WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 19, 2020 7
Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn. Photo via Google Maps
Hospital workers at Wyckoff who treated the
city’s fi rst coronavirus fatality went into isolation
BY ALEJANDRA O'CONNELLDOMENECH
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
The fi rst coronavirus patient in
New York City to die from complications
of the illness — an
82-year-old woman from Ridgewood,
Queens, who succumbed Saturday
morning at Brooklyn’s Wyckoff
Heights Medical Center — had sent the
medical personnel who fi rst treated
her into precautionary quarantines,
according to the hospital’s CEO.
None of the personnel, which
includes FDNY ambulance workers
along with Wyckoff emergency
staff and physicians, has shown
any symptoms of COVID-19, Ramon
Rodriguez told amNewYork Metro
Saturday. They will return to work at
the hospital the quarantine is lifted
on Wednesday, March. 17, he said.
All those asked to self-quarantine
were sent home with pay.
Rodriguez said a “good amount” of
personnel on duty the day the patient
arrived at Wyckoff Heights, March
3, went into self-quarantine; he did
not specify the exact number due to
privacy concerns.
About 250 people are seen in
day at Wyckoff’s emergency room,
according to Rodriguez; when flu
season hits, that number can spike
up to 300 a day. There are about 100
people who work in Wyckoff’s adult
and pediatric emergency departments,
which are connected. At any
given moment, there are roughly 40
doctors, nurses, physician extenders
and residents are on the ER floor.
“We have one of the busiest
emergency rooms of any community
hospital,” Rodriguez said. “The
only hospitals that see more people
than we do are very large teaching
hospitals.”
The 82-year-old woman had advanced
emphysema and passed at
around 3 a.m Saturday morning. It is
unclear exactly why the woman was
transported to the hospital by ambulance
on March 3, but Rodriguez said
it could have been because she was
having difficulty breathing.
Many patients with advanced
emphysema suffer through periods
where they are unable to breathe.
She was cared for by a daughter who
lived with her.
After the woman tested positive
for COVID-19, her daughter placed
herself in quarantine at home and is
asymptomatic, Rodriguez said.
Shortly after the 82-year-old arrived
at Wyckoff’s emergency room,
Rodriguez noted, she was placed
in isolation in a negative pressure
room. Only one other person who
received care in the same emergency
room has tested positive for COVID-
19, and they entered the hospital 10
days after the 82-year-old woman
arrived to the hospital and were
transferred to another facility four
days later.
No other patients have tested positive
for the virus, Rodriguez added.
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