Community’s ‘valuable’ support helps Wyckoff
Heights Medical Center’s staff keep working
Photos by Evelyn Chassagne
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | MAY 15-MAY 21, 2020 17
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
As one of the hospitals in
the epicenter of COVID-19,
Wyckoff Heights Medical Center
in Brooklyn continues to
treat patients who have tested
positive for the novel coronavirus.
“I think without exception,
the staff of the hospital has
taken on these great challenges
head on, and have worked as
hard and as much as they can
to try to save the lives of all
the infected patients,” said Dr.
Gustavo Del Toro, executive
vice president and chief medical
officer of Wyckoff Hospital.
“I’m very proud of them. It’s
been an incredible effort that
most of our staff have put into
this.”
The hospital, located at 374
Stockholm St. on the Brooklyn/
Queens border, has a dedicated
staff of 1,800 physicians,
nurses and support personnel
care for patients.
Earlier in the year, upon
news of a possible coronavirus
outbreak in New York City, the
hospital began implementing
strict measures to protect its
employees and preparation to
meet the surge of COVID-19 patients,
according to Del Toro.
On March 14, the hospital
registered its first coronavirus
related death in New York
City.
“So far, we’ve had about
1,000 patients admitted to the
hospital with COVID or suspected
COVID,” Del Toro said.
“The influx of patients have
slowed down quite a bit, but
there are still many patients
in the hospital that are extremely
ill.”
According to Del Torro, the
hospital was operating at more
than 100 percent capacity during
a five-week period amid
the pandemic.
“Our usual capacity is 175
patients and there were days
where we had 230 patients in
the inpatient unit, while there
were another 58 patients waiting
for a bed,” Del Toro said.
To accommodate patients
with COVID-19-related symptoms,
the hospital created new
areas of inpatient care and
critical patient care in different
parts of the building that
didn’t exist before March, Del
Toro said.
“For example, the pediatric
inpatient unit was converted
into an adult COVID patient
unit with some ventilators,”
Del Toro said. “We also shut
down our surgeries and medical
procedures and completely
closed down our ambulatory
services.”
Many of those employees
were deployed to the medical
inpatient care, emergency
department and critical care
areas.
Following a shortage of
personal protective equipment
(PPE), the hospital has
received a stockpile of PPE for
its staff, according to Del Toro,
and enough ventilators from
the state for patients.
As he spends his days helping
to make sure that clinical
matters in the hospital are
running as expected, Del Toro
described being on the frontline
with his colleagues helping
to fight the coronavirus as
challenging.
“This is a situation that I
haven’t really encountered
over a long period of time like
that,” Del Toro said. “It was
unbelievable and still is.”
In response to the support
of community members who
have donated meals to the
hospital staff, Del Toro said
it’s “very much appreciated.”
“Ten days ago we had an
entire group of NYPD and
FDNY trucks and cars and
staff standing outside clapping
for us,” Del Toro said.
“I’ve never seen that in my
life. You feel very appreciated
and all of our staff are
happy to know the community,
and the government at
large, appreciates what we
have gone through in the
epicenter of the disease. We
still are, and to get that support
is very valuable and it
makes us continue to do it
every day.”
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@
schnepsmedia.com or
by phone at (718) 260–4526.
/QNS.COM
link
link
/schnepsmedia.com
