Joan Levan Honored by PBMC for Dedication to Fundraising

“Most people don’t think of a hospital until they have to go,” Levan says. “I realized that if my husband (who had a heart condition) got sick, we’d have to drive back to Manhattan. I just felt we were going to need a local hospital for him one day.”

It was this necessity that drove her to begin raising money for an expansion of the area hospital, the Peconic Bay Medical Center. The first time she and Marvin visited the ER, patients were on gurneys with curtains drawn around them — not private, not particularly comfortable and emotionally a little scary.

“When you get sick, you shouldn’t have to worry about where to go,” says Levan, who recently was honored by the PBMC at its 2023 gala. Whenever Marvin needed to see his cardiologist, it was back on the Long Island Expressway. “At one point, I spent more time on the LIE than anywhere else. I went to the director of (PBMC) because I wanted to move Marvin’s appointments out here. I wanted the same quality of care here that I usually drove to Manhattan for.”

That meant raising money, lots of money. Luckily, she did come from a charitable background. Her father was chief of staff at the local hospital in their Ohio hometown. Her mother was a regular volunteer at the hospital and their church.

“I came from a large family, and we had a history of giving,” Levan remembers. That history helped her to settle on a simple, but genius, two-prong plan. First, get her friends involved. Second, get people to see the positive changes, and that would encourage them to contribute.

“My friends never said, ‘No,’” Levan says with pride of her 14 years of raising funds for the hospital. It all started with the annual Black and White Gala, a fun get-together that was low-key, but successful. Levan says the fun nature of it was why it was so successful. “There were no speeches. We would just stand up and say, ‘You know why you’re here.’ Then we’d enjoy the rest of the evening.”

Each year was more successful than the last. While there are many galas on the North and South forks, theirs was the first for PBMC on the South Fork.

“We had a vision for the future of the hospital,” she says. “We were raising money for the ER. Five years later, we cut the ribbon on the new ER. Every single room in the ER is a private room. They each have a door, a television, all necessary medical equipment. It is always scary to go to the ER, but at least it is more comfortable.”

She believed that the folks on the East End deserved the same quality of care and access to specialists as on the rest of Long Island or in New York City. That was her goal and, with help from her friends, she made it happen. More importantly, she has instilled a culture of giving that continues today. They have expanded the ER to double its original size. There also is a trauma center. And, with an affiliation to Northwell Health, there are ample urgent care centers on the North and South forks.

“If someone gets sick and has somewhere to go where they’ll get excellent medical care, they will be willing to give to support it,” Levan says of one of the driving factors that encourages many to get on the bandwagon.

“It also is important that we increase awareness of the quality of care we have out here,” Levan explains. “Sometimes awareness is as important as a donation.

“When I got out of college, I didn’t have much money, but I still put away $5 per paycheck (to donate),” remembers Levan, who adds that instilling in children a culture of giving is important.

“It is not how much or how little you give,” says Levan, who also believes that donating your time is important. “It is about setting a standard of giving.”

This is why the hospital emergency room is dear to her heart. She still remembers the gurney days.

“More important,” says Levan, whose husband had a stroke 18 months before he died in 2012 at 89, “is the care to which he had access.”

Thanks to the efforts of Levan and others, East Enders have the level of care that makes Levan proud.

“We doubled the size of the ER and added a trauma center,” says Levan, who remembers the six months of excellent care her husband received after his stroke when the staff taught him how to swallow again. If not for the efforts of the medical staff and those who toiled with her, they would have been back on the LIE to secure him the care he needed.

“You start small, and get people involved,” Levan says of how she built a reliable group of dedicated volunteers. She and fellow volunteers have helped raise more than $5 million for the Emergency Department. “If you don’t give yourself, you can’t ask others to give. I always start with, ‘I give, and this is why.’ It doesn’t matter how big the amount you give. It matters that you give your money, your time.”

PBMC announced this year a $92 million expansion program, which will include adding 6,600 square feet to the newly named “Poole Family Trauma and Emergency Center.” For more information about donating, contact PBMC Foundation at pbmchealth.org/give, call 631-548-6080 or send an mail to Peconic Bay Medical Center Foundation, 1 Heroes Way, Riverhead, NY 11901.

Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and associate publisher of Dan’s Papers.