$2.5M lobby plans under way at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital

Following the opening of its $60 million Knapp Cardiac Care Center, Brookhaven Memorial Hospital has embarked on a campaign to rebuild its front lobby and reception area.

It’s a $2.5 million project, and Brookhaven Memorial is already halfway there.

“The importance of the lobby can’t be overstated,” said Tom Cullen, who is chairing the hospital’s fundraising committee. “It’s the main door to this institution where all the visitors are coming to see their family.

“It was natural that next [after the cardiac care center], we would go and fix this lobby, and make it a testament to what’s going on at this institution.”

Cullen announced at a ceremony Tuesday that the committee had already surpassed its 50 percent goal by raising $1.3 million.

The goal was reached thanks in huge part to a generous lead donation from hospital board member and past president Walter Ladick and his wife, RoseMarie (pictured above).

The lobby will be named in honor of the Ladicks and in memory of Rosemarie Ladick’s late parents and late brother, Foster B. and Rose Aviano, and Foster M. Aviano.

The project recently broke ground and construction will proceed in stages to minimize disruption to the public’s access to hospital services. In the meantime, patients and visitors are being directed to the hospital’s north parking lot to enter through the Knapp Cardiac Care Center entrance.

The original lobby dates to 1970, according to engraved stone on the building visible during Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony.

“We’re moving away from the 1970s, which by the way was a great decade …” the hospital’s president and CEO, Richard Margulis, said to laughter. “Well be moving from the 1970s into the 21st century, and a lobby that when you walk in for the first time at the ribbon-cutting, it will be a ‘wow’ experience.”

“Our lobby is another measure of pride,” Margulis said. “In the coming months we’ll be talking more about what we’re doing with the Foley Center. And, we’ll be talking about how we’re going to reintroduce Brookhaven Hospital to our community.”

Below is a rendering of the future lobby.