NYU Medical Center reopens following Superstorm Sandy
NEW YORK (WITI) -- Earlier this week, Congress passed a $51 billion relief bill for victims of Superstorm Sandy. The recovery has been slow, but one major goal has been accomplished -- New York University's Medical Center has been reopened.
"It feels great to have the hospital back up and running. It was a little eerie feeling to walk the halls of a hospital and not see a multitude of patients and their families every day," NYU Langone Medical Center Dean Robert Grossman said.
One of the major hospitals crippled by Superstorm Sandy, NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City suffered extensive damage -- flooded with over 15 million gallons of water, the main campus was shut down for two months.
"When you face catastrophic events and emerge from those events you emerge stronger. If anything we're a more united medical center. I'm struck by the spirit of the people working here," Grossman said.
As the storm raged, hospital staff rushed to evacuate over 300 patients down dark stairwells relying only on battery power. Now, there's new life in the halls of the hospital as key departments reopen, including labor and delivery.
"All that kept going through my mind was 'where am I going to have my baby?' I was comfortable here. I went to the tour so I was very comfortable coming here so I was very nervous and then the first day that you guys opened my water breaks," Catherine McGarry-Meenan said.
This week, NYU Langone Medical Center opened its Urgent Care Center, which is at the heart of the medical center. From here care flows like arteries out to surgery to medicine to pediatrics to trauma to obstetrics.
"We'll be able to handle heart attacks, strokes, surgical emergencies because we have emergency medicine physicians and nurses, all of the medications that we would normally would use in the emergency department, and all the specialists that we would normally use," Dr. Robert Femia said.
The only limitation is ambulance traffic, and while it will be another month or so before sirens are heard at NYU, Dean Grossman says having the rest of the hospital back is a big relief for the city -- especially with the flu epidemic.
"Not only are we a national institution but we're a local hospital for the people in midtown Manhattan and it's critically important for us to be up and running," Dean Grossman said.
Dean Grossman says there are important steps to come. Advancements include a massive natural gas power plant, currently under construction, which will help sustain power in future storms.
"It's rare in life you get a chance to face a giant storm and then to come out at the end a better place," Dean Grossman said.