Fewer heart patients at Glen Cove Hospital will need to be sent elsewhere for an advanced cardiac CT scan. Northwell Health's Glen Cove Hospital has opened the R.H. Cushman Cardiac Imaging Center, a newly built space inside the hospital on St. Andrews Lane, and the scanner at its center was bought largely with a gift from the estate of a man the hospital cared for over nearly half a century.

Rod and Verena Cushman

Roderick Cushman, known as Rod, was a Glen Cove Hospital patient for close to 50 years. After the first of several heart attacks, his wife, Verena, learned to watch for the warning signs, an unsteady walk or slurred speech, and each time she saw them she drove him to the emergency department at the hospital near their home. Over the years the couple came to rely on its doctors.

After Rod's death, his estate left Northwell a $1 million gift to buy a cardiac CT scanner for Glen Cove Hospital. The new center carries his name.

What the scanner does

The center is built around the Revolution Apex, a cardiac CT platform that produces detailed images of the heart and the coronary arteries. Doctors use it to check patients quickly for coronary artery disease, blocked arteries and other heart conditions. Until now, a patient who needed that kind of scan at Glen Cove could have had to be moved to another facility to get it. Having the scanner in the building cuts out that trip, which matters most when a fast diagnosis decides the next step in treatment.

According to the hospital, the center is part of Northwell's plan to grow on Long Island and bring more advanced diagnostic services to its community hospitals, so patients can stay closer to home for tests that once meant a drive to a larger medical center. Glen Cove's chief of cardiology, Andrew M. Galmer, DO, and its president, Maria Torroella Carney, MD, both described the center as a way to keep coordinated heart care in the community.

A state grant helped too

Along with the Cushman gift, the project received a $250,000 New York State grant, secured with the support of Assemblymember Charles Lavine, to expand cardiac imaging services at the hospital.

Also at Glen Cove Hospital this fall

In late October, Healthgrades gave Glen Cove Hospital five-star ratings for its treatment of sepsis and bowel obstruction in its 2027 specialty care ratings. The ratings compare a hospital's patient outcomes with the outcomes predicted for similar patients nationwide.

For patients

Glen Cove Hospital is at 101 St. Andrews Lane, Glen Cove, and its main number is 516-674-7300. A cardiac CT scan is ordered by a physician; patients who think they may need one can ask their cardiologist or primary care doctor, or find a Northwell cardiologist in Glen Cove through the hospital's website.

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