news&views
January/february 2013 a publication for the nyu langone Medical center coMMunity
Welcome
Back!
Patients, Staff, and Visitors
Return after a Two-Month Absence
Caused by Hurricane Sandy
“It’s great to be back home,” said Steven Hofstetter, MD, associate professor of surgery and surgeon-in-chief of Tisch Hospital. “Everyone has tears
in their eyes.” Thursday, December 27, was a long-anticipated day at N YU
Langone Medical Center. Two months (59 days, to be precise) after the impact
of Hurricane Sandy caused two unprecedented events—the evacuation of 322
patients on October 29 and the closure of the Medical Center for two months—
Tisch Hospital and other major clinical units reopened. As of mid-January, the
vast majority of inpatient services have been up and running, and patients once
again have access to the full spectrum of resources and services offered by the
Medical Center.
As surgeons and construction workers crisscrossed the campus on
December 27, masks dangling from their necks, greeters sporting violet scarves
and big buttons that read “Ask me!” helped patients and visitors get oriented.
All photos: Joshua Bright
Nurses happily hurried about, some waiting for patients scheduled for anything
from sinus procedures to open-heart surgery. Some 55 operations were performed that day.
“I’ve had procedures done here before and have been very happy,” said
Tom Curtin, a computer executive, as he was prepped for gallbladder surgery. “So
I had no problem waiting an extra few weeks to have the thing out. Everything’s
very top-notch here—very professional. Every person I met today told me
their name and explained their role. Here, everybody cares.” Down the hall,
Kelly McConville, a college freshman from Long Island, who was born at N YU
Langone, waited nervously for a similar procedure. “I’m honored to have surgery
here,” she said. Her mother, Alice, has worked in Tisch Hospital’s postanesthesia
care unit (PACU) for a quarter of a century.
(continued on page 7)
Top: Nancy Marini, RN, senior nurse clinician, embraced one of her colleagues in the same day admit unit, one of several surgical units that reopened on December 27, two months after Hurricane
Sandy forced the entire Medical Center to shut down. Bottom, left to right: Dr. Leon Pachter, chair of the Department of Surgery, explained to reporters that some 55 operations were performed
the day NYU Langone reopened. Linda McFie of hospitality services was one of more than 20 greeters stationed throughout the Medical Center who helped patients and visitors get oriented when
NYU Langone reopened on December 27. Dean and CEO Robert I. Grossman, MD; Chairman of the Board of Trustees Kenneth G. Langone; and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, shared the podium at a
press conference held the morning Tisch Hospital reopened.
