NUHEALTH HURRICANE PREPARATIONS UPDATE #5 11:00AM 10/28/12
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 28, 2012
PRESS CONTACT:
Shelley Lotenberg
shelley@numc.edu
516-572-6055
NUHEALTH HURRICANE PREPARATIONS UPDATE #5 11:00AM 10/28/12
East Meadow, NY…..NuHealth senior level leadership and the emergency management team have been communicating and preparing for the upcoming storm since Friday, October 26, 2012. Emergency preparedness plans and sustainability plans have been reviewed. HICS will be announced by 8am on Monday, October 29, 2012, and the Nassau University Medical Center’s Emergency Command Center will be opened at that time to manage the impacts of Hurricane Sandy on the Nassau University Medical Center, the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility and Family Health Centers.
NuHealth is playing a most important role in Nassau County in that 57 patients from Long Beach Hospital are in the process of being evacuated and transferred to NUMC this morning. It is expected that Long Beach Hospital will also be sending clinical staff to assist with caring for these additional patients. The A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility will be receiving 35 residents who are being evacuated from the Long Beach Nursing Home beginning this afternoon.
All Ambulatory and Family Health Centers appointments for Monday and Tuesday have been canceled. Essential staff (those providing patient care services) from Ambulatory and the CHC’s will be reporting to the hospital on Monday morning so they may be deployed to assist in the nursing department. The administrators and directors of nursing from these areas will coordinate with the Nursing Office to reassign the staff in the clinics and ambulatory.
In order to provide necessary staffing coverage, it may be necessary to mandate employees to remain at work so we are able to provide continued care to our patients. Should it become necessary for staff to remain at work for an extended period of time, cots will be made available.
We thank the NuHealth staff that has always demonstrated an ability to work as a team in such situations. We will continue to monitor staffing levels as we have more definitive information regarding the severity and length of the storm.
ABOUT NUHEALTH
NuHealth is a Long Island health care organization delivering essential medical care and disease and lifestyle management to everyone at every stage of life. Also known as Nassau Health Care Corporation, NuHealth is a public benefit corporation managing the operations of Nassau Medical Center, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care and a network of Family Health Centers that bring primary and specialty care out into the community. By emphasizing wellness, cultural sensitivity and collaborative efforts with the North Shore-LIJ Health System, NuHealth is working to make good care more affordable and easier to access.
For more information about NuHealth or its Centers of Care, visit www.nuhealth.net.