SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Coney Island Hospital located at 2601 Ocean Parkway. (Source: Gregory Maizous)

Kathleen Marino, a registered nurse serving at Coney Island Hospital (2601 Ocean Parkway), received a distinguished “Excellence for Management” award from the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) for outstanding work.

The HHC press release described the high standards set for the various honors:

The HHC nurses who received the award have gone beyond their daily routines to be positive leaders and mentors for other nurses, implement programs and processes to improve patient care, and volunteer their personal time to provide medical services to communities in New York City and abroad. They are among the 8,000 nurses at HHC — men and women who provide care each day to New Yorker’s in its public hospitals, long-term care facilities and health centers across the five boroughs.

“HHC nurses are not only going above and beyond for their patients and colleagues, but voluntarily bringing that expertise and medical care to their communities,” said HHC President Alan D. Aviles. “These nurses are an example of the skill and compassion we see and appreciate from them each day.”

“These individuals have not only demonstrated their commitment to quality patient care, but also to advancing the knowledge and tools available to all staff,” said HHC Chief Nursing Officer Lauren Johnston, RN, MPA. “They work tirelessly to not only improve the lives of patients, but to also make sure their families and caregivers have the support they need.”

The HHC signaled out why Marino won the “Excellence for Management” award, stating that she, “creates procedures and tools to help her staff improve performance for better patient outcomes, and encourages them to complete certifications. She also coordinates groups for NICU parents where they receive support and important health information.”

Congratulations to Marino for going beyond the call of duty to provide people in our area with excellent service in the extremely demanding world of health care.

The Bay Improvement Group boogied down and gave props up last Thursday night at their annual Oscars gala, when it celebrated a pack of heroes who went above and beyond to help neighbors during Superstorm Sandy.

Learn about the honorees, and view photos from the event.

Sheepshead Bay honored the Auxiliary Police Officers of the 61st Precinct this past Wednesday evening for their hard work and dedication after Superstorm Sandy.

The auxiliary force of the 61st Precinct, the city’s largest, is an all-volunteer force who’ve come together to assist local NYPD operations by performing uniformed patrols. After Sandy, auxiliary units were deployed to hard-hit areas, including Manhattan Beach and Gerritsen Beach.

The officers received plaques, certificates, and standing ovations from community leaders and locals at Wednesday night’s 61st Precinct Community Council meeting. Neighbors joined together to celebrate the communal effort to get Sheepshead Bay back on its feet after October’s disastrous hurricane.

“Because of them, we felt assured our lives were coming back to normal,” said one local.

Officers responded graciously.

“We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give,” said one of auxiliary’s recipients.

Congratulations to the following officers:

A/LT Joseph Bognar
A/LT Yassir Sadik
A/SGT Jonathan Legarreta
A/SGT John Ramnauth
A/SGT Ray Santiago
APO Victor Arazi
APO Thomas Brown
APO Steven Diaz
APO Richard Farnum
APO Grigory Grigoryants
APO Lior Levin
APO Samuel Modovan
APO Vitaliy Molnar
APO Hector Oquendo
APO Alfredo Perez
APO Aleksandr Toyb

If you’re interested in becoming an Auxiliary Police Officer, you can apply online.

Kingsborough Community College. Photo by Erica Sherman

A year after topping the list of best community colleges in implementing technology, Kingsborough Community College, 2001 Oriental Boulevard, again earned high honors, finishing third overall for large colleges (10,000 students or more), according to the 2012 Digital Community Colleges Survey.

According to Before It’s News:

“Survey questions and criteria examined and scored areas of digital and emerging technologies, such as use of mobile devices and technology integration into curriculum; strategic planning and data management; and delivery models and professional development, including availability of technology tools and training for faculty and students.”

In Government Tech’s breakdown of the rankings, Kingsborough Community College, which has more than 38,000 students, was one of three overall winners from the state of New York, with Virginia leading all states with 10 community colleges cracking the list.

Source: City & State

Well, well, well… look who will be feted with an elegant dinner and accolades during City & State’s coveted elite exclusive Rising Stars “Forty Under Forty” award ceremony next week. The vehicle, showcasing New York State’s “most promising young talent,” has selected Sheepshead Bites’ very own venerable editor and publisher, Ned Berke, who is sitting mere feet from me at I write this, threatening to fire me if I don’t meet today’s deadline in — surprise! — “under 40” minutes from now.

Sponsored by the online government and politics website City & State, best known for “First Read,” the addictive early morning roundup of government news, gossip and goings on throughout New York’s political world, “Forty Under Forty” honorees are comprised of politicians, staffers, as well as “muckraking bloggers and intrepid reporters [Ed. – that’s where our guy comes in], and well-connected lobbyists and union reps.”

Ned, a lifelong Sheepshead Bay resident (he frequently loves to remind us of the time he has spent in Peru), had always dreamed of pursuing a career in journalism. The young journalist turned enterprising businessman revealed to City & State’s Aaron Short that he was finally inspired to dip his toe into the choppy waters of hyper-local blogging after being given a nudge by the late “Gowanus Lounge” blogger, Robert Guskind during 2008’s Brooklyn Blogfest.

With mostly Downtown Brooklyncentric blogs, such as “Gowanus Lounge,” “New York Shitty” and “Pardon Me For Asking,” dominating the Brooklyn blogging landscape during the mid-aughts, Ned felt it was high time Southern Brooklyn — particularly his home ’hood of Sheepshead Bay— got some respect.

Since that time, his massive undertaking and hyper-local news coverage has gotten him profiled, interviewed or otherwise recognized by such media giants as The New York Times, The Daily News, Washington Post and Boing-Boing, among others.

After three years of developing a steady following throughout the shorefront area, the 28-year-old entrepreneur’s empire branched out to other parts of Southern Brooklyn with the successful June 2011 launch of Bensonhurst Bean.

But blah, blah, blah… we know all of this, right? What we really want to know is, what makes Ned Berke tick? I mean, do any of us really care that, if he could have dinner with anyone, it would be Mark Twain or Ralph Waldo Emerson?

No, of course not.

So fess up, Ned, and tell us what we really want to know: boxers or briefs?

A nurse at Coney Island Hospital (2601 Coney Island Hospital) got a dose of recognition recently, when The Fund for the City of New York honored her public service and eminent leadership in behavioral health and palliative care.

Donna Leno Gordon won the Sloan Public Service Awards, dubbed the “Nobel Prize of City Government,” given to only six outstanding civil servants in a city of millions.

Gordon founded Coney Island Hospital’s palliative care unit, bringing together a team of doctors from different fields to address the physical, emotional, spiritual and social concerns that arise with most advanced illnesses.

This has been Gordon’s focus at Coney Island Hospital for almost two decades. But Gordon believes she deserves no credit for this award. “This award is not about me, it’s about the entire palliative care field and how far it has come,” she told the Daily News.

In 2010 Coney Island Hospital devoted a 19-bed unit to patients with advanced diseases and possibly terminal illnesses.

Her success has allowed the spread of palliative care into other city and HHC establishments, and because of this Mayor Michael Bloomberg commended Gordon, along with the other five award recipients, at the Cooper Union on March 14.

“New York City is blessed with a great public workforce and this year’s honorees represent not only the best of government, but the very best of what our City has to offer,” Bloomberg said in a HHC press release.

Coney Island Hospital is currently the local and regional leader in palliative care.

Floyd Bennett Field's world with wings insignia on the Administration building's façade. Source: ScoutingNY

Nick Carr, our favorite movie location scout (do you know any others?), posted an exhaustively breathtaking photo essay of Floyd Bennett Field on his website, “ScoutingNY,” a tremendous blog that we were also honored to compete against last fall when CBS New York pitted us against one another in the “local affairs” category for the “New York’s Most Valuable Blogger Awards.”

Carr, who quite obviously did his homework, takes you on a fun tour through historic Floyd Bennett in a way that is very special, juxtaposing his own photos and witty commentary alongside old black and white images from 70-somewhat years ago of New York City’s first municipal airport (the closest one prior to the opening of FBF was Newark — no doubt a considerable schlep).

Go take a look at what Carr put together, and enjoy this unique and comprehensive perspective of one of southern Brooklyn’s most treasured landmarks.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

A Sheepshead Bay High School teacher has won a prestigious award from the Fund for the City of New York and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for her outstanding efforts in science.

Maria Cheryl Diangco, along with six other teachers from some of the city’s best high schools, has been recognized for her accomplishments in the classroom at Sheepshead Bay High School (3000 Avenue X), where she is an AP Biology and Science Research teacher. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation sponsors these awards that recognize exceptionally dedicated and creative teachers who have achieved outstanding results and inspired students of all backgrounds and abilities to pursue careers in science and mathematics. Diango is responsible for revitalizing the school’s science program and creating the school’s science research program.

Gotham Schools explains how she was chosen:

The teachers were nominated by students, parents, colleagues, and administrators and then selected by a committee made up of representatives from local science museums and universities, based on their students’ achievement, their involvement in extracurricular activities, and their efforts to promote math and science inside and outside the classroom.

The recipients’ high schools range from the city’s highest-performing to some of the weakest, including one that the city is trying to turn around using federal funding.

This is the third straight year that the Fund for the City of New York and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation gave awards to teachers throughout the city in the math and science field. Each teacher received a prize of $5,000 at last night’s award ceremony, while their school’s math and science program will get $2,500 at an assembly today.

Sheepshead Bay High School is currently in a federally-funded Race to the Top program to turn around the city’s troubled schools. But, at least in the case of Diangco, they’re showing they’ve got a faculty that can go head-to-head with that of Stuyvesant High School, Hunter High School and Midwood High School.

Screw the race for the 9th Congressional District; the real vote worth watching this week was CBS New York’s Most Valuable Blogger Awards. And guess who pulled off a stunning upset there? That’s right, Sheepshead Bites. Boom, baby!

Sheepshead Bites beat out Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York, Livingfreenyc, New York Places No More, Scouting New York and Second Ave. Sagas for the Editor’s Choice award in Local Affairs. No, we didn’t win the people’s vote – that went to Joe.My.God – but that’s okay with us. We’re more than happy to have been given the recognition by a group of editors over at CBS, though winning the popular vote sure would’ve been a nice touch.

Thanks to everyone who voted for us, thanks to our tipsters, and especially thanks to my colleagues, the hard-working team behind Sheepshead Bites and Bensonhurst Bean.

Madison High School's "We the People" team. (Source: Councilman Nelson's office)

The following is a press release from Councilman Michael Nelson’s office:

(Brooklyn, NY) – Council Member Michael C. Nelson proudly honored the students of James Madison High School’s Law Institute with an official NYC Council proclamation at City Hall for their outstanding victory at the prestigious “We the People” Competition in New York City.  Founded by Sonia Lerner more than twenty-five years ago, the Law Institute at James Madison High School is an intensive honors program integrating various aspects of law over four years.

Keep reading about Madison High School’s