Northwell’s Mather Hospital proudly announces that its Critical Care Team has achieved its second gold-level Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). In a significant first, Mather’s 2 South Oncology Unit also earned this prestigious gold-level recognition. This is a distinguished achievement as more than 575 units from around the country applied for the award in 2025.
The Beacon Award for Excellence — a significant milestone on the path to exceptional patient care and healthy work environments — recognizes unit caregivers who successfully improve unit outcomes and align practices with AACN’s six Healthy Work Environment Standards. Units that earn this annual award with a gold, silver or bronze designation meet specific criteria established by the AACN which represent the characteristics and components of the unit environment which nurses can influence to achieve nursing excellence.
“We are incredibly proud of both our Critical Care Team and our 2 South Oncology Unit for earning the Beacon Award for Excellence,” said Tara Matz, RN, MSN, NEA-BC, Mather Hospital CNO/VP for Nursing. “For our Critical Care Team to achieve gold level recognition a second time underscores their consistent dedication to the highest standards of care. And for our 2 South Oncology team to earn this gold-level recognition for the first time is a testament to their unwavering commitment to our oncology patients and their families. These awards reflect the hard work, collaboration and expertise of our entire nursing staff and interdisciplinary teams, directly benefiting the health and well-being of our community.”
AACN President Rebekah Marsh, BSN, RN, CCRN, applauds the commitment of the caregivers at Mather Hospital for working together to meet and exceed the high standards set forth by the Beacon Award for Excellence to achieve a gold level designation. These dedicated healthcare professionals join other members of our exceptional community of nurses, who set the standard for optimal patient care.
Across the industry, many hospital units provide exceptional patient care; however, Beacon-awarded units distinguish themselves by excelling in various areas demonstrated in their application. Through participation in the Beacon Award program, units can compare and reflect on their performance compared to global applicants. There are subtle differences for different scoring levels, often differentiated by one point or less. All awardees demonstrate dynamic and outstanding performance in the areas of: Patient Outcomes, Nursing Workforce and Work Environment.
About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses
For more than 50 years, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has been dedicated to acute and critical care nursing excellence. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. AACN is the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, with about 130,000 members and over 200 chapters in the United States.
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 third 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 and 2025 by Healthgrades and in 2025 received Healthgrades’ Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ for the fifth 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.
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.
