Sunday, January 28, 2007 11:34 PM

Long Island College Hospital Spring Ball
April 16, 2005
Grand Hyatt Empire Ballroom
New York, NY

The Long Island College Hospital (LICH) 2005 Spring Ball, held on Saturday, April 16, 2005 in the Empire Ballroom, was a great celebration. It began with an hour and a half long reception with plenty of gourmet, followed by a wonderful dinner. The event gave recognition to a number of different medical professionals who have contributed tremendous time energy toward enhancing the hospital's over-all capacity.

There was a wonderful silent auction, in which [I was told] over $600,000 dollars were raised for the hospital-money which, according to Ms. Rita Battles, would be used for expansion and yet even more research and education. We heard from a number of the hospital's top officials, including Chairman John Wren, who spoke about the commitment that the honorees have made. He spoke very highly of all of the honorees and the commitment they've show to the hospital, from Commerce Bank Sr. VP Gregory Braca, who tirelessly accommodated the hospital's borrowing needs throughout their expansion, to Dr. Neal Mittman, who, in overseeing the hospital's nephrology department, has show extraordinary dedication to the renal needs of its patients, to Dr. Peter Smith, who has devoted many years toward the lung-related needs of the hospital's pulmonary division. Mr. Wren's comments vibrated with a certain enthusiasm with regard to the dedication of the honorees of whom he spoke. He spoke of the large number of patients that depend upon both Dr. Mittman and Dr. Smith for their extraordinary skills as physicians. He also gave a word of acknowledgement of the new President and CEO, Rita M. Battles.

We also heard from Ms. Rita M. Battles, the President and CEO of Long Island College Hospital, who had nothing but great things to say about the honorees, about the innovative smoking cessation program that Dr. Smith has developed, the extraordinary leadership which Dr. Mittman has demonstrating in his managing of the Avram Division of Nephrology (which one of New York's premier dialysis and nephrology research centers.) She was extremely grateful for the extraordinary commitment that Mr. Gregory Braca, Senior VP of Commerce Bank, has demonstrated in his consistent support of the hospital's expansion, in terms of its financial needs.

There was a word from Dr. Daniel Ricciardi, who President of the Medical Staff. Dr. Ricciardi provided everyone with an overview of the hospital's accomplishments, everything from its pioneering research to its being the first to use stethoscopes. He emphasized LICH's being at the forefront of modern medicine and medical research, and gave a brief comment about the three honorees for the evening, stating their being among the finest in colleagues, physicians and friends.

Throughout the evening we saw slideshows about LICH's history since the early 1,800's, and all of the "firsts" it has achieved-becoming the first U.S. medical school to make bedside teaching a standard technique adopted throughout the country, its use of anesthesia, and many more innovations. We also enjoyed a great dinner complete with all of the fixings.

As the honorees were announced, one by one, each one came up to the stage not only to give a thank you, but also to comment on the experiences they've had throughout their years of working for, and supporting LICH. The energy and enthusiasm that each of them spoke with made it quite clearly that there was a strong relationship between the honorees and LICH.

There was also plenty of dancing and an over-all upbeat mood about the event, and why not, Long island College Hospital is a very unique hospital, in that, as some of the officials mentioned, it has all of the qualities of a modern state-of-the-art hospital, yet has a staff of people who show extraordinary dedication to the caring aspects of its staff-the "personal" needs. Even the guests all had nothing but great things to say to us about their view of Long Island College Hospital.

Everyone had a great time at the Spring Ball. We at Liberty News would like to thank Ms. Sharon Ryle Director of Communications for Long Island College Hospital for their kind invitation for us to come and cover the event. Anyone interested in learning more about the Long Island College Hospital may visit their website at www.lich.org.

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