As of today, New York State has the highest number of COVID- 19 cases of any state in the U.S.
In light of the ever changing situation, we are working diligently to create plans to increase our capacity in the hospital to be able to treat more patients should the need arise.
We are incredibly grateful for our exceptional staff and their efforts to remain resilient. In order to support them, we have activated our internal response team: Team Lavender. This team has activated recharge stations across the hospital for staff members to take a moment to recharge while at work. Team Lavender is also engaged in other small efforts to help reduce the stress and strain of the staff as they continue doing their dangerous work. Maintaining staffs’ sense of physical and emotional health is essential to providing good care.
We are also enormously grateful to the community for all the ways you have reached out to us asking, "how can we help?"
Here are some answers:
- We set up a meal train where people can donate water or meals twice a day for our teams. At any time, we often have around 100 people in the building directly serving our patients. We would be happy to accept any number of meals per day. Our team also needs bottled water to stay hydrated. Feel free to share this link with anyone you think might be interested in purchasing meals or water for our team. https://mealtrain.com/yo31r1
- We are in need of masks and safety goggles to help build our supply to ensure the safety of our teams moving forward. We are accepting surgical masks, goggles and N95 masks for donation at the front door of the hospital. Many construction companies use N95s and if anyone has them and are willing to donate, we would greatly appreciate it. Donations can be dropped at the front entrance of the hospital with security. You don’t have to enter the building you can just leave them in a bag at the door.
- Pictures! We’re asking kids (and big kids) to send their artwork (no larger than 8.5X14) for our patients who cannot receive visitors now and our staff who need their days brightened. To know that our community is behind them will make a difference. It’s also a great opportunity to talk to our kids about what is going on. There are some great infographics on our Facebook page that can help facilitate conversation. Artwork can be mailed to Peconic Bay Medical Center, Healthcare Heroes, 1 Heroes Way (Formerly 1300 Roanoke Avenue), Riverhead, NY 11901 or again, dropped at the front entrance of the Medical Center with security.
- If you are a retired health care provider and able to help during this situation, please contact our human resources department at (631) 548-6340.
- And finally, if anyone feels inclined and would like to donate, you can do so by visiting https://pbmcfoundation.thanky
ou4caring.org/pages/donation.
Just this weekend we have completed a 16 bed COVID unit in the shell space of the new Corey Critical Care Pavilion which was intended for future expansion of the Emergency Department. We have incurred so many expenses that were not planned for so any support is greatly appreciated.
We continue to work on ways to get through this crisis. Please check back for more updated information on our Facebook page (@Peconic Bay Medical Center) and on our website.
Thank you again for your ongoing support. Should you have questions or comments, please contact our External Affairs office at (631) 548-6080 or by emailing svigliotta@northwell.edu.
Sincerely,
Andrew J. Mitchell, FACHE
President and CEO
Peconic Bay Medical Center