Sunset Park
Hip, hip, hooray for the doctors, patients, and prostate cancer survivors who officially opened the Maimonides Prostate Center on March 26. The new center — at the Maimonides Cancer Center, on Eighth Avenue at 63rd Street in Sunset Park — is Kings County’s only full-service prostate center, according to information from hospital reps, who added that the medical center offers men suffering from the cancer and related conditions the most advanced and personalized treatment options available. The center will host all of the prostate-related treatments the hospital offers, including high intensity-focused ultrasounds, clinical trials, and support groups and services, reps said.
At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Maimonides President and Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Gibbs, Senior Vice President of Operations and Clinical Programs Declan Doyle, and Chief of Urology and Center Director Dr. David Silver made remarks about the importance of the center and the work doctors will be able to do in it.
One six-year survivor who attended the event said that the more people knew about the center and its offerings, the more it would help people.
“The more exposure that they have, people can see what’s going on and what’s available for them,” said Ernest Johnson, who lives in East New York.
— Julianne McShane
Park Slope
Budding green thumbs
Faculty and students at a Park Slope Catholic school cut the ribbon on a new, hydroponic greenhouse on March 25.
The high-tech classroom for budding green thumbs was dedicated to a beloved former teacher at St. Saviour High School credited with pioneering the academy’s environmental science program, and the retired instructor couldn’t have been more pleased to accept the honor.
“After 31 years of teaching at St. Saviour and running beach clean-ups and other environmental community service projects, I am extremely honored to be a part of this special day with my St. Saviour family,” said Roberta Willard.
The new classrooms utilizes hydroponics farming technology to teach kids about the future of food, and has already been used to grow crops — including cucumbers, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, lettuce, mint, rosemary and nasturtium, an edible flower, according to the school’s principal.
“This is an exciting time for St. Saviour High School. Our students have been able to learn about plant-based sustainable agriculture and the impact it will have on the future,” said Dr. Paula McKeown.
The hydroponic classroom was constructed in partnership with New York Sun Works, a non-for-profit that uses hydroponic farming tech to teach kids about the science of sustainability, and is the first hydroponic-equipped greenhouse at a school within the Brooklyn Diocese.
— Colin Mixson
