Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
The City is in the process of distributing 250,000 masks donated by the United Nations to public hospitals.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The city’s public hospitals are welcoming a surge of critical supplies and resources, including the addition of 1,000 contract nurses to support existing staff systemwide, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday.
According to the administration, the City has continued to surge resources to NYC Health + Hospitals Elmhurst to accommodate the influx of patients with COVID-19 related illness. Last week, 13 patients suffering from the virus died in a single 24-hour period.
As of Sunday, NYC Health + Hospitals has added 169 clinicians—a combination of registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and physicians—to assist Elmhurst staff. One hundred nurses were dispatched last weekend. And 45 clinicians have been re-assigned from outpatient to inpatient for additional reinforcement.
Elmhurst Hospital last week received 8,000 N95 masks, 18,000 head covers, and 2,000 booties. A couple of weeks ago, the beleaguered hospital received 13,000 N95s masks, 221,000 surgical gloves, 33,000 face masks, 17,500 gowns, and 1,665 face shields. The City has also re-supplied the hospital’s number of ventilators four times in the last 14 days, and distributed an additional 55 ventilators.
“Elmhurst and our NYC Health + Hospital system are at the center of this epidemic,” Hizzoner added. “We’re in a state of war, but we cannot go to battle without ammunition. To those who are on the frontlines: your City is behind you, and more help is on the way.”
The City has now received all 2,500 ventilators promised by the federal government and are distributing them to hospitals as needed, de Blasio said Sunday.
The City is also distributing 250,000 masks donated by the United Nations.Last Friday, 20 trucks distributed Personal Protective Equipment—200,000 N95 masks; 1 million surgical masks; 50,000 face shields; 10,000 boxes gloves; and 40,000 isolation gowns—to hospitals citywide. On Monday, the City delivered 800,000 N95 respirators and 2 million surgical face masks.
To date, the City has distributed a total of 8,918,000 face masks; 179,328 face shields; 476,565 N95 masks; 159,204 gowns; 1,570,300 surgical gloves; and 835 ventilators to hospitals across the five boroughs.
However, tales from the frontlines seem to tell a different story. Hospital personnel in countless published reports have indicated that they are performing herculean medical tasks with paltry supplies and resources.
“The nurses and doctors who are helping NYC to get through the COVID-19 pandemic are true heroes who deserve our utmost gratitude and respect. But the reported conditions in our public hospitals during this unprecedented public health crisis are alarming, and my Office is committed to working with the governor and the mayor to find answers,” City Comptroller Scott Stringer said in a statement issued Sunday afternoon. “Our public health system serves families and residents that already face significant barriers to quality health care, and our frontline workers can’t take care of us if we fail to protect them. We must ensure that our public hospitals have the funding, protections, resources and support they need, properly managed and coordinated, to protect New Yorkers during these uncertain times.”
