In Response to COVID-19, NYC Health + Hospitals Opens New 350-Bed Temporary Hospital On Roosevelt Island
The new temporary hospital will help decompress NYC Health + Hospitals facilities that are providing care to the most critically ill New Yorkers
Apr 10, 2020
In response to the unprecedented number of patients seeking care for COVID-19, NYC Health + Hospitals opened a temporary acute-care hospital on Roosevelt Island that will expand the system’s bed capacity by 350 additional beds. The new space was stood up over a three-week span on unused parts of the campus of NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler that had been vacant for more than a decade. The separate new facility, referred to as NYC Health + Hospitals/Roosevelt Island Medical Center, has begun to accommodate patients with and without COVID-19 who are stable and do not need ICU care. Most patients will be transferred from NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue, Elmhurst, Kings County, and Lincoln. The temporary hospital, which officially opened on March 27, this week accommodated its first 100 patients. The additional 240 beds are expected to open this week.
The temporary facility is part of NYC Health + Hospitals’ strategy to expand capacity system-wide to accommodate the surge in patients with COVID-19. The public hospital system is working to open 3,000 additional ICU beds by May 1, nearly tripling the base ICU capacity of its 11 hospitals.
“The remarkable speed by which the City’s public health system was able to stand up a new hospital further demonstrates our determination and commitment to care for all New Yorkers during this unprecedented time,” said NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD. “The creation of the new temporary hospital was possible thanks to a lot of hard work, dedication and ingenuity among administration, clinical, nursing, IT, facilities development leadership and post-acute care staff who came together to make this happen.”
“The new temporary hospital on Roosevelt Island emphasizes the fact that NYC Health + Hospitals truly functions as one cohesive, integrated system, pooling resources to provide New Yorkers the healthcare they need and deserve where it’s most appropriate,” said NYC Health + Hospitals Senior Vice President of Post-Acute Care Maureen E. McClusky, FACHE, LNHA, who is also heading up the project.
The temporary acute-care facility on Roosevelt Island will function completely separate from the NYC Health + Hospitals/Coler long-term care/skilled nursing operation. NYC Health + Hospitals/Roosevelt Island Medical Center has its own administrative and clinical leadership team, and a team of full-time doctors, nurses and other clinicians dedicated to providing care in the new temporary facility.
The new temporary hospital began operations with approximately 100 staff members, including doctors, nurses, aides, social workers, food services staff, environmental services, clerical and security. The hospital will expand staffing to meet the needs of its 350-bed capacity.
“This has been an incredible accomplishment for such an important moment in our city. In just a few weeks, we were able to open a dedicated, safe, fully operational hospital space where we can care for patients regardless of their COVID-19 status. Under normal circumstances, it would have taken us more than six months,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/Roosevelt Island Medical Center CEO Floyd Long.
For more information on NYC Health + Hospitals’ COVID-19 responses, please visit the newsroom.