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HHC President Alan D. Aviles today announced that the impact of Hurricane Sandy on the New York City public hospital system will exceed $800 million to cover response, repairs, revenue loss and the permanent reconstruction work needed to prevent flood damage in the future. The majority of the costs will involve repair and restoration to electrical, water, heating, communications systems and patient care areas at Bellevue Hospital, Coney Island Hospital and HHC’s Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital and Nursing Facility on Roosevelt Island. Aviles made the announcement following a site visit to Coney Island Hospital by Senator Charles Schumer who toured parts of the storm-damaged first floor Emergency Room and basement and is asking FEMA to quickly deliver all possible aid to HHC.

Coney Island Hospital officials also announced that the hospital will resume inpatient behavioral health services with the opening of all of its 64 inpatient psychiatric beds by Monday, January 14 and today will begin to move its outpatient primary and specialty clinic services back to its main building on Ocean Parkway, which was shut down due to water and systems damage that forced the evacuation of 200 patients. Four days after the storm, the hospital opened a 24/7 urgent care center and has been steadily opening outpatient primary care and specialty services. The hospital’s community based health clinic, the Ida G. Israel Health Center, which served more than 50,000 outpatient visits annually, was completely flooded and is irrecoverable. The emergency room and other inpatient services remain closed and are expected to open later this month. Aviles and Schumer were joined by Coney Island Hospital Executive Director Arthur Wagner, Medical Director Dr. John Maese and HHC Board Member Dr. Vincent Calamia.

“We estimate that the costs of the immediate response and restoration work required to get the hospitals back up, and the long-term protections we need to put in place to prevent future evacuations due to storm damage, including the loss in revenues, will easily exceed $800 million,” Aviles said. “We are grateful to Senator Schumer for his advocacy and support and look forward to securing the funds we need to cover the many millions we have already invested and the millions more we will need to fully protect the city’s public healthcare system from future storms.”

“Opening the Main Building again is very significant to the hospital and community,” said Executive Director Arthur Wagner. “It will again provide our patients with a full array of health care services in a more efficient and adequate setting and will allow us to move progressively towards restoring ancillary services needed to support our Emergency Department.”

“We serve one of the hardest hit communities and it has been our mission to continue offering health services throughout the recovery, whether it is at the hospital or from our mobile units situated within the neighborhoods with the most need,” said Chief Medical Officer, Dr. John Maese, “We are one step closer to our goal of restoring full services to the community.”

Cost of Storm Impact for HHC

The impact of Hurricane Sandy on HHC has been categorized into four major areas of loss and includes a range of repairs at other HHC facilities including Harlem Hospital, Metropolitan Hospital, Queens Hospital Center, Jacobi Hospital, Kings County Hospital and Gouverneur Health.

Restoration of Services at Coney Island Hospital

Coney Island Hospital has the following services in full operation effective today:

Inpatient Behavioral Health – 34 adult psychiatric beds now open (another 30 will open Jan. 14)

Outpatient Specialty Clinics:

Contact: Ian Michaels (HHC) (212) 788-3339

About NCBH

North Central Bronx Hospital (NCBH) is part of HHC’s North Bronx Healthcare Network. A 215-bed community hospital, NCBH specializes in behavioral, geriatric primary care and ambulatory care services for women and children. Its renowned outpatient department has led the way in community-based care delivered in a compassionate and culturally-appropriate manner. As member facilities of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, Jacobi and NCBH are committed to providing safe, high- quality medical care for any and all in need.

About HHC

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is a $6.7 billion integrated healthcare delivery system with its own 420,000 member health plan, MetroPlus, and is the largest municipal healthcare organization in the country. HHC serves 1.4 million New Yorkers every year and more than 475,000 are uninsured. HHC provides medical, mental health and substance abuse services through its 11 acute care hospitals, four skilled nursing facilities, six large diagnostic and treatment centers and more than 70 community based clinics. HHC Health and Home Care also provides in-home services for New Yorkers. HHC was the 2008 recipient of the National Quality Forum and The Joint Commission’s John M. Eisenberg Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality. For more information, visit www.nychhc.org/hhc or find us on facebook.com/NYCHealthSystem or twitter.com/NYCHealthSystem.

Tags:
• FEMA
• Super Storm Sandy