Mather Hospital’s Emergency Department Recognized for Excellence

Northwell's Mather Hospital's Emergency Department has been selected as a recipient of the 2026 ENA Lantern Award, which recognizes exceptional innovation and evidence-based practice improvements that resulted in improved patient care and staff well-being.

"Receiving the ENA Lantern Award is a profound honor, validating the relentless dedication and innovative spirit our emergency department nurses and staff embody daily," said Stacey Hartcorn, RN, Director of Patient Care for Mather Hospital's Emergency Department. "It stands as a testament to the compassionate, high-quality care we are committed to delivering to every patient, every day."

In 2025, Mather Hospital opened a new 29,000-square-foot Emergency Department. The new facility is more than twice the size of the previous ED, which was built over 30 years ago. With the region's aging population and increasing prevalence of chronic and complex conditions, the new ED is built to serve patients at every stage of life - with a particular focus on older adults. Mather is a designated Age-Friendly Hospital and holds a Gold Level 1 Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation from the American College of Emergency Physicians.

"The Lantern recognizes something incredibly special. It isn't an award for an individual or an entire hospital-it's a recognition earned by an emergency department and the team that powers it every day," said ENA President Dustin Bass, DNP, MHA, RN, CEN, NEA-BC. "Mather Hospital is one of 126 emergency departments to achieve a Lantern Award this year."

For more information on this year's Lantern Award recipients, visit the Emergency Nurses Association website.

About the Emergency Nurses Association

The Emergency Nurses Association is the premier professional nursing association dedicated to defining the future of emergency nursing through advocacy, education, research, innovation, and leadership. Founded in 1970, ENA has proven to be an indispensable resource to the global emergency nursing community. With 40,000 members worldwide, ENA advocates for patient safety, develops industry-leading practice standards and guidelines, and guides emergency health care public policy. ENA members have expertise in triage, patient care, disaster preparedness, and all aspects of emergency care. Additional information is available at www.ena.org.

About Mather Hospital

Mather Hospital is an accredited 249-bed, non-profit community teaching hospital dedicated to providing a wide spectrum of high-quality healthcare services to Suffolk County residents, showing compassion, respect and treating each patient in the manner we would wish for our loved ones. Mather received its fourth top five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for outcomes, patient experience and process and the prestigious Magnet® recognition three times from the American Nurses Credentialing Center for quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice. The hospital was ranked as high-performing in one adult specialty and six procedures/conditions by U.S. News & World Report's 2026-27 Best Hospital rankings -diabetes & endocrinology; knee replacement, colon cancer surgery, heart failure, heart attack, kidney failure and pneumonia. Mather also was named one of America's 250 best hospitals for 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 by Healthgrades and in 2026 received Healthgrades' Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ for the sixth consecutive year. Our Graduate Medical Education program prepares physicians for future careers through Internal Medicine, Transitional Year, Diagnostic Radiology, Interventional Radiology, Psychiatry and Pharmacy residency programs and gastroenterology and hematology/oncology fellowships. For information about Mather Hospital, visit matherhospital.org or follow us @MatherHospital on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

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 108,000 employees - including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners and Nuvance Health Medical Practices - who are working to change health care for the better. Northwell, named a TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2025, 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.