NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The Island’s city and state political delegation are calling on City Hall to give the borough its fair share of medical personnel after the Island was left out of two rounds of the city’s coronavirus surge plans for its public hospitals.
Last week, the Advance reported the city left Staten Island out of plans to add 3,000 more ICU beds by May 1 at hospitals within its Health + Hospitals network. As part of that plan, the city also said it would equip public hospitals with more than 2,500 doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and physicians and provide free Covid-19 testing for its staff at their request.
Days later, the Island was once again left out of the city’s planning, this time for additional medical personnel.
Mayor Bill de Blasio last week had called on the federal government for 1,000 nurses, 150 doctors and 300 respiratory therapists. However, once some of those medical personnel arrived in New York City, City Hall deployed 291 of them only to the city’s public hospitals.
“While Staten Island does not have a public hospital, the city should be providing our borough’s hospitals and healthcare workers with the same resources it is giving the other boroughs, especially during this crisis,” read the letter to the mayor signed by Borough President James Oddo (R); Assemblymembers Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/South Brooklyn), Micheal Cusick (D-Mid Island), Michael Reilly (R-South Shore), Charles Fall (D-North Shore); State Sens. Diane Savino (D-North Shore) and Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island); City Councilmembers Steven Matteo (R-Mid Island), Joe Borelli (R-South Shore), Debi Rose (D-North Shore); as well as District Attorney Micahel McMahon (D).
“Our healthcare workers need and deserve testing to identify those who are ill and isolate them to stop the spread,” they said. “Likewise, our hospitals, Staten Island University Hospital and Richmond University Medical Center, should be receiving a portion of the 1,000 military medical personnel provided by the federal government to give assistance to and relieve the burden being placed on doctors and nurses, who are working hard, long hours to meet the mandate to increase capacity by 50%.” the continued.
SOUTH BEACH PSYCHIATRIC CENTER WILL NEED MORE NURSES, ISLAND DELEGATION SAYS
Their letter to the mayor came on the heels of the opening of the 262-bed hospital at the South Beach Psychiatric Center, which was set up to exclusively treat coronavirus patients.
The Island’s political delegation said the South Beach Psychiatric Center would need more medical staff, in particular nurses, to be able to fully function.
The Island’s two private hospitals RUMC and SIUH have also said that in order to expand their hospital capacity, they would need more medical staff.
Though RUMC did not provide a specific breakdown of exactly how much more medical staff it would need, the hospital said they recently asked the city for more nurses and respiratory therapists.
SIUH also warned that a staffing challenge would arise as its patient surge grows but did not specify how much more medical staff it would need.
Earlier this week, City Hall would not say why it did not send any military medical staff to Staten Island or whether the Island’s hospitals would receive any of the 1,000 nurses, 300 respiratory therapists or 150 doctors from the federal government the mayor had called for in the future.
The mayor had said that under the city’s current approach, hospitals would be converted to ICU beds and then additional facilities like field hospitals, hotels and other venues would be built out for additional capacity.
“This borough has never received its fair share from the HHC but, now, during this crisis, we need to be treated equally. We need help and we need it now. We strongly urge you to work expeditiously with us on these two issues: testing for health care workers and staffing at our hospitals. In the midst of a global epidemic, we must help one another. Staten Island cannot be expected to fight this battle alone,” the lawmakers said.
City Hall did not return requests to comment on the delegation’s letter.
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