NYU Langone Medical Center Opens Urgent Care Center As Recovery From Sandy Continues
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - While the emergency department remains closed at NYU Langone Medical Center, the hospital opened a new Urgent Care Center Monday.
Additional services also resumed Monday, about two and a half months after superstorm Sandy hit.
The hospital was badly flooded during Sandy. The 14-foot storm surge inundated the medical center with 15 million gallons of water which eventually caused the hospital's backup generators to fail. All patients had to be evacuated as a result.
Some areas of the hospital reopened at the end of last year, but clean-up and repairs continue in other departments.
All pediatric services, along with labor and delivery, resumed as of Monday. Inpatient services that also resumed Monday include the Congenital Cardiovascular Care Unit; epilepsy; hematology/oncology; internal medicine; neurology; and surgical transplant.
While the ER undergoes repairs and renovations, emergency doctors and nurses will staff a round-the-clock Urgent Care Center to treat adults and children walk-in patients in need of immediate care, the hospital announced.
"Last month we made a commitment to our faculty, staff, and the larger community, that we would be completely back up and running before the end of January, and I am thrilled to announce today that we are now reopened ahead of schedule," said Robert I. Grossman, MD, dean and CEO at NYU Langone Medical Center. "Thanks to the hard work of countless individuals, we are able to once again focus on providing the highest quality care to our patients on making NYU Langone stronger than ever."
The new Urgent Care Center is in the main hospital at First Avenue and 30th Street.
Additional information can be found at www.med.nyu.edu.
Late last year, Sen. Charles Schumer helped secure $149.5 million in FEMA dollars for the hospital to rebuild and recover from the storm.
"And what has happened is a metaphor for all of New York and New Jersey amid Sandy – we will come back, we will rebuild, and we'll be better than before," Schumer said.
The full extent of the damage is estimated to be $1 billion.
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