The gift comes with a clock. On Thursday, October 22, Catholic Health announced that the Donald and Barbara Zucker Family Foundation has committed $10 million to expand and modernize the Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip, New York. It is the largest philanthropic gift in the hospital’s history, and none of it is a simple check. Every dollar is a match.
The structure is the story. Catholic Health has to raise $10 million in community support over four years to unlock the full commitment, and the first milestone is close: $2.5 million in qualifying commitments by the end of 2026. If the challenge is met in full, the NICU project draws $20 million in combined support. If it falls short, the Zucker money falls short with it.
A granddaughter started this
Barbara Hrbek Zucker explained the family’s motive in the announcement, and it was personal before it was institutional. “Our family experienced the need for world-class NICU care first hand,” she said. “When our youngest granddaughter was born, she needed specialized care to help her get a strong start. Thanks to her NICU team, she is now a thriving little girl, and we feel so fortunate that she got the right care. My husband and I want to ensure that service is available to Long Island’s South Shore community by supporting the NICU at Good Samaritan.”
Good Samaritan runs the only Level III NICU on the South Shore of Suffolk County. The hospital delivered more than 2,500 babies in 2025, and the unit cares for hundreds of newborns a year, many of them born to mothers with high-risk pregnancies who come from across the region. For those families, the alternative to a local unit is a long transfer at the worst moment of their lives.
Private rooms and space for families
The expansion plan pairs advanced medical equipment and technology with private patient rooms and dedicated spaces for family counseling, respite and support. That second list matters in a NICU, where parents can spend weeks living beside an incubator. “The care provided in a NICU extends far beyond sophisticated technology,” said Justin Lundbye, MD, the hospital’s president. “Our physicians, nurses and clinical teams care for babies at an incredibly vulnerable moment in their lives, but they also walk alongside parents and families. This project will offer greater comfort and privacy to families while giving our teams an environment that better reflects the extraordinary care they provide every day.”
Gary Havican, interim president and CEO and chief operating officer of Catholic Health, framed the commitment the same way. It is, he said, “all about supporting some of our smallest, most vulnerable patients and their loved ones,” and it reflects “a shared belief that families facing a premature or medically complex birth should have access to exceptional neonatal care close to home.”
Catholic Health has published no construction timetable, no total project budget and no bed count for the expanded unit. What it has published is a deadline: $2.5 million in community commitments by December 31, or the match starts the new year behind.
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