HANYS honors Northwell Health with 2025 Community Health Improvement Award
Health system’s “Street Medicine Program” recognized for its partnerships and impact on vulnerable community members.
The Healthcare Association of New York State is pleased to recognize Northwell Health with its 2025 Community Health Improvement Award for its Street Medicine Program.
Nearly 10,000 Long Islanders experience homelessness annually, and the region’s unhoused population is growing quickly. This vulnerable community faces health disparities, higher rates of chronic illnesses, mental health and substance use disorders, and limited access to consistent healthcare.
To address these challenges, Northwell Health partnered with the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless in 2024 to begin delivering essential healthcare services and address social determinants of health to community members, wherever they are. Their team provides high-quality, patient-centered clinical care, emphasizes trust-building and inclusivity, and connects clients to comprehensive services, including housing and employment.
“We started it with the goal of meeting people where they are. We know that people live in the woods, live on the street, live in cars. How do they get access to healthcare? How do they get access to the services that they need?” said Dr. Deb Salas-Lopez, executive vice president, Institute for Community Health and Wellness, Northwell Health. “The goal of the program is to find the unhoused community, develop trust, develop a relationship with them, and then learn about their needs – healthcare and otherwise.”
From its inception in 2024 through Feb. 6, 2025, the program had already served 54 unique patients through 103 patient encounters. In addition to addressing immediate healthcare needs, five patients were assisted in finding housing, with four more pending placements, and 19 patients were referred to various specialists.
“Every agency has tremendous strengths, right? Every agency has things that they do very, very, very well. But there is not a single one that can do everything that exists out there,” said Greta Guarton, executive director, Long Island Coalition for the Homeless. “Partnerships like the one the coalition has with Northwell Health has brought so much to the folks that we’re serving.”
Northwell Health’s Street Medicine Program is supported by funding from New York Community Trust – Long Island. Healthcare providers from Northwell Health support the program’s outreach to Long Island community members.
"The Street Medicine Program truly embodies the spirit of HANYS’ Community Health Improvement Award," said HANYS President Bea Grause, RN, JD. "Health systems partnering with like-minded organizations, each one contributing their expertise to better serve their community – when we work together like this, so much can be achieved. HANYS is honored to celebrate and raise awareness of this tremendous program."
The Community Health Improvement Award, established by HANYS in 1997, recognizes outstanding initiatives designed to improve the health and well-being of communities. The award is presented to facilities and programs that target specific community health needs while emphasizing the importance of health equity, leadership, collaboration with diverse community partners and achieving quantifiable results. Learn more about this program and other valuable HANYS member community health initiatives in Connecting with Communities: Community Health Initiatives Across New York State and our Community Health Initiatives Tool.
About HANYS
The Healthcare Association of New York State is New York’s statewide hospital and continuing care association, representing nonprofit and public hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies and other healthcare organizations. Celebrating its 100th year in 2025, HANYS is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance the health of individuals and communities by providing leadership, representation and service to healthcare providers and systems across the entire continuum of care.
About Northwell Health
Northwell is the largest not-for-profit health system in the Northeast, serving residents of New York and Connecticut with 28 hospitals, more than 1,000 outpatient facilities, 22,000 nurses and over 20,000 physicians. Northwell cares for more than three million people annually in the New York metro area, including Long Island, the Hudson Valley, western Connecticut and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Northwell is New York State’s largest private employer with over 104,000 employees – including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners and Nuvance Health Medical Practices – who are working to change healthcare for the better. Northwell is making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. Northwell is training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.