Northwell’s Mather Hospital is expanding its commitment to community skin cancer prevention by once again providing free SPF 30 sunscreen dispensers throughout the area. In partnership with Port Jefferson Village and Brookhaven Town, the hospital sponsored dispensers at beaches, parks, pools and other popular outdoor gathering spots to help protect residents during the warmer months. This year, the program spans 20 locations across our community.
Sunscreen can help prevent skin cancer by protecting the skin from the sun’s ultraviolet rays, which can damage skin cells and cause cancer. SPF, or sun protection factor, indicates how long the sun’s UVB rays would take to redden your skin compared with the amount of time without sunscreen. If you apply SPF 30 generously and evenly, and reapply after two hours or after sweating or swimming, it would take you 30 times longer to burn than if you weren’t wearing sunscreen, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.
“Prevention is the most powerful tool we have in the fight against cancer, and these dispensers put that tool directly in the hands of our community,” said Mather Hospital President, Kevin McGeachy. “Partnering with Port Jefferson Village and Brookhaven Town allows us to extend Mather’s mission beyond our hospital walls and help protect our neighbors when and where they need it most.”
The Port Jefferson dispensers are located at the Port Jeff Village Center, Rocket Ship Park, East Beach, West Beach, Harbor Front and Port Jeff Country Club. In Brookhaven the dispensers can be found at Heritage Park in Mt. Sinai, Cedar Beach, Cedar Beach West, West Meadow Beach, Holtsville Pool, Centereach Pool, Davis Park Fire Island, Medford Athletic Sports Complex and Diamond in the Pines Park.
About Mather Hospital
Mather Hospital is an accredited 249-bed, non-profit community teaching hospital dedicated to providing a wide spectrum of high-quality healthcare services to Suffolk County residents, showing compassion, respect and treating each patient in the manner we would wish for our loved ones. Mather received its fourth top five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for outcomes, patient experience and process and the prestigious Magnet® recognition three times from the American Nurses Credentialing Center for quality patient care, nursing excellence, and innovations in professional nursing practice. The hospital was rated high performing by U.S. News & World Report 2025-2026 Best Hospitals rankings in two medical specialties of gastroenterology and GI surgery and pulmonology and lung surgery, and for congestive heart failure, kidney failure, and pneumonia. Mather also was named one of America’s 250 best hospitals for 2023, 2024,2025 and 2026 by Healthgrades and in 2026received Healthgrades’ Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ for the sixth consecutive year. Our Graduate Medical Education program prepares physicians for future careers through Internal Medicine, Transitional Year, Diagnostic Radiology, Interventional Radiology, Psychiatry and Pharmacy residency programs and gastroenterology and hematology/oncology fellowships. For information about Mather Hospital, visit matherhospital.org or follow us @MatherHospital on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
About Northwell Health
Northwell is the largest not-for-profit health system in the Northeast, serving residents of New York and Connecticut with 28 hospitals, more than 1,000 outpatient facilities, 22,000 nurses and over 20,000 physicians. Northwell cares for more than three million people annually in the New York metro area, including Long Island, the Hudson Valley, western Connecticut and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Northwell is New York State’s largest private employer with over 104,000 employees – including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners and Nuvance Health Medical Practices – who are working to change health care for the better. Northwell, named a TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2025, is making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. Northwell is training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.