MDNews - Long Island

health and well being of our community will be ser ved. By invest- ing in youth and giving them a sense of place and responsibility for problem solving in the community ensures that it will have bright and capable future leaders for STEM careers. Medical Mar vels is an annual program. Any New York state-accredited educational institution in Nassau or Suffolk counties is eligible to par ticipate. Nor thwell Health announced that the state has approved a request to join Forest Hills Hospital and Franklin Hospital in Valley Stream with Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical Center. Both community hospitals are now under the operating license of New Hyde Park-based LIJ Medical Center and are divisions of LIJ Medical Center. They have been renamed Long Island Jewish Forest Hills and Long Island Jewish Valley Stream. Being fully integrated into LIJ's operations benefits patients of the two hos - pitals by connecting them to the exper tise and resources of one of the region's most highly specialized medical centers. Jobs, ser vices and leadership teams at the Forest Hills and Valley Stream locations are not affected by the amalgamation with LIJ Medical Center. The two community hospitals will continue to deliver a full array of programs and ser vices to patients in the Queens and Nassau County communities they ser ve. The Cardiothoracic Unit at Nor th Shore University Hospital (NSUH) received a Silver Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association for Critical-Care Nurses (A ACN), mark - ing the second intensive care unit at NSUH to receive the es- teemed designation this year. In Februar y, NSUH's Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit was honored with a Silver Beacon Award. The national award recognizes caregivers who provide excep- tional patient care in a healthy work environment and who distinguish themselves by im - proving ever y facet of patient care. Units that achieve this three-year designa - tion meet national criteria consis - tent with Magnet Recognition, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the National Quality Healthcare Award. The silver designation was received for scoring high in the fol - lowing categories: leadership structures and systems; appro- priate staffing and staff engagement; effective communication, knowledge management, learning and development; evidence- based practices and processes; and outcome measurement. To learn more about the Beacon Award of Excellence, call 800-899-2226. Entering Zucker Hillside Hospital's (ZHH) Behavioral Health Pavilion to a burst of enthusiastic applause, New York City First Lady, Chirlane McCray, helped cut the ribbon for a new, 20-bed, single-gender inpatient unit dedi - cated to easing the burden of mater - nal depression. McCray empha - sized the impor- tance of a unit devoted to meeting the needs of women struggling with issues relating to pregnancy and motherhood, citing studies suggesting that at least one out of ever y ten pregnant women and new mothers suffer from postpar tum depression. In New York City, that means 12,000 to 15,000 cases each year. To address these issues, each member of this unit's staff has been specially trained in the management of a perinatal psychiat - ric patient. A team of St. Charles Hospital chefs won first place in The Healthcare Culinar y Challenge hosted by the Association for Healthcare Foodser vice (AHF) New York Chapter on March 23. This is the second consecutive victor y for the St. Charles team, who also placed first in the 2014 competition. St. Charles was the only team from Long Island and one of only three teams from New York hospitals and healthcare organizations to par ticipate in this live, timed cooking competition at the Institute of Culinar y Education in New York City. AHF New York designed The Healthcare Culinar y Challenge after popular television cooking competitions, such as Iron Chef America, in which teams of professional chefs plan and execute a three-course menu under rigid time restrictions. AHF New York contestants were allotted 30 minutes to plan their menu and one hour to prepare the dishes. The secret ingredient, a whole salmon, was revealed immediately before the 30-minute menu planning session began. In a pressure cooker competition, three hospital chefs with more than 50 years of combined culinar y experience impressed judges at Nor thwell Health's Fifth Annual Ultimate Healthy Cooking Challenge to win the top prize for their original India-inspired, three-course menu. Culinar y masters from 15 hospitals around the New York metropolitan area competed in the contest held at Glen Cove Hospital, proving they can ser ve up delicious, restaurant-quality meals — without the added high fat, calories or sodium. The winning chef team — Janisa Freysinet, Nor th Shore University Hospital; Patricia Sobel, Nor thern Westchester Hospital; and Russell Ficke, Syosset Hospital — had never pro - fessionally cooked together. Their three delicious, eye-catching dishes — Gobi dumplings; cauliflower steak chana masala; and pineapple, peaches and meringues — took the top honor. ■ New York City First Lady, Chirlane McCray, was joined by council member Barry Grodenchik and leadership of The Zucker Hillside Hospital and Northwell Health to celebrate the opening of a new inpatient unit that addresses the needs of women living with maternal depression. The unit is the first of its kind in New York state. 3 0 L O C A L N E W S North Shore University Hospital's Cardiothoracic UnitReceives Silver Beacon Award for Excellence 3 0

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