Over 100 Total Lots Up For Auction at One Location - CA 11/08

After Hurricane Irene, NY hospitals begin to re-open

by Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor | August 29, 2011
New York hospitals evacuated before Hurricane Irene swept up the East Coast began to re-open Monday, as most emerged relatively unscathed from one of the strongest storms to menace the city in decades.

Patients at four hospitals in regions dubbed "Zone A" -- that is, low-lying coastal areas most at risk from flooding due to a storm surge -- were evacuated Friday following an executive order from Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Affected hospitals included Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn, a Veterans Administration hospital and New York University's Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, and the north and south campuses of Staten Island University Hospital.

More than a dozen nursing and adult care facilities were also evacuated.

The much-hyped hurricane was downgraded from Category 1 to a tropical storm when it made landfall over Long Island and the city Sunday morning, with winds around 65 miles per hour, according to Weather Underground. The storm caused flooding in parts of Manhattan and left hundreds of thousands without power throughout the state and neighboring New Jersey. Around 26 deaths have been reported as the storm ploughed up the East Coast.

But other than some leaks, the hospitals seem to have been largely untouched.

The North Shore-LIJ Health System said Staten Island University Hospital would begin accepting patients Sunday night. The 15-hospital system transferred around 360 patients from the north and south campuses of the hospital Friday. Another hospital run by the system in Bay Shore, N.Y., also reopened following an evacuation.

"While North Shore-LIJ hospitals escaped major damage, several were operating on emergency power as of Sunday evening," the hospital system said in a statement.

NYU Langone Medical Center re-opened Monday morning for most services, as the hospital only "sustained minimal damage," according to a notice on its website. Around 500 patients had been evacuated Friday.

VA NY Harbor Healthcare System said on its website that the Manhattan VA would remain closed Monday. However, a spokeswoman told DOTmed News there were "no significant reports of damage."

The last tropical storm to hit New York, Tropical Storm Floyd, dumped more than a foot of rain over the state and New Jersey, and shut down the city's schools, according to New York's Office of Emergency Management.

You Must Be Logged In To Post A Comment