NUHEALTH HURRICANE SANDY UPDATE #14 11/2/12 1:00PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2012
PRESS CONTACT:
Shelley Lotenberg
shelley@numc.edu
516-572-6055
NUHEALTH HURRICANE SANDY UPDATE #14 11/2/12 1:00pm
East Meadow, NY…..Arthur A. Gianelli, President/CEO of the NuHealth System, provides the following update on the status of the Nassau University Medical Center, the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility and the Family Health Centers:
During the last few days, NUMC has been receiving an influx of patients, and is being called upon by federal, state, and local officials to step into the breach unfilled by other providers.
We topped 550 patients all in for most of the day yesterday, Thursday, November 1st, 2012, and 530 patients on Friday, November 2nd. Reports from the emergency department describe it as “a warzone” and the clinical shifts as “brutal”. We executed a number of moves to create additional bed capacity and discharge patients to available nursing homes, shelters and to their home.
Our emergency department is being hit with patients who cannot find their doctors, cannot renew their meds, need oxygen, need dialysis (because their dialysis centers are shut down), suffer from carbon monoxide poisoning, and who suffer from various event-related traumas.
Our acute concerns right now are the census, fuel, and dialysis. We will continue to monitor the census today. We received a fuel shipment last evening at A. Holly Patterson. I will propose to the EOC that we make limited amounts of fuel available to essential clinical personnel who need to report to the hospital over the next 48 hours. We require additional trained staff to meet the dialysis needs with which we are being presented.
A. Holly Patterson remains in good shape, at full capacity. We anticipate opening up the ambulatory centers at the Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow on Monday. The Roosevelt, Hempstead and Elmont Health Centers are operational now. Physicians and our new Family Practice Residents have been staffing the Nassau County run shelter at the Community college. We are going to expand our presence to other shelters in the county to try to reduce the pressure on our emergency department.
We continue to be in discussions with the state about a number of additional emergency response options. We have emerged from this crisis as a key, aggressive, cooperative, and progressive provider in the minds of state officials. This, as you know, has long been part of NuHealth management’s strategic agenda.
We thank our staff for their exemplary dedication and for their commitment to all our patients. I will continue to update you as events warrant.
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.