Influential Women of New York City
CIH’s fi rst female CEO looks back on COVID year
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Svetlana Lipyanskaya became
the fi rst permanent female
chief executive offi cer of
Coney Island Hospital on Jan.
4, 2020, just weeks before the
COVID-19 pandemic began to
ravage the Five Boroughs.
The Ocean Parkway public
health center sits at the border
of Sheepshead Bay, Gravesend,
Brighton Beach and Coney Island,
neighborhoods that continue
to have some of the highest
infection rates in the city.
Lipyanskaya faced a unprecedented
fi rst year at the helm of
the southern Brooklyn facility,
which in addition to facing down
the pandemic is also undergoing
an almost $1 billion federallyfunded
campus expansion and
fl ood resiliency upgrades.
Brooklyn Paper sat down
virtually with Lipyanskaya
to talk about the challenges
she and her 3,400-strong staff
faced and how they persevered
through the COVID year.
Brooklyn Paper: You
started just weeks ahead of
the city’s COVID outbreak.
When did you fi rst realize
the threat of the virus?
Svetlana Lipyanskaya:
Right when I started, we were
already prepping on a system
level at New York City Health
+ Hospitals. Everybody was
watching what was happening
in Europe and there was still
a lot of optimism that maybe it
won’t really be here and it won’t
be so bad, but we should know
what we’re going to do if it does
come here. So there was a lot of
prep in January and February
It was very eery in a lot of
ways, because you knew it was
coming at that point, there was
no way around it. So it was
operations as usual, except
there’s a pandemic going on.
BP: How did that change
once COVID reached Coney
Island Hospital?
SL: In March, Elmhurst
was really being slammed. We
actually took patients from
them, so we were trying to redistribute
Caribbean L 24 ife, MAR. 26-APR. 1, 2021
patients around the
system to make sure that we
were able to really care for the
population of the city, not just
this neighborhood.
At one point we had 440 patients
in-house, that’s a huge
number for us. We are a 341-
bed hospital, so that’s not only
every single certifi ed bed that
we had but then another 100
above that. When we were being
hit really hard, other public
hospitals took patients from
us. This was one of those situations
where it really brought
our system as a whole much
closer together. We’ve been able
to manage the fl ow of patients
by leveraging the fact that we
are an 11-hospital system.
BP: Did that affect staff?
SL: We had staff who were
working 30-40 days in a row.
No matter how much staff we
were bringing in, it was just
never enough.
It was our staff, the ones
who were experienced and really
knew how we functioned
everyday, it was important
that they be the anchor and
they really stepped up. They
bonded together more than
they ever had before. Everybody
was going in the same
direction at the same time.
It was exhausting and scary
and horrible, but really heartwarming
at the same time because
these people really went
above and beyond.
When it’s in your house and
you are doing everything you
know how to do and you’re doing
more than you know how to
do, and it’s still not always helping,
I think you do lose some
of that innocence. It’s funny
to say because we’re talking
about adults who have spent
their career in healthcare.
BP: The area around the
hospital has some of the
highest positivity rates to
this day. How has that impacted
the hospital?
SL: We’re still continuing
to see people on a very regular
basis coming into our
emergency department with
COVID, or COVID symptoms,
so it hasn’t gone away here yet.
But because of all the lessons
that we learned the fi rst time
around, we know what to do.
If there’s a message I can
send to your readers it’s, ‘It’s
safe to get preventative care,
go back to your primary care
doctor, get that test that you
needed to get done and put off,
because it’s much better for
you to get care now when you
can do it safely than to wait
and then have a very acute episode
and then be sick. I run a
hospital, but my goal is to keep
people out of the hospital.
Editor’s Note: This interview
has been edited for brevity.
For more, visit BrooklynPaper.
com.
Coney Island Hospital CEO Svetlana
Lipyanskaya.
NYC Heath + Hospitals/Coney Island
SAY “NO” TO THE PILLS... Because they mask
the real symptoms and STOP the joint and
tissue from truly healing
STOP THE “LET ME JUST REST” TORTURE...
Begin to mobilize the hard tissue (joints,
ligaments and cartilage) while you release
the soft tissue (nerves, muscle and fascia)
to normal...
KEEP EXERCISING WITH BONE ON BONE
ARTHRITIS OR ROTATOR CUFF TEARS...
Because you are not your MRI or XRAY
that need real healing, and you need this
treatment no matter what your doctor said
to scare you into surgery...
ARTHROSCOPIC SURGERY FOR MENISCAL
TEARS AND INJECTIONS FOR FROZEN
SHOULDERS ECOME YESTERDAYS NEWS
WITH THIS NEW BREAKTHROUGH “NON
SURGICAL SCALPEL”... High Powered Class
IV deep tissue laser technology is a game
changer that skeptical Orthopedists are now
their shoulder, knee, and ankle patients!
PLANTAR FASCIITIS, CHRONIC HEEL SPUR,
ACHILLES TENDINITIS AND SHOULDER
IMPINGEMENT PAIN “MELT” AWAY IN 4-6
SESSIONS GUARANTEED... A secret weapon
fortissue recovery and joint regeneration only
used by professional football players and high
here at ALLCARE PAIN ELIMINATION FOR LIFE
IS CORTISONE REALLY UNSAFE FOR
ARTHRITIS?... Of course it is, but the risks
are destruction of good cartilage, thinning of
nearby bone (osteoporosis) and even tendon
rupturing and weakening ... CLASS IV LASER
none of the risks”
DID YOU KNOW?
92% of your pain is not caused by
your bone or muscle? It’s actually
the wirelike tissue called peripheral
nerves that are trapped and irritated
between the bones and muscles. Hi
powered CLASS IV deep tissue laser
therapy uses a clinically proven
science called photo bio stimulation
by stimulating the inner membrane
of the cells in your deepest tissues not
even cortisone can reach. There is a
photochemical response that changes
the metabolism, removing toxins and
waste from chronic arthritic joint and
BEFORE YOU GIVE UP EVERYTHING YOU
LOVE IN YOUR LIFE
Just because “everyone” says there’s no solution
but surgery or resting the joint forever...
CONTINUE READING FOR THE REAL
HEALTH FACTS
And enjoy an active, mobile and independent life
without pain or limits...
worn out tendons and ligaments to
promote healing from within.
Learn the facts of REAL JOINT AND
MUSCLE HEALTH from a Non-Surgical Pain
Elimination Specialist, world renowned expert
Physiotherapist to Stem Cell Regenerative
Orthopedists and Interventional Pain
Management Physicians. Dr. Isaac is a thought
leader in the controversial world of minimally
invasive and non-surgical procedures called PRP
and PROLOTHERAPY. Dr. Isaac.
Let him show you how to SHRUG OFF
your medical miseries by exposing you to
breakthroughs in NON SURGICAL PAIN
ELIMINATION TECHNOLOGIES using CLASS IV
deep tissue medical laser therapy... and shine a
light on the future of these tools to help people
avoid elective total knee replacements and
rotator cuff surgeries.
Call now 718-215-9519 and leave your name
and number after the message and Dr. Isaac will
see if you qualify to attend.
Don’t delay-come see for yourself why this is
indeed the NON SURGICAL SCALPEL FOR
JOINTS MUSCLES LIGAMENTS! Call Now!
HAD ENOUGH? "##
ENOUGH Cortisone Injections, Gel Shots, Orthopedic Consults and MRI’s?
ENOUGH popping ibuprofen like candy just to get make it through your daily activities?
ENOUGH worrying that you’ll never be able to stay active with your child or chase after
your grandchild fearing your joint or muscle pain will act up and cripple you again?
##
Chronic Pain Diagnostic Specialist
Owner & Clinical Director
"#
$%
Injury Consultant and Spine Specialist, and
I guarantee that this procedure will work
for you on the spot. www.AIICarePT.com
Where? Allcare Pain Elimination For
Life, at 1213 Ave P right here In Midwood,
Brooklyn. It’s my passion to empower
patients like you to eliminate their
LIMITED TIME OFFER!
DOCTOR TSAAC is OFFERING
chronic pain through our unique “Active”
50%a FREE DEEP TISSUE LASER
Neuroscience Based Approach To Pain. DISCOUNT FORTHOSE WHO QUALIFY
at $97 SESSION ALLCARE PAIN
Gets you a ZOOM HIGH INTENSITY PAIN LASER TRIAL as part of this procedure.
ELIMINATION FOR LIFE at 1213
85% Success rate on the spot for Bone On Bone Arthritis.
AVE. P, BROOKLYN, NY 11229
/www.AIICarePT.com
/www.AIICarePT.com
