Nassau
HERALD All the News of the Five Towns
Goldstein resigns from village board
Taking stock of removed geese
New trustees in lawrence
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Vol. 97 No. 39
SEPTEMBER 24 - 30, 2020
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St. John’s is nearly done with rebuild E. D. more than doubles in size gency patients annually. The original Emergency Department, built 72 years ago, was Emergency room users imag- designed to treat 15,000 patients ining a loved one confined to a per year. The volume at St. tight space with John’s, the only only a curtain for hospital in the privacy, or gurRockaways, has neys lined up in a l s o i n c re a s e d hallways crowded because of the with patients, will 2012 closure of appreciate St. Peninsula HospiJohn’s Episcopal tal. St. John’s has Hospital’s over257 beds, and is hauled emergency typically 85 perdepartment. cent occupied, The Far Rockaofficials said. way hospital has With 18 private aimed to elimirooms — three for nate those nightpediatric patients mares with the — a half dozen completion of the rapid-evaluation second phase of beds, two nurses i t s E m e r g e n cy stations, a technoDepartment renoJeffrey Bessen/Herald logically advanced vation, more than dR. JudY ModicA spoke CT scanner, negad o u b l i n g t h e about the new amenities t ive p re s s u re space, from rough- in the emergency departrooms that help to ly 10,000 square ment at St. John’s. prevent the feet to 21,000. s p re a d o f a i rNow serving bor ne diseases nearly 150,000 residents of the such as Covid-19, a dedicated Rockaway Peninsula along with OBGYN room and a decontamipeople in the Five Towns, St. nation room with showers inside John’s treats nearly 49,000 emerContinued on page 8
By JEFFREY BESSEN jbessen@liherald.com
Courtesy Brian O’Connell
lWA HEAdMASTER BRiAN O’Connell, left, visited James Bogdan’s socially distanced middle school science class last Friday.
Offering a place for normalcy in unprecedented times LWA welcomes students back in person By MATTHEW FERREMi mferremi@liherald.com
After a tumultuous few months for the Lawrence Woodmere Academy, brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, Head of School Brian O’Connell said he was optimistic about the Woodmere school’s future. Since school began on
Sept. 8, LWA has been conducting in-person learning five days a week. “Young children need to be in school, as they need to be with a teacher and need that classroom dynamic,” O’Connell said. “Yes, they’re wearing masks and they’re sitting six feet apart, but it’s real school.” The school day effectively begins for students before
they leave home, when they complete a health screening through an online app called Magnus. Then, as administrators, staff and students enter the building, all have their temperatures taken. “Everything is a point of mitigation, as nothing is ever 100 percent under these circumstances,” O’Connell said. “The goal is to Continued on page 8