Miracle on Belle Terre Road

Life is a splendid gift. - Florence Nightingale

If you have followed the news lately you may had read the story wonderful story of “four year-old, Marialena Trinca, home again four months after a Manorville car wreck claimed the lives of her mother and older brother,” leaving her severely injured, suffering “traumatic brain injury and a fractured pelvis in the Oct. 8 accident. She initially could not use the left side of her body, doctors said.”

On Thursday, Feb. 16, Marialena was released from St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson to “a standing ovation by the therapists. A few wiped away tears.” St. Charles medical director of physical medicine and rehabilitation, Dr. Jennifer Semel, explained that there were still “many challenges ahead for Marialene.” One of the team of therapists who treated the child, Stephanie Costa, recalls how Marialena loved to tell knock-knock jokes, blow kisses and gives hugs to everyone. “She is a very special person,” Ms. Costa said.

St Charles Hospital, proudly stands elevated a top a hill above the village of Port Jefferson, on the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Belle Terre Road. The hospital has gone through many physical changes since that crisp day on September 20, 1905 when  Mother Anthime, and Sisters Marie Rose, Suzanne de Ste. Therese, and Leonde St. Francois of The Daughters Wisdom Congregation first stepped off the train in Port Jefferson. After asking passengers who were getting off the train for direction to “Le Church” the Sisters were guided to the Church of Infant Jesus.

Once at the Catholic Church they greeted by Reverend John Genders, SMM. He welcomed them and due to the lateness of the hour, escorted them to “their quarters in two dwellings not far from the rectory.”

Three years later, New York State, officially organized the home the sisters had created and incorporated it under its as The Brooklyn Home for Blind, Crippled and Defective Children. The mission of the home which would later to become St. Charles Hospital was as follows:

The purpose of the home was the establishment and maintenance of a home or homes for the support, care education, and medical and surgical treatment of blind crippled and otherwise handicapped children.

St. Charles Hospital has truly lived up to its mission over the last century.  It has helped hundreds of children stricken during the influenza epidemic of 1919 and  crippled from the horrors of the Polio epidemic of 1949. The Little Miracle of Marialena Trinca is one more example of the divine and inspirational medical work done at St. Charles Hospital each and every day. Certainly, the residents of Port Jefferson and people throughout the world are grateful for the monumental work achieved there in what was once a little house upon a hill.

The research for this article came from St. Charles Hospital: The First 75 Years, written by William J. Soriano and published by Kingsport Press,1984.