Change At The Helm Of Huntington Hospital

Nick Fitterman, MD, has been named executive director of Huntington Hospital.

Nick Fitterman, MD has been named executive director of Huntington Hospital, Northwell Health has announced. Fitterman succeeds Gerard Brogan, MD, who was promoted to chief revenue officer for Northwell.

Fitterman, of Northport, began his medical career at Huntington Hospital in 1992. Fitterman was the head of hospitalists at Huntington Hospital before becoming vice chair of medicine at Northwell.

Fitterman is an elected governor of the American College of Physicians’ (ACP) Long Island Region, has been named to the ACP’s honor roll as a top hospitalist and was awarded a mastership by the ACP. Fitterman also has a fellow designation from the Society of Hospitalist Medicine and is the former president of the group’s Long Island chapter.

 “Having been a resident of Northport for the last 27 years and starting my medical professional career at Huntington Hospital, this place holds a special place in my heart which will fuel me in my new role,” Fitterman said. “The opportunity to once again serve the community of Huntington is a privilege I look forward to.”

“With a wealth of experience and knowledge of both Huntington Hospital and hospital medicine, Dr. Fitterman is poised to lead Huntington Hospital as it begins its second century of serving the community,” said Michael J. Dowling, president and chief executive officer of Northwell Health.

Review Board OKs Hotel Plans

Renderings of the Northport Hotel were presented before the village architectural review board and approved at the beginning of October.

By Sophia Ricco
sricco@longislandergroup.com

After gaining approval from the village architectural review board, the Northport Hotel is one committee away from making co-owners, Richard Dolce and Kevin O’Neill’s vision of a quaint place to stay in Northport a reality.

The duo received approval from the Northport village architectural review board on Oct. 3, following a public review session. At the meeting, residents gave their opinions on the latest rendition of the building that had been updated to give it a more residential feel. The shingle style siding received a positive response as did other revisions that were made.

“In an effort to incorporate some components of the design of the Conklin House, the original house that is on the site that was encased with masonry structures” O’Neill said. “The board had asked me to see if we could incorporate the beautiful window design that is at the top.”

He instructed Hoffman Grayson Architects to “make the hotel look more charming.” Inspiration for the updated design came from images of harbor town hotels in other locations, making it “tastefully crafted.” Also, after O’Neill expressed concerns about the village’s poor drainage system and flooding on Main Street, the entrance was moved to the corner to the building.

The designs resonated with the community and the review board voted that night to approve the project, as long as no significant changes are made to the design or materials.

“We are on our way, we are very happy to have that part completed and we are now onto the planning board,” O’Neill said.

The next undertaking, securing approval from the planning board, will get underway in the next few months, according to O’ Neill. The owners will be presenting a revised application on Oct. 23 with hopes the board will call for a public hearing at the next meeting, Nov. 27.

“My hope is that we can wrap this up by the end of November… If that were to pan out the timeline would be in December to start doing asbestos abatement, during January take the building down, and then go right into construction in February,” O’Neill said.

As long as there are no hiccups in construction, the goal is to have the hotel up and running within a year of starting the build.

“We’ve been able to demo for some time now but wanted to wait until after the summer because it would be too disruptive during the peak season for merchants, so we didn’t want to disrupt business activity,” O’Neill said.

Once the hotel is open, O’Neill hopes it will stimulate further offseason activity in Northport. The hotel will have around 25 rooms and suites, as well as a full restaurant on the ground level.

“I think it will invigorate year round activity from a business standpoint, particularly the off-season. Northport is not as seasonal as people think it to be,” O’Neill said.

He believes the hotel will “make all of Northport proud” by giving people an opportunity to visit Northport, while shopping and dining at local locations. The hotel offers almost 50 parking spots on site.

“Not every hotel needs to be a 200 room hotel on the LIE, there’s a charming ambience that you can’t replicate in those locations that you can in a downtown harbor town, like Northport,” O’Neill said.

The building will replace the former Conklin family home that currently lies beneath years is masonry additions. O’Neill said the Conklin family and public is happy to see a more attractive building planned for the site.

“This will bring back a place for lodging, which Northport had 125 years ago,” O’Neill said. “There were beautiful hotels right on Main Street.”

Hurricane Hounds Are Huntington Bound

Little Shelter rescue transport has brought 35 dogs and cats from flooded areas in the Carolinas to homes in Huntington.

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

When Hurricane Florence made landfall at approximately 7:15 a.m., Sept. 14 near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, the Category 1 storm had sustained winds of around 90 mph. Perhaps the most devastating consequence of the slow moving storm was the incredible amount of rain that lashed down across coastal and inland parts of the Carolinas.

Swansboro, North Carolina, around 70 miles north of Wilmington, was flooded with over 30 inches of rain as Florence moved inland.

As the level of destruction and devastation caused by Hurricane Florence became apparent, the staff of Little Shelter in Huntington sprang into action. Aware that humans weren’t the only victims of the storm, Little Shelter launched a relief transport to the Carolinas to rescue dogs and cats that needed a safe haven.

“I feel strongly that if Little Shelter has the ability to help, then we certainly have a responsibility to help,” David Ceely, Executive Director of Little Shelter, said.

Ceely said Little Shelter reached out by email, phone and social media to shelters in the areas affected by the hurricane and related flooding. The organization was able to build contacts with other animal shelters when they responded to help house animals displaced during hurricanes Harvey and Maria in 2017.

“It was set up through our regular rescue network, and it was actually a contact of ours that we were helping with the hurricane problems last year,” Ceely said.

Little Shelter sent its rescue van down to the Carolinas, and, in multiple rescue transports, brought both dogs and cats back to Huntington.

“So far in total we have about 35 total cats and dogs,” Ceely said. “About 12 cats and the rest are dogs.”

Included in Little Shelter’s rescue transports were multiple dogs that were going to the Town of Huntington Animal Shelter in order to maximize the number of animals that could be saved. Ceely said this was the second time that the town and Little Shelter have teamed up to help animals displaced by hurricanes.

The animals that Little Shelter brought back from the Carolinas were already living in animal shelters when Hurricane Florence hit. The transports to Huntington opened up much needed space for southern shelters that were becoming overwhelmed by the influx of displaced animals.

Ceely said several of the dogs and cats were rescued from a municipal shelter that was damaged by flooding.

Once the animals are thoroughly evaluated, they will be available for adoption at both Little Shelter and the Town of Huntington Animal Shelter.

“They go through a two week quarantine period with us,” Ceely said. “After that they will be fully vetted and evaluated medically and emotionally, and then they’ll go up for adoption.”

Ceely anticipated that the animal rescue transports from the Carolinas would continue for “a couple of months.”

Little Shelter is currently collecting donations to help cover the continued care of the rescued animals.