October 24th, 2022 – Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter and members of the Town Board celebrated residents of Italian heritage and their contributions to the community at the October Town Board meeting.
Heather Hemberger-Poli
A native to the Town of Islip, Heather is partner/owner of Flannagan’s Pub in Ronkonkoma and the Harp and Hound in Islip. A member of the Ronkonkoma Rotary, she instills the values of the rotary into her business ventures. Throughout the year, each business hosts local donation drives to positively impact our community. These events include toy collections for distribution to local toy drives; for Thanksgiving they feed local veterans and people in need and donate all proceeds raised by their pies to local food banks; and are staunch supporters of the annual Food for Hope Thanksgiving drive. Throughout the year, they also host golf outings with proceeds from Flannagan’s Pub going to Sheila’s Food Pantry and Harp and Hounds benefitting the FDNY FF Jesse Gerhard Memorial Fund.
Christopher C. Raio, MD MBA
Chief of Emergency Medicine for Catholic Health, Chairperson of Emergency Medicine at Good Samaritan Hospital, and Chief Medical Officer for Progressive Emergency Physicians, Dr. Christopher Raio has been an invaluable asset to the Town of Islip. Dr. Raio serves as a strong advocate for the community, helping to develop treatments and process protocols to help thousands of patients access care at Catholic Health emergency departments. In 2020, before the Pandemic fully hit the Township, we were fortunate to have the insight of Dr. Raio as we prepared for the unknown. His knowledge helped protect many in our community and he served valiantly on the frontlines throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic, providing a beacon of hope for the many patients who were battled the illness.
Lorraine Pace, Advocate
Lorraine was recognized for her pioneering work in breast cancer research as part of October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
In 1992, over 20 women from the same West Islip neighborhood were diagnosed with breast cancer, including Lorraine Pace. Her diagnosis lit a fire beneath her as she exhibited no known risk factors and didn’t understand the causation. This spurred Lorraine Pace to jump into action. Working in conjunction with Good Samaritan University Hospital and the West Islip Chamber of Commerce, the West Islip Breast Cancer Coalition was formed.
The community’s concerns led to the canvassing of over 8,750 homes in West Islip, to see if there were some environmental reasons related to women’s health in the community.
In 1993, thanks to the advocacy of the West Islip Breast Cancer Coalition, the National Cancer Institute began the Long Island Breast Cancer Study Project. The study found that women within Nassau and Suffolk Counties were more likely on average to develop breast cancer than women nationally.
The study sought to examine the environmental factors that contributed to this increase. Researchers studied drinking water; air pollution and emissions from aircrafts; electromagnetic fields; use of pesticides and other chemicals, and hazardous waste.
Lorraine’s advocacy led Good Samaritan Hospital to open the Breast Health Center and have her initiatives spread globally, with people in England reaching out for guidance.
