New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health has sent nurses to two Upstate hospitals amid a COVID-19 surge in western New York.
The nurses will support staff at Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo and the University of Rochester's Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, Northwell said Dec. 12. Northwell's team of 16 clinical professionals and two team leads, which includes intensive care, emergency department and medical-surgical nurses, will be deployed for two weeks.They were dispatched Dec. 11.
"We offered to send nurses there after hearing about a staffing crunch in the region and seeing COVID-19 cases peaking there," Michael Dowling, president and CEO at Northwell, said in a news release. "While COVID cases Downstate have increased, they are nowhere near the burden currently faced by health systems elsewhere in New York. There's a natural collaboration among healthcare organizations. In this time of crisis, we have the ability to help and will continue to do so. We remember when the pandemic hit us hardest and we were at our worst."
The nurse deployment comes as new daily COVID-19 hospitalization rates in New York have risen 30 percent in the last two weeks, according to HHS data tracked by The New York Times. It also comes after New York officials announced Dec. 6 that the state would require 32 Upstate hospitals with limited capacity to halt nonurgent procedures as COVID-19 cases increase in the state.
Northwell said the University of Rochester sent help to the health system during the first wave of COVID-19 in 2020, and now Northwell is reciprocating. Overall, Northwell has nearly 19,000 nurses at its 22 hospitals and more than 800 outpatient facilities, including those who volunteered to help University of Rochester and Erie County Medical.
Read more about Northwell's efforts here.