Boro Honors Healthcare Heroes
St. John's Episcopal Hospital
BESTOF.QNS.COM • VOTERS GUIDE • BEST OF THE BORO 2021 9
A typical day during the height
of the pandemic started at 7:00 a.m.,
when the patients began to show up
in droves, and ended near midnight
for the dedicated physician, who
described it as “a relentless onslaught
of desperate and scared patients,”
from open to close. “Every third
patient or so was hypoxic (low
oxygen), short of breath, and had
a typical COVID-19 pneumonia
pattern. I will never forget the time
we were told by 911 operators that
there were no available EMS for
transport, leaving us no choice but
to continue monitoring the patient
until they arrived 90 minutes later,”
he shared.
Medicine was stretched thin and
resources were limited. But CityMD
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BEST HOSPITAL
St. John's Winning
Team Help Patients and
Communities During
Pandemic
Celebrating over 110 years of
community care, St. John’s Episcopal
Hospital provides people of all faiths
with high quality medical treatments
and services regardless of ability
to pay. Their dedicated team of
healthcare workers and staff have all
been working together to save lives
during the pandemic.
Richard Steward, DO, Family
Medicine
Dr. Steward started working at St.
John’s in 2015 and says he’s proud to
be a part of that team. He remembers
the challenges he and his colleagues
faced when Queens was the epicenter
of the coronavirus pandemic.
Many patients were being
admitted as the weeks went by, and
new rooms had to be created to
accommodate the influx.
As the only doctor in his family,
Dr. Steward said his family members
are quick to call him for advice. He
shared a personal experience: “I had
two cousins who came down with
COVID-19 and developed shortness
of breath and decreased appetite.
Their families had called me on a
daily basis, asking for advice on how
they should manage their current
condition. Their health worsened, but
I was able to guide them on how to
best manage their condition to help
ensure that they did not deteriorate.
Ultimately, they had to be admitted
to a hospital. I was able to be a part
of their care plan and communicate
with my family’s medical staff while
they were hospitalized. I was able to
see them come through to the other
side of this terrible virus.
After a long, grueling day, Dr.
Steward said when he got home, he
could finally interact with his family
around 8:30 pm. There were times
when he was at the hospital every
day of the week. “I’ll never forget
that during one stretch, I had worked
27 out of 30 days in the month,” he
recalled.
In the midst of everything,
nobody could escape conversations
and news about the virus.
“My children, who are ages 7
and 13, were very aware of what was
going on. Their days were difficult
because they had never gone so long
without having interaction with their
friends. I didn’t talk much about my
day with them because I wanted the
time that I spent away from work to
be family time,” Dr. Steward shared.
To deal with all the challenges
he faced, the doctor would often
remember something he once read
in college.
“I learned a poem called ‘See
it Through.’ In life, things will not
always go the way you want, but
sitting and moping around about
circumstances is not going to change
the situation,” he said. “The poem
states, ‘Black may be the clouds about
you and your future may seem grim,
but don’t let your nerve desert you…
if the worst is bound to happen, spite
of all that you can do, running from
it will not save you, See it Through.’”
And working out at home helped
him decompress and stay fit.
Dr. Steward also talked about
the current ‘vibe’ in the hospital.
“Healthcare workers have been
wearing PPE since March as regular
protocol. However, most could never
have imagined that we would still
be wearing it,” he said. “Wearing
everything that we do for hours upon
hours for months can be annoying
and uncomfortable, but I still do it to
protect my patients, my family and
myself.”
Thomas Meyer, Director of
Engineering
As an important part of St. John’s
winning team, Meyer describes what
it was like during the height of the
pandemic and what he learned from
that experience.
“Once your back is pushed to the
wall, you can really see how much
you can get accomplished. Collective
‘brain’ and manpower made so many
things happen,” he said. “We can
definitely come together and step up
for the well-being of our patients and
community members.”
Indeed, there was a lot to get done
during those chaotic weeks. There
were long days, constant tasks…
things people may not even think
of when it comes to maintaining a
building.
“Engineering’s main job was to
expand and create areas of space
in order to keep patients and the
hospital’s team members safe,”
Meyer noted. “We were able to
create negative pressure rooms that
help prevent the spread of airborne
diseases, such as COVID-19 and
the flu, for the rooms of patients
who were COVID-19 positive.
Creating new rooms or expanding
in necessary areas, was a hurdle to
overcome, but we knew this was
needed to help reduce the infection
rate. The experience was challenging,
but we knew it was for the greater
good.”
Everyone pitched in and there
was a real sense of community and
fellowship.
These days, Meyer said he has
been educating himself on how to
prepare for the future, including a
possible surge, and feels there is a
heightened sense of awareness at St.
John’s.
“On a daily basis, there were a
lot of things that were presented
back then which was out of our
regular scope of work, but we
worked aggressively to expand
and accommodate efficiently and
effectively,” he recalled. “I was able
to really understand the important
values of team, community, and
individual care.”
St. John’s Episcopal Hospital is
located at 327 Beach 19th St., Far
Rockaway, Queens. The hospital
can be reached at (718) 869-7000 or
you can visit www.ehs.org for more
information.
St. John's Episcopal Hospital
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