Nurse of excellence

Members from Long Island’s hospitals gathered recently at the Woodbury Country Club for Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council’s annual Nurse of Excellence Award Ceremony. One nurse from each of the hospital council’s member hospitals was nominated for this prestigious award, which recognizes outstanding leadership and clinical practice in the nursing profession. Roseann DeLuca of West Islip was Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center’s nominee. DeLuca, a specialist in bariatric nursing, has been a Good Samaritan employee for more than 20 years. She is an advocate and resource for all bariatric patients and coordinates the medical center’s bariatric support group. In addition to her role as bariatric coordinator, she also serves as weekend house supervisor and editor of the West Islip hospital’s nursing newsletter, Nurse Matters. In 2006, Good Samaritan was named a recipient of the MagnetÔ award for excellence in nursing services by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). The designation was the result of a rigorous evaluation that included extensive interviews and reviews of nursing services, clinical outcomes and patient care. It’s one of the highest levels of recognition a hospital can achieve. Pictured from left are: Roseann DeLuca; Good Samaritan senior vice president of nursing/CNO Pat Hogan, and chair of the Nurse of Excellence Committee and CNO at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center Gara Edelstein.

Children helping children

Fourth-grade students from Ms. Ross’s class at South Bay Elementary School in West Babylon have donated a 1,000-book library to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center’s Pediatric Unit. The students gave this gift of reading to others after winning the We’re Reading! Sweepstakes, part of Scholastic Book Club’s Classrooms Care Program in which classrooms from across the country were invited to read 100 books for a chance to win 10 100-book collections that they would donate to the local charity of their choice. Their gift is being used to re-stock the “reach-out” and “read” programs at Good Samaritan’s Martin Luther King Jr. Community Health Center in Wyandanch, as well as providing hours of reading enjoyment for children in the hospital’s pediatric unit. Pictured: Ms. Ross and her fourth-grade class and Joan Alpers, director of Child Life Services, Good Samaritan Hospital, West Islip.

Thanks and farewell

Parishioners of Maria Regina Church, Seaford, thanked Sister of Charity Frances Devine (in chair at center), who is celebrating her 90th birthday and retiring from her ministry, “People of Hope.” Sister Frances worked in parish social ministry and as outreach coordinator at Maria Regina for many years and then developed a program of Scripture groups, Mom and Tots discussions, and meetings for the bereaved, separated and divorced.

Baseball champs

The boys’ baseball team from Holy Angels Regional School in Patchogue won the Catholic Middle Schools championship. The boys had a record of nine wins and one loss. In addition, the Holy Angels girls’ softball team successfully defended last year’s title, repeating as champions of the CMSAA Small Schools’ Division.

New president

Albert F. Brandel, a parishioner of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church, Melville, was recently elected president of the Inter-national Association of Lions Clubs at their international convention in Bangkok, Thailand, June 23-27. A retired police detective, Brandel has held many positions and worked in many activities since joining the Lions in 1975, including the Long Island Lions Eye Bank, serving as a representative to UNICEF, and helping coordinate Lions relief efforts at the World Trade Center following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack. In addition to his Lions activities, he has served as a Little League volunteer and as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion at his parish. He is a former member of the board of directors of the United Nations Association of the USA. Brandel’s wife, Dr. Maureen Murphy, an anesthesiologist and a Lion, practices at a community hospital.