Taxpayers and donors in Suffolk County have a concrete reason to pay attention to Long Island Select Healthcare’s annual golf tournament at Nissequogue Golf Club in Nissequogue. The event, scheduled for Aug. 3, doubles as a fundraiser and honors Peter Klein, a Huntington resident who runs the Claire Friedlander Family Foundation. Klein’s involvement with a healthcare nonprofit serving some of Long Island’s most underserved patients is worth scrutinizing, and the numbers behind LISH Care’s model hold up under examination.
The organization logged roughly 74,500 patient visits in 2026. That’s not a rounding error. Across seven Suffolk County locations, including headquarters in Central Islip and satellite clinics in Hauppauge, Smithtown, Port Jefferson Station, and Manorville, approximately 150 staff members and professional service providers keep the operation running. The budget draws on Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, and sliding-scale fees tied to family income. Nobody gets turned away at the door.
More than 60% of LISH Care’s 8,500-plus patients carry diagnoses of developmental disabilities, autism, or special needs. That’s the core of what separates this from a standard community health clinic. For decades, patients in this population couldn’t find doctors or dentists willing to adapt their methods, slow down, or restructure a clinical environment for someone who doesn’t respond to a routine exam. The care gap wasn’t theoretical. It was documented, persistent, and stubborn.
“For many individuals with disabilities and their families, routine medical care has been anything but routine,” CEO Aaron Clark told Long Island Press. “Finding providers with the training, patience and clinical environment to deliver effective care has been an ongoing challenge.”
Three Long Island human services agencies, Developmental Disabilities Institute, Family Residences and Essential Enterprises, and United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Suffolk, merged their clinic operations to build what is now LISH Care. That merger closed a gap their clients couldn’t close on their own. The organization carries dual designations: a 16-specialty Article 28 Health Resources and Services Administration Federally Qualified Health Center and a New York State Article 16 Rehabilitation Clinic. Those designations aren’t ceremonial. They govern how the clinic bills, what it can offer, and who qualifies for reduced fees.
“Long Island Select Healthcare serves anyone who walks through its doors, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay,” Clark said.
That’s a policy position with a price tag attached. Running 17 specialties across 7 locations doesn’t happen on goodwill alone. It requires the kind of philanthropic infrastructure that Klein has spent his professional life building.
Klein founded ALINE Wealth and serves as a partner at High Tower Advisors in Melville. His work as president of the Claire Friedlander Family Foundation puts him in the business of directing charitable capital toward organizations that can demonstrate genuine community impact. He’s written on the subject. His books include “Getting Started in Security Analysis,” published in 2009, and “A Passion for Giving: Tools and Inspiration for Creating a Charitable Foundation,” which came out in 2012. That’s practical credibility, not honorary.
The Claire Friedlander Family Foundation was established in 1998. Klein has guided its grantmaking for years, and LISH Care’s anniversary makes the recognition timely. The organization is marking 28 years in various forms, with the current structure dating to 2008. The tournament itself is a 17th year milestone for the event, drawing donors and supporters who understand what it costs to keep a specialized clinic network solvent.
Clark’s pitch to funders is direct. Recruit physicians and dentists who know how to work with patients who have disabilities. Build the clinical environment around those patients. Don’t expect standard reimbursement rates to cover the full cost of that model. It doesn’t pencil out without private support.
The golf tournament at Nissequogue Golf Club on Aug. 3 is where that private support gets organized. Klein’s honor reflects his role in that pipeline, running from philanthropic capital through the Claire Friedlander Family Foundation to organizations like LISH Care. The 60% disability population figure isn’t marketing. It defines the organization’s mission, and the 74,500 annual visits confirm it’s being executed at scale.
The 2026 numbers will matter when LISH Care reports its next fiscal year. Watchdog groups and taxpayer advocates will want to see how Medicaid reimbursements tracked against actual service delivery costs. For now, Clark’s argument is straightforward: “Long Island Select Healthcare serves anyone who walks through its doors, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay.”
That’s a financial commitment, not just a values statement.