Remembering Dr. Patricia O'Neill's legacy at Brookdale Hospital

story that really is touching in all facets. Dr. Patricia O'Neill served as the director of the Trauma and Surgical ICU at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn and her legacy will live on at that hospital for decades and decades to come. Antoine Lewis has a remarkable story. One, two, three! The Trauma Bay at One Brooklyn Health Brookdale was dedicated Friday morning, dedicated to a lady who spent her life making sure others were okay. This is just an honor because we know that she has so many lives and we're lucky to have her as family. Family, friends, colleagues, and elected officials were on hand as the hospital renamed perhaps its busiest sector in honor of Dr. Patricia O'Neill, a longtime chief of Trauma and Surgical ICU. On February 18, 2023, Dr. O'Neill and her husband, Dr. Peter Smith, were killed in a car accident on Long Island. Fox 5's connection to Dr. O'Neill and to One Brookdale Health Brooklyn goes beyond today. The accident happened roughly two weeks after we interviewed her about the work she and her team did as a level two trauma center in East New York, Brooklyn. She and I connected instantly. We hit it off. Her humanity shining through when asked if doctors cry, given what they do to try and save lives. Oh, sure. Sure. Maybe we don't show it publicly. But yes, I've actually teared up many times when I've had to give family bad news. One, two, three. We'll see patients from broken bones and patients who come in, gunshot patients, stabbing patients, patients who have, are basically on the brink of death. He came here to do an interview on violence in Brooklyn. And Dr. O'Neill and Antoine have become very good friends. The shoot was only supposed to be an hour. We ended up staying three and a half just because of how Dr. O'Neill and I clicked. And I thought a lot, you know, just about, you know, her on and off, you know, all this time. Erin and the family is actually, it's rare that the family checks on a reporter. Oh, she would have loved it. Her heart was always here in Brooklyn. She's a warm, loving, generous person. Her legacy is alive here each and every day with all of her colleagues that they've learned from her. But she's right here on the wall, and she'll give them the courage and the strength to just keep going. So it's very comforting and just honoring pride. What a story. I'm trying not to look at it. So Antoine Lewis is kind enough to join me for a couple minutes here. I wanted to talk to you about that story. So tell us, you shot that story on Friday. Friday. What was it about Dr. O'Neill that did, why did you guys click immediately? I don't know. You know that hospital there in East New York, Brooklyn, so we're talking Brownsville, East New York, all of that corridor. It is a very busy corridor as far as the types of patients they see, the gunshots, stabs. They see the most serious, and like Rami, Dr. Abdul-Nabi was saying in his thought, they get the most serious on the brink of death. And we went to do a story about them just being a level two trauma center. And from the moment we shook hands and were introduced, something just happened. And I, you know, there was just an instant connection that happened. And literally, you know, it was just the fact that you clicked. And I smile now, but at one point while Andre Greller, our photographer, we shot it in February of 2023, three years ago. But at one point while he was shooting B-roll and she and I were just talking, I didn't even realize that I had my arm around her shoulder. She had her hand around my waist and we were just hanging out, you know, watching him doing that. So just a connection that was there and her humanity. I mean, you know, what we do for a living pales in comparison to what, you know, first responders do. And particularly, you know, she's the head of surgical and trauma ICU. So, yeah, they are constantly going. But just a generous, gracious spirit that, you know, we only had three and a half hours to connect. And I'm so much better for it. Oh, don't you think? I mean, to me, that's the best part of that. That's why we do what we do. It's not the camera. It's not the microphone. It's getting to meet people like Dr. O'Neill. Wouldn't you agree that that's the most rich part of this business? I, ever since it happened and just literally the accident happened two weeks, just over two weeks. I think it was 15 days after we did the story. And you know how it is. We have this term called HFR, hold for release, which means that we would shoot it. Then at some point we figure out a day to write it and it will air later. I hadn't even touched it, you know, had not touched it. And that Saturday morning, Sharon, who you'll see in the story in the yellow dress, who's like the head of communications and public relations for One Brooklyn Health Brookdale, called me on a Saturday morning at like seven in the morning. And I looked. I'm like, what's this about? Why is that? And she's emotional and she's talking. And she says, Dr. O'Neill, you know, has been killed in a car accident, her and her husband. And I said, wait, wait, wait, wait. What are you talking about, Sharon? You know, and she was explaining it to me again. And I just didn't process it and didn't think it was real. So what I did, called into the station, called into the assignment desk, Mike Brook, you know, our weekend day assignment editor. I said, Mike, can you look into a car accident on Long Island that happened last night? And I was giving him the back story. He says, all right, I'll check it out. You know, Mike Brook called back like 10 minutes later and filled in the details, you know, confirming it. So Amy Sandler, our EP at the time, Jeff Gessoff, our weekend EP, we had to have a meeting. I had to let them know what was going on because Amy was the producer of this piece, you know, and we were trying to figure out what we certainly can't do a piece now with this happening. So everybody breathed, let me get through the weekend, and then that Monday we all met and said, why don't we just turn the story, the original story, into more about her work as head of the trauma center and then get into what they did. And then it aired. You know, the station was great. The tough part was the hospital asked me to speak at the memorial, which was like, oh, my gosh. Yeah. Amazing. You thought Friday was bad. Yeah, that day was bad. That day was rough. Well, you I tell you what, you did her justice and boy, you covered her with such heart. Thank you. She would have been so pleased with what you did. Great spirit. Great lady. All of them there at that hospital and the picture that's at the end of the story happened by chance. And Andre was putting his stuff away. And Rami said, hey, let's take a selfie like that. I was like, OK. So I had mom around him and get her. We squeezed her in, you know, and have that picture forever. Yeah. There it is. Past. Thank you. Yeah. And that's me and Rami on Friday, you know, standing there. We were trying to recreate it as much as we could. But and thankfully, Rami succeeded her. So he's now the head of trauma surgical ICU. So, yeah, we have a connection to, you know, he's a dad now. He's got two little boys, you know, in the time that all of this has happened. So, well, I saw the story three times this morning and I watched every frame of it every single time. It just it just got more and more poignant each time I saw it. So I appreciate it. Thanks for coming on to talk about it. I really, I really appreciate it. Nice job. All right. We're going to let you go get ready for the noon. Your anchor in the noon. Get up, my friend. All right, babe.