Just two days after Nassau University Medical Center made room to accommodate evacuees from Long Beach Medical Center and Long Beach Komanoff Nursing Home due to Hurricane Irene, it's time to return to Long Beach.
NuHealth President and CEO Arthur Gianelli announced Monday that "the final phase of NuHealth’s response to Hurricane Irene [is] being implemented in safely returning patients and nursing home residents back to Long Beach Medical Center (LBMC) and the Long Beach Komanoff Nursing Home."
According to Shelley Lotenberg, director of Public Affairs for NUMC, 52 patients from LBMC were transferred to NUMC starting at 7 a.m. Saturday. This includes nine psychiatric patients, five rehabilitation patients and a mix of intensive care and general medical/surgical patients. Also, 50 Long Beach Komanoff Nursing Home residents were moved to the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility in Uniondale.
"We have commenced the first wave of transferring back 56 patients who were evacuated from the LBMC via ambulances and Able Ride bus," Lotenberg said. "The second wave will take place mid-day Monday."
FEMA resources, brought into the area during Hurricane Irene, will assist with the transport of patients and nursing home residents. A National Guard 18-wheeler truck will assist with the transport of bed mattresses and equipment out of the A. Holly Patterson nursing home back to the Long Beach Komanoff Nursing Home, hospital officials said.
Lotenberg said that 28 Komanoff nursing home residents will be "transported back to Long Beach via ambulances and Able Ride bus starting in the early afternoon Monday."
"NUMC and AHP played a most important role in Nassau County, particularly because of the number of transfers that we accepted and the increase in emergency room visits as a result of southern-most hospitals not being able to accept patients," Gianelli said. "At times of crises, NuHealth’s staff rose to the occasion, proving to everyone how indispensable our health system is and demonstrating the quality of the professionals that we employ."
