NUHEALTH UPDATE #17 –DISASTER MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TEAM DEPLOYED BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO AUGMENT CLINICAL STAFF AT NUMC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2012
PRESS CONTACT:
Shelley Lotenberg
shelley@numc.edu
516-572-6055
NUHEALTH UPDATE #17 –DISASTER MEDICAL ASSISTANCE TEAM DEPLOYED BY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO AUGMENT CLINICAL STAFF AT NUMC
East Meadow, NY…..Arthur A. Gianelli, President/CEO of the NuHealth System, announces the deployment of the federal government’s Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) to help augment clinical staff at the Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC). “On behalf of NuHealth, I want to thank the federal government for the deployment of 35 DMAT personnel to NUMC. It is a high priority in Washington D.C., for the Department of Health and Human Services to assist hospitals such as NUMC, that are operating at well over capacity since Hurricane Sandy due to the influx of patients and nursing home residents from evacuated areas,” said Gianelli. “This is welcome support as both the hospital and the nursing home are over licensed capacity and significantly over normal volumes.”
The first wave of the DMAT arrived Sunday evening, November 4, 2012 to supplement the clinical staff at NUMC. The team (physicians, nurses, Pas, social workers, radiology techs, etc.) will supplement our ED staff as well as our medical/surgical nurses. The team consists of 35 medical personnel from Texas who have been, provided a tour of the facility, fed, and then put to work, assisting our staff to help clear the emergency department and help us expedite admissions to the floors. Our total admitted census hovers around 540 with about 30 backed up in the emergency department; our nursing home census at the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility is 620 (we are licensed for 589 nursing home beds). We have made arrangements for them to sleep in shifts in the old Emergency Department. Less acute patients will be moved from rooms into stretchers being set up in the hallways of our medical/surgical units. In turn, this will permit us to depressurize our ED and gain some semblance of normal nurse staffing ratios.
“I remain very concerned about the coming week. Fuel availability has not normalized. It is getting cold. Over 160,000 Nassau County residents are without power. And a nor’easter is going to hit mid-week. The DMAT team, hopefully, will help us to manage through the next 7 days as safely as possible,” added Steven J. Walerstein, MD, FACP, NuHealth’s medical director.
“It is important to acknowledge the aggressive responsiveness of the federal government and the New York State Department of Health to our needs. To have 35 federal personnel 14 hours after signaling the need for assistance is impressive. It also helps that we are being recognized – and highly praised – for the outstanding effort and essential contribution to help Nassau County maintain health services to meet the needs unleashed by Hurricane Sandy,” indicated Gianelli.
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.
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