(April 20, 2007 -- Rockville Centre, NY) - Members of the Jump Start Foundation visited Mercy Medical Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) on April 5th to present a check for $10,000, bringing the high school athletics group’s support for the special facility for premature and sick newborns to $91,000.

Swarna Devarajan, MD, Director Neonatology & Newborn Services, accepted the gift and conducted a tour to provide the teenagers with an up-close look at the high-tech equipment and specially-trained staff that their donations help to support.

Mercy’s facility is the only Level III NICU on Nassau County’s south shore, a designation from the New York State Department of Health signifying that Mercy can provide complex care for all premature babies and newborns with post-delivery complications.

The Jump Start Foundation (www.jumpstartfoundation.org) was established in 2003 as the only local organization directly supporting neonatal diseases. Founder Matthew Colantonio, who attends Chaminade High School, spent the first weeks of his life in a NICU. With the help of six friends on his baseball and soccer teams, one of whom also began life in a NICU, he created a charitable organization that raises funds to support Mercy Medical Center’s services for sick newborns through activities that combine athletic events with community service. They chose the name Jump Start because the babies in a NICU are premature and sick newborns who need a jump-start on life, the way a weakened car battery needs a jump-start to get going.

About Mercy Medical Center
Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre is a 387-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving the healthcare needs of Nassau County and its surrounding area. Best known for services in maternal health, oncology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, orthopedics, and behavioral health, Mercy is a state-designated Level II Trauma and Stroke Center, site of a Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, a Bariatric Center of Excellence designated by the American Society of Bariatric Surgery, and the regional home of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Mercy also is the recipient of the 2007 Orthopedic Care Excellence Award from HealthGrades, marking the third year in a row that the nation’s leading healthcare ratings company has given Mercy’s program its top orthopedics honor.

Mercy Medical Center is a member of Catholic Health Services of Long Island.
Contact us at (516) 62-MERCY or visit us at http://mercymedicalcenter.chsli.org.

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For immediate release, contact: Mel Granick
Phone: 516-705-2618
E-Mail: mel.granick@chsli.org