With the expected loss of funding from Washington, D.C., and state coffers already tight, the new leaders of Nassau University Medical Center know they’re going to have to come up with a plan to try to put the hospital on firmer financial ground.

And they’re keeping their options open.

"Everything’s on the table except eliminating the safety net hospital," NUMC Chairman Stuart Rabinowitz told The Point.

And the long-range view on that could include the significant excess land around both the hospital in East Meadow and the A. Holly Patterson nursing home in Uniondale. Combined, the two facilities are on about 100 acres of land in a highly desirable county that has little space to grow.

That’s one reason developers have already begun to reach out to officials with both NUMC and the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the financial control board that oversees both the hospital and Nassau County, sources told The Point.

Hospital and NIFA officials are prepared to listen to any proposal — but any development of either site is likely far-off and won’t be simple. Title and land use restrictions likely would complicate possible development. While the public benefit corporation owns the property, there’s a complex mix of liens and other agreements that would give the county certain rights and a role to play in any development. On top of that, developing the land may require a zoning change, which gives the Town of Hempstead a say, too.

So, the hospital’s more immediate needs will require a different, short-term strategy.

"The priority is to try to figure out what funding is needed to keep the hospital going for the rest of the year," NIFA Chairman Richard Kessel told The Point.

Kessel said NIFA and NUMC officials were working together to establish a plan to address the hospital’s short-term financial situation.

Meanwhile, NUMC also has jump-started its search for a permanent chief executive. Sources told The Point they hope the hospital will have a newly chosen CEO in place before the end of the year.

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Did Nassau County police use a helicopter to disperse a crowd at Jones Beach last month, or observe the crowd from a distance? Depends on whom you ask.

After the Nassau PD deployed a helicopter in response to a large group at Jones Beach on June 5, the Federal Aviation Administration investigated whether any rules or laws were broken. Two weeks later, the FAA — without releasing the report — told Newsday it "conducted a thorough investigation and did not find any violations of the regulations."

Case closed. Nothing more to see, right?

The FAA report, obtained last week by The Point through a Freedom of Information Act request, contradicts Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman on the intent of using the helicopter, however. "Their role was not to disperse the crowd," the FAA report reads.

A few days after the June 5 incident, Blakeman praised the police for using a helicopter to break up the crowd. "We are confident the actions taken by the NCPD aviation helicopter were instrumental in dispersing a large crowd of individuals who were engaged in fighting and other disruptive behaviors … " Blakeman said.

Nassau and state parks officials said the incident began when fights broke out in a group of about 300 people gathered near the central mall of Jones Beach. Four people were treated for minor injuries, and an 18-year-old from Valley Stream was arrested for allegedly displaying the handle of a gun in his waistband. In the report, Nassau police told FAA investigators the helicopter was "responding to calls of a large fight with possible weapons involvement. Their role was to ascertain the situation and determine whether the complaint was valid and if there were injuries." After hearing radio calls of possible injuries, "disorderly conduct, use of pepper spray and possible weapons," the report said helicopter crew made several low passes at varying altitudes and distances to "determine injuries and look for weapons."

FAA regulations state "no pilot may operate an aircraft below an altitude where, if the engine fails, an emergency landing cannot be made without creating an undue hazard to people or property on the surface."

The FAA report concludes there was "no undue hazard created to people on the ground. A potential power plant failure was mitigated using a twin-engine helicopter."

If the FAA found no fault with Nassau for the June 5 response, is that an unstated green light for using choppers to disperse crowds in the future?

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