STANDING Brooklyn’s Biggest Booster
Roll out welcome mat for chairman
BOROUGH WIDE
Standing O gives a big welcome to
Timothy Harrison, who was named
the new chairman of the board of the
Northfi eld Bank Foundation on
April 10.
Harrison succeeds Susan
Lamberti in the leadership position,
who will remain on the board of directors
of the organization, which
promotes charitable purposes in
Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan,
and central New Jersey.
Harrison has served as a board
member since 2014 and has been on
the board of Northfi eld Bancorp
since 2013. He is also a principal with
TCH Realty & Development
and is
a licensed attorney
in the State of
New York and the
Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania.
The head of the
do-gooder organization
said that he
looked forward to
seeing Harrison
take over the new role, and thanked
Lamberti for her more than a decade’s
worth of service.
“We look forward to Tim’s leadership
in his new role as foundation
chair, as we continue to support charitable
causes that help our communities
grow and prosper,” said Steven Klein.
“We are extremely grateful for Susan’s
leadership of the foundation over the
past 11 years and her continued commitment
as a board member.”
Lamberti is a retired teacher and
has served as chair since the group
launched in 2007, after serving on the
board of directors of Northfi eld Bancorp,
from 2001 to 2007.
— Kevin Duggan
SUNSET PARK
A new chance at life
Cheers to Dr. Israel Jacobowitz
from Maimonides Heart and Vascular
Institute for saving the life of patient
Juan Sotus, who was diagnosed
with the double-whammy of terminal
heart disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Sotus traveled from Puerto Rico
to Brooklyn to receive the complex
surgery he desperately needed.
“By the time Juan arrived in
Brooklyn, he was a complete invalid
with shortness of breath so severe that
he could not walk or speak,” according
to the hospital’s press release.
Dr. Jacobowitz performed
complicated heart surgery on Sotus,
fi xing three heart valves under one
anesthesia.
After physical therapy and rehab,
Sotus is now walking and talking
again, and is on his way home to
Puerto Rico. — Maya Harrison
BOROUGH WIDE
Anchors aweigh
Standing O salutes Petty Offi cer
2nd Class Blaine Jackson, a Brooklyn
native serving in the U.S. Navy
COURIER L 40 IFE, APRIL 19–25, 2019 PS
aboard the aircraft carrier USS
Theodore Roosevelt.
Jackson, a 2008 William E. Grady
High School graduate, is a hospital
corpsman aboard the carrier operating
out of San Diego. Jackson is responsible
for preventative medicine
operations, inspecting food services,
conducting water testing, disease preventative
measures, and maintaining
SUNSET PARK
A Bay Ridge cancer survivor
presided over a ceremony kicking
off April’s Donate Life Month at
NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn
in Sunset Park last week, where
he joined doctors in raising a fl ag to
honor Brooklyn organ donors.
Ahead of the fl ag raising, survivor
Bill O’Hagan recounted his
year-and-a-half-long wait for a lifesaving
liver transplant to a crowd
at the 55th Street medical center
on April 2, and expressed his desire
to repay the kindness of a dead
stranger by urging his fellow New
Yorkers to register as donors.
“Your initial reaction to learning
you’re getting the liver is unbelievable,
it was a great feeling,” said
O’Hagan. “But coming up to the hospital,
you start thinking how somebody
is losing their life today, and
you can’t pay them back. That’s why
I like to go out and pay it forward.”
O’Hagan joined advocacy group
LiveonNY after receiving his lifesaving
liver transplant in 2017, and
has since worked through the organization
to spread awareness for the
need of healthy organs and dispel
myths about registering as donors.
In particular, O’Hagan claims
many people fear that doctors will
actually withhold medical care in
an effort to lay their latex-gloved
hands on their valuable organs,
when in truth doctors assigned to
patients’ care are legally forbidden
from carrying out the organ
harvesting procedure.
“A lot of people I’ve spoken to
think they’re not going to get the
proper care,” he said. “These are
just old myths that scare people.”
One organ donor can save up to
eight lives, and in New York, more
than 9,000 people throughout the
state languish on waiting lists for
life-saving transplants, according
to LiveOnNY. New York also has
the lowest percentage of registered
organ donors of any state in the
country, according to group.
“New York is terrible,” said
O’Hagan. “It’s last in the nation
in organ donor signups, which is
why it’s so important to get the
word out.” — Colin Mixson
BAY RIDGE
Spring cleaning
Hooray for Brooklyn community
group Parent Child Relationship,
which was honored
among the most dedicated parks
volunteers at the annual It’s My
Park Awards on March 27.
Partnerships for Parks, a
foundation that supports neighborhood
volunteers and advocates
on behalf of local green
spaces, held the sixth annual
awards at the Prince George
Ballroom in Manhattan, honoring
seven community groups
across the city from an original
pool of more than 280 participating
organizations, according to
Partnership for Parks.
“These volunteers are vital to
improving and sustaining New
York City’s 29,000 acres of green
space, from parks and street trees
to playgrounds and skateparks,”
said the group. “Their dedicated
stewardship helps build longterm
investment in these public
spaces and strengthens the social
fabric of their neighborhoods.”
Brooklyn-based group Parent
Child Relationship, which was
founded in 2016 by Nicole Xueqin
Huang, began working in Leif
Erikson Park in Bay Ridge with
bi-weekly projects to clean and
beautify the park which had been
plagued with litter and debris.
“The mission of PCR is to promote
civic participation, improve
conditions, and deepen the bond
between parents and children in
the Asian immigrant communities
of Brooklyn through multigenerational
service events,”
according to the group.
By the spring of 2018, the
group had transformed Leif Erikson
Park into a hub of activity,
and expanded to other parts of
Southern Brooklyn.
— Aidan Graham
public health facilities.
He credits success in the Navy to
the lessons learned growing up in
Brooklyn.
“In a diverse city such as Brooklyn,
you learn that there are so many
opportunities available to you,” said
Jackson. “So many people are closedminded
because they never go anywhere
or get to do anything. It is good
to get out of your comfort zone.”
SEEKING DONORS: From left, holding fl ag, Dr. Jennifer Frontera, co-chair of NYU
Langone Hospital–Brooklyn Organ Donor Council; Dr. Joseph M. Weisstuch, chief
medical offi cer at NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn; and Bill O’Hagan, along with
hospital staff, show off the new fl ag, which they hope will rasie awareness for organ
donation. Photo by Trey Pentecost
Registered donors can save lives