Health 2013 Sep 1;103(9):1604-1609. (3) Am J Prev Med.2011 Oct;41(4):434–438. (4) Am J Clin Nutr Online 2013;Jun 26. (5) N Engl J Med 2009 Feb 26;360:859. (6) N Engl J Med 2009 Feb 26;360:923. (7) Medscape General Medicine. 2006;8(4):59. (8) Clin Endocrinol.2013;78(5):700-705.
Dr. Dunaief is a speaker, author and local lifestyle medicine physician focusing on the integration of medicine, nutrition, fitness and stress management.
Those peaches and nectarines blushed their way into your heart. The plums looked like 1,000-karat rubies and amethysts. The cherries, at least the one you sneaked a sample of, burst with flavor as you bit into it. So you bought them and brought them home and piled them in your favorite bowl. Then you waited for them to ripen.
And one day they did, all at once. So you ate a few, maybe made a fruit salad. And then they turned wrinkled and blemished and mushy and reminded you what an incurable impulse buyer you are. But don’t worry. There are some wonderful ways to use less than perfect summer stone fruit such as peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots and cherries.
You can put them in a saucepan with a little water or wine and sugar and cook them into a fruit compote. Or bake them with some butter, sugar, flour and oatmeal. You can make a crisp or a cobbler, a pie or a pudding, a fool or a tart. And no matter what you do, it’s a good idea to have plenty of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on hand.
Fruit Crisp
YIELD: Makes 6 to 8 servings
INGREDIENTS:
8 cups chopped stone fruit
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Butter for greasing baking dish
1/3 cup flour
¼ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 F. In a large bowl toss together fruit, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Transfer to greased 2 to 2½ quart or 9 × 13 nonreactive baking dish. In a food processor combine flour, brown sugar, salt, oats and butter until mixture has a coarse texture. Sprinkle evenly over fruit. Bake about 60 minutes, until fruit is bubbling and topping is golden. Cool on wire rack one hour or until very warm but not hot. Serve with vanilla ice cream.
Fruit Fool
Cherry Fool. Stock photo
YIELD: Makes 6 servings
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound stone fruit, pitted and sliced or chopped
3 tbl granulated sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbl confectioners’ sugar
Dash vanilla extract
Fresh mint leaves
DIRECTIONS:
In a large saucepan combine fruit and granulated sugar; add just enough water to barely cover. Bring mixture to boil, then let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the fruit is very tender. Remove from heat, allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate 30 minutes. In a large bowl, whip the cream, confectioners’ sugar and vanilla together until soft peaks form but don’t let it get too stiff. Fold whipped cream into cooked fruit and spoon into parfait or wine glasses; garnish with mint. Serve with crisp cookies.
Summer Bread Pudding
YIELD: Makes 8 servings
INGREDIENTS:
6 to 8 cups stone fruit, pared, pitted and diced
½ to ¾ cup sugar
1 to 2 tbl freshly squeezed lemon juice
10 to 12 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed
DIRECTIONS:
In a medium saucepan combine fruit, sugar, lemon juice and 1/3 to ½ cup water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce to steady simmer and cook for about 8 to10 minutes, until sugar is dissolved and fruit releases its juices. Pour a little of the fruit syrup into bottom of medium bowl; line bottom of bowl with one layer of bread slices cut to fit shape. Making sure it is completely coated, spoon about one-third of the fruit with some juice over bread. Top with more bread slices, then fruit and juices. Repeat procedure until fruit and juices as well as bread are all used up, but be sure to finish with bread on top.
Let cool completely, pat plastic wrap onto pudding so it touches it, then place a plate the same size as the top of the pudding and weight with something that weighs about one pound (an unopened 14-ounce can works well). Refrigerate 6 to 8 hours. When ready to serve, run a knife around edge of pudding, then flip and unmold onto plate. Slice into wedges and serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Peter van Nieuwenhuizen was sitting at the kitchen table, paying an expensive dental bill, when he received an extraordinary phone call. After he finished the conversation, he shared the exciting news — he and his collaborators had won a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for work they’d done decades earlier — with his wife, Marie de Crombrugghe.
The prize, which is among the most prestigious in science, includes a $3 million award, which he will split with Dan Freedman, a retired professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, and Sergio Ferrara from CERN.
De Crombrugghe suggested he could use the money “for a whole new set of teeth,” if he chose.
Van Nieuwenhuizen, Freedman and Ferrara wrote a paper in 1976 that extended the work another famous physicist, Albert Einstein, had done. Einstein’s work in his theory of general relativity was incomplete in dealing with gravity.
Freedman, who was at Stony Brook University at the time, van Nieuwenhuizen and Ferrara tackled the math that would provide a theoretical framework to include a quantum theory of gravity, creating a field called supergravity.
From left, Peter van Nieuwenhuizen, Sergio Ferrara, and Dan Freedman in 1980.
After 43 years, “I didn’t expect” the prize at all, said van Nieuwenhuizen. It’s not only the financial reward but the “recognition in the field” that has been so satisfying to the physicist, who continues to teach as a Toll Professor in the Department of Physics at SBU at the age of 80.
“To have one’s work validated by great leaders has just been wonderful,” added Freedman, who worked at SBU through the 1980s until he left to join MIT. He treasures his years at Stony Brook.
Freedman believes a seminal trip to Paris, where he discussed formative ideas that led to supergravity with Ferrara, was possible because of Stony Brook’s support.
The physics trio approached the problem of constructing a way to account for gravity by combining general relativity and particle physics, which were in two separate scientific communities at the time. Even the conferences between the two types of physics were separate.
Einstein’s theory of general relativity has infinities when scientists add quantum aspects to it. As a result, it becomes an inconsistent theory. “Supergravity is not a replacement of Einstein’s theory, it is an extension or a completion if one is bold,” van Nieuwenhuizen explained.
The Stony Brook professor suggested that supergravity is an extension of general relativity just as complex numbers are an extension of real numbers. He added that it’s unlikely that there are other extensions of general relativity that theoretical physicists have yet to postulate.
Supergravity is “confirmed by its finiteness,” he said, adding that it suggests the existence of a gravitino, which is a partner to the graviton or the gravity-carrying boson. At this point, scientists haven’t found the gravitino.
“Enormous groups have been looking” for the gravitino, but, so far, “haven’t found a single one,” van Nieuwenhuizen said. The search for such a particle isn’t a “problem for me. That’s what experimental physicists must solve,” he said.
The work has already had implications for numerous other fields, including superstring theory, which attempts to provide a unified field theory to explain the interactions or mechanics of objects. Even if the search for a gravitino doesn’t produce such a particle, van Nieuwenhuizen suggested that supergravity still remains a “tool able to solve problems in physics and mathematics.”
Indeed, since the original publication about supergravity, over 11,000 articles have supergravity as a subject.
Collaborators and fellow physicists have reached out to congratulate the trio on winning the Special Breakthrough Prize, which counts the late Stephen Hawking among its previous winners.
The theoretical impact of supergravity “was huge,” said Martin Roček, a professor in the Department of Physics at Stony Brook who has known and worked with van Nieuwenhuizen for decades.
Whenever interest in the field wanes, Roček said, someone makes a new discovery that shows that supergravity is “at the center of many things.”
He added that the researchers are “very much deserving” of the award because the theory “offers such a rich framework for formulating and solving problems.”
Roček, who worked as a postdoctoral researcher in Hawking’s laboratory, said other researchers at Stony Brook are “all delighted” and they “hope some of the luster rubs off.”
Van Nieuwenhuizen’s legacy, which is intricately linked with supergravity, extends to the classroom, where he has invested considerable time in teaching.
Van Nieuwenhuizen is a “wonderful teacher,” Roček said. Indeed, he received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching in 2010 based on teaching evaluations from graduate students. Roček has marveled at the way van Nieuwenhuizen prepares for his lectures, adding, “He doesn’t give deep statements and leave you bewildered. He explains things explicitly and he does a lot of calculations without being dull.”
Van Nieuwenhuizen recalled the exhilaration, and challenge, that came from publishing their paper in 1976. “We knew right away” that this was a seminal paper, he said. “The race was on to discover its consequences.”
Prior to the theory, the three could work in relative calm before the physics world followed up with more research. After their discovery, they knew the “happy, isolated life is over,” he said..
Van Nieuwenhuizen has no intention to retire from the field, despite the sudden funds from the prize, which is sponsored by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan, Mark Zuckerberg, Pony Ma, Yuri and Julia Milner and Anne Wojcicki.
“The idea that I would stop abhors me,” he said. “I wouldn’t know what on earth I would be doing. I consider it a privilege to give these courses, to work and be paid to do my hobby. It’s really unheard of.”
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital on July 23. Photo from SBU
By Carol A. Gomes
With the latest addition of Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital, Stony Brook Medicine further expands its role as a leading integrated health care system delivering increased care options to benefit our patients across Long Island.
The Stony Brook Medicine health care system now consists of Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH), Stony Brook Children’s Hospital (SBCH), Stony Brook Southampton Hospital (SBSH) and Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital (SBELIH). The system includes more than 1,200 physicians on the full-time faculty in the Renaissance School of Medicine and nearly 200 additional employed physicians in the community. Our ambulatory footprint is comprised of more than 100 outpatient care sites, strategically located to enhance convenient access to care.
The hospitals in the Stony Brook Medicine health care system will work together to provide access to the full range of health care services to East End residents, locally in the community and at SBUH, a world-class tertiary medical center. By combining our resources, we will match patients with the right type of care in the right facility.
Our objective is to improve coordination of complex episodes of care for our patients while at the same time improving efficiency and lowering the cost of care. To deliver this seamless care, we are making considerable incremental investments to facilitate caregiver communication, including integration of electronic medical records.
We look forward to further realizing the benefits of combining a large academic medical center with community-based hospitals. The latter offers unique academic and training opportunities for our residents and fellows. As clinical campuses and training sites, SBELIH and SBSH will help increase the number of physicians, specialists, allied health professionals and nurses on Eastern Long Island choosing to explore opportunities to practice medicine in community settings.
For example, Stony Brook Medicine already hosts a psychiatric residency program at SBELIH, and a new Mastery in General Surgery Fellowship program provides surgical fellows with four months of community hospital experience.
Stony Brook has also improved access to prehospital emergency care on the North Fork, with two EMS “fly cars,” staffed by paramedics who serve as first responders on the scene of emergencies. In the future, telehealth connections will be established between the emergency departments of SBUH and SBELIH, and on Shelter Island, to further improve direct access to Stony Brook Medicine specialists.
Fortunately, Stony Brook Medicine has a long history of working collaboratively with both of our community-based hospital partners to meet the needs of patients on the East End. Formalizing the relationship with SBSH two years ago and now adding SBELIH to the system will allow us to work even more closely together to improve access to medical and surgical services, as well as specialty care, and to offer new community-based health programs.
We look forward to creating even closer ties in the future as we further develop our integrated healthcare system, with the patient at the center of everything we do.
Carol A. Gomes, MS, FACHE, CPHQ is the Interim Chief Executive Officer of Stony Brook University Hospital.
Pictured above, at the Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital ribbon-cutting ceremony, held on July 23, from left: New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.; Paul J. Connor III, Chief Administrative Officer, Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital; Greenport Mayor George Hubbard; Thomas E. Murray Jr., ELIH Board Chairman; Scott Russell, Supervisor, Town of Southold; Michael A. Bernstein, PhD, Interim President, Stony Brook University; Kenneth Kaushansky, MD, MACP, Senior Vice President, Health Sciences, and Dean, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University; Al Krupski, Suffolk County Legislator; Margaret M. McGovern, MD, PhD, Vice President for Health System Clinical Programs and Strategy, Stony Brook Medicine; and New York State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle.
This week’s shelter pet is Nico, an adorable 6-year-old Chihuahua mix currently waiting to be adopted at Kent Animal Shelter. Nico was brought to the shelter by his family because they were no longer able to keep him.
Nico is a little sweetie and just loves to be with people but is choosy about what dogs he likes to spend time with. Come on down and meet Nico. He’s sure to warm your heart!
Nico comes neutered, microchipped and is up to date on all his vaccines.
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on Nico and other adoptable pets at Kent, call 631-727-5731 or visit www.kentanimalshelter.com.
‘Butterflies … flowers that fly and all but sing.’ − Robert Frost
Bill Pollack of East Setauket snapped this stunning photo in his backyard with a Samsung Galaxy S9 on Aug. 8. He writes, ‘This [eastern tiger swallowtail] butterfly stopped by for a little nectar from my hanging plant.’
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