MILL BASIN — Maimonides held its ninth annual Community for Kids Benefit, drawing more than 450 spectators, the most since its inception in 2016, on Thursday, Dec. 5, at the El Caribe Country Club. The benefit presented a special opportunity to support and celebrate the comprehensive, 24/7 care that the hospital offers for Brooklyn’s 600,000 children. 

Maimonides is home to Brooklyn’s only center for pediatric trauma care and only comprehensive children’s hospital. This year, the event was especially significant, as Maimonides prepares to open its state-of-the-art expanded pediatric emergency department in 2025, which will serve as the largest pediatric emergency department in all of Brooklyn. It is expected to be five times the size of its existing children’s emergency department. 

Frank Naccarato, co-chair of Community for Kids and board member and trustee of Maimonides Medical Center, told the Brooklyn Eagle that since the trauma center was built in 2016, more than 4,000 children’s lives have been saved. 

“We have top-notch equipment, incredible surgeons and we continue to do God’s work,” Naccarato said. “It’s so comforting to know that there is a facility right here in Brooklyn — in our own backyard.” 

Attendees at the gala included Maimonides Health leadership, Maimonides Children’s Hospital clinical leaders and team members, community organization partners and donors. Four honorees were celebrated for contributions to the hospital’s mission. They included Camille and Stefano Filippazzo, on behalf of the Anthony J. Filippazzo Fund for Williams Syndrome Research and Advancement; Michael Brincat, director of special events and corporate partnerships at Maimonides Health; and Nick Iacoviello of MVS Heating and Air Conditioning Corp.

“Thank you so much for this incredible honor for a cause that is so dear to my heart,” Camille Filippazzo told the capacity crowd. “I dedicate this award to my family and friends. You have been my footprints in the sand when I needed it most, and you have given me the courage to be public about something that is so raw and painful. I hope you know how much I love you.” 

Ken Gibbs, Maimonides president and CEO, explained that this event is all about the children.

“I want to make a simple point about children,” Gibbs said. “Human beings are the only species that respond to others’ children; all other species respond to their own. There is something precious and special about that. We are here tonight to thank all of you for responding to the children of Brooklyn.” 

Gibbs added that the number one killer of children under the age of 18 is trauma, “and you are 25% more likely to survive if you come to a pediatric trauma center. I thank you for nine years of support.”

Maimonides Health is Brooklyn’s largest healthcare system, serving over 350,000 patients each year through the system’s three hospitals, 2,000 plus physicians and more than 80 community-based practices and outpatient centers.

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