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Photo by Kyril Bromley
“Well, I really hope I haven’t sounded too self-absorbed,” said George Biondo, Montauk’s Man of the Year, to end an interview in which he said the word “community” at least 15 times and routinely tried to pass his title on to local firemen and ambulance drivers, School Board members, Chamber of Commerce members and food pantry workers and other volunteers.
Although Mr. Biondo’s unofficial resume boasts many local accomplishments, his recognition as Man of the Year by the Montauk Chamber of Commerce at Gurney’s Inn on Saturday, was based on his most recent work on the board of Southampton Hospital and his successful efforts to create medical alliances on the East End.
“I’m honored,” he said, “but what I feel is that they recognize this is something that should be done and they just needed somebody to take the time and try to get some money together and help coordinate the pieces, and I’m really happy to do that.”
Mr. Biondo said he joined the hospital board about five years ago and started the committee on government relations to help “loose funds” in Congress make their way to the hospital. He soon realized, he said, that not even a large hospital can stand on its own and that medical facilities receive more attention when they are part of a larger network. Under his guidance, the committee succeeded in forming the East End Health Alliance, which incorporates Southampton Hospital, Eastern Long Island Hospital and the Peconic Bay Medical Association. Mr. Biondo said since its formation, the East End Health Alliance has received tens of millions of dollars in federal grant money.
Coming off that success, Mr. Biondo said he was determined to see a similar situation help the Montauk Medical Center, where he said Dr. Anthony Knott, the facility’s only doctor, was having trouble collecting payments from insurance companies because of the size of the facility and was having his time consumed by administrative duties.
“So here’s this poor doctor, this guy with an assistant trying to treat patients and do all the paperwork, all these things that detracted from him devoting his energy to urgently needed medical issues,” said Mr. Biondo.
So Mr. Biondo went to Meeting House Lane Associates, a physicians group tied to the hospital, and pitched another alliance. Now linked with Southampton Hospital and seven other private medical facilities, Dr. Knott no longer has to deal with billing, the center has hired a full-time nurse practitioner and the hospital includes the facility on its rotation of medical residents, Mr. Biondo said. The alliance has allowed each of the private facilities to link their digital medical records with the hospital and also qualifies them for matching grants for new equipment. Mr. Biondo’s next project is to see that money used to update the Montauk Medical Facility.
Mr. Biondo, an attorney in private practice, spent summers in Montauk with his parents starting in the late 1950s and moved there with his wife in 1976. The couple has two daughters and four grandchildren, all of whom “adore” Montauk, he said. He said what he loves about Montauk is that it’s the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else. He said on a recent trip to Herb’s Market, his wife was addressed as “Mrs. Man of the Year.”
Mr. Biondo has strong community connections on top of his involvement with the medical center. He was a member of the Montauk School Board for 15 years and president for 11; is the attorney for the Child Development Center of the Hamptons, St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk, and the Ross School, a position he has had since the school’s inception; and for 10 years has volunteered his time, home and boat to the Montauk Experience, a program that sponsors trips to Montauk for child cancer patients at the North Shore Hospital.
But Mr. Biondo insists that his success has been a product of the community itself.
“This is the kind of place where if someone comes up your stairs with a great idea, you just do what you can to help them,” he said.
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