Your donation will help in important ways

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COVID-19 RESPONSE AND PRIORITY NEEDS

Our hospital care teams require appropriate PPE (personal protective equipment) in order to take care of patients while keeping themselves and each other safe.  No sooner do we receive a shipment of PPE than we need more.  Our inventory is always on the brink of scarcity.  Your donation will first and foremost go towards purchasing the PPE our frontline workers need.

 

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN

If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that “business as usual” needs to be re-evaluated for a new normal.  Emergency preparedness plans have to be re-drawn, equipment reserve levels increased, and significant infrastructure improvement planning has to be undertaken to ensure we can properly respond to the needs of the community.  In times of crisis, having the ability to convert non-traditional spaces to create surge capacity and properly outfitting those spaces with critical care equipment can literally mean life or death for our patients.  To this end, there is a pressing need for our facility to acquire additional equipment such as ventilators, patient monitors, infusion pumps, imaging equipment, and HEPA filtration units.  Areas will need to be modified to provide additional negative pressure rooms in existing suites; medical gases, suction, and oxygen will need to be installed in non-traditional spaces.  As we move forward to “normalizing” operations in an environment of social distancing, patient flow will need to be re-imagined as we construct and modify spaces to design layouts that protect both patients and caregivers.  These necessary acquisitions and modifications come with an extensive cost to an operating budget already strained by this pandemic. Your contributions will go a long way in ensuring that our facility remains prepared to handle any crisis that threatens our community.

 

INNOVATIVE TREATMENT FOR COVID-19 AND RELATED ILLNESS

Because we are at the forefront of this fight, our clinical teams have had to pull together to find innovative treatments that have saved many lives.  Since the beginning of the epidemic, we have employed treatments that are at the forefront of scientific knowledge. Our approach has evolved, and continues to evolve, as we learn more about this disease from our own experiences, as well as from those learned from colleagues all around the world. Our current approach includes the use of some clinical trial medications as well as some already-approved drugs that are used for other conditions that cause an overreaction of the immune system. We have treated scores of patients with Convalescent Plasma from the blood of patients who have recovered from COVID, hoping that their antibodies will help the recipient battle the virus. We have an ample supply of Remdesivir – an antiviral medication that recently received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA. We are planning analyses of the effects of treatment with corticosteroids and anti-coagulation and analyzing community environmental risk factors for COVID-19 infection.  We are also testing employees for antibodies and participating in plasma donation trials.  In order to be better prepared for future COVID-19 surges, we plan to undertake a large research project that will study the multiple impacts of the virus in our communities, including among pregnant women and their babies.  Your donation will help us to better understand how to battle this disease and help get the needed treatments to the bedside to save lives.

 

GLOBAL HEALTH INITIATIVE/PANDEMIC PREPARATION

We are fortunate to have Dr. Joseph Masci, well-known infectious disease and emergency response expert, Chairing our Global Health Initiative. With the constantly changing landscape of worldwide health conditions, illness, and pandemics, it is crucial that NYC H+H/Elmhurst participate in groundbreaking research and education that responds to disease trends seen internationally and reflected locally by our diverse community.  The work of our Global Health Institute develops robust relationships with community and international partners, with whom we share best practices and influence pandemic preparation today and into the future.

 

EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE

COVID-19 has demanded every bit of blood, sweat, and tears from our courageous employees and volunteers.  Every day many of them come to the hospital knowing that they are entering a battlefield and every day, they return to their homes exhausted and at times beleaguered.  And yet, their dedication and commitment to their patients continue, to the point where some of them cannot get to the stores to purchase groceries or find time to do needed laundry.  Your donation will help us support our care teams, from basic foodstuffs to essential toiletries and personal hygiene items.  You will also help us house COVID-positive employees in hotels for the protection of their families and volunteers who have come from all 50 states to provide rest and relief to our staff.  Your donation will also assist our care teams to commute when public transportation schedules are limited late at night and in the wee hours of the morning when many have to travel to work to guarantee our crucial 24/7 operations.  Your donation will secure basic necessities for our care teams.

   

UNRESTRICTED

It has been an unprecedented and challenging time here at Elmhurst Hospital where we continue to battle a hostile virus that has affected so many in our communities.  Unrestricted funds will give us the flexibility to cover any and all gaps that our hospital and community need.