Hempstead allocates $4M to hospitals to offset coronavirus costs

Emma Jones
Nassau University Medical Center is one of four hospitals receiving aid from Hempstead. (Photo by Teri West)

Hempstead Town Supervisor Donald Clavin and the Town Board announced on May 19 that they are allocating $1 million each to four hospitals in Hempstead for coronavirus-related expenses. The funds are part of the $133 million the town received from the federal coronavirus aid package.

The hospitals receiving funding from the town are Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre, Northwell Health’s Long Island Jewish Valley Stream Hospital, Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow and Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital in Oceanside.

Town officials determined the allocation of funding “based on a comprehensive application process,” according to an emailed statement. Hempstead’s newly formed Economic Recovery Committee considered each applicant’s need for funding, as well as the impact of coronavirus-related government mandates on the applicants.

The aid will go toward unbudgeted expenses such as the large quantities of personal protective equipment and ventilators that hospitals acquired in order to handle the influx of COVID-19 patients. The funding is also meant to offset the added costs of meeting state mandates such as setting up testing centers for first responders.

Catholic Health Services President Peter Scaminaci said that Mercy Medical Center will use the money to offset the costs of PPEs and cleaning supplies.

“Over the last few months, like our health care peers, we have experienced new challenges and have incurred increased expenses without warning,” Scaminaci said. “This grant will provide Mercy with much-needed funds to help offset some unexpected costs and will enable us to continue to move towards a new normal without sacrificing patient care,”

The funds will help Long Island Jewish offset added expenses such as adding new systems to intensive care facilities, according to David Seligman, the hospital’s executive director.

“To date, LIJ Valley Stream has successfully discharged 686 COVID-19 patients from our hospital and treated hundreds of others in our emergency department,” he said. “This funding will help offset the millions of dollars invested in equipment, supplies and other resources that have enabled us to meet the needs of the community and protect our staff during this pandemic.”

Nassau University Medical Center will use the funding to meet the 90-day inventory of PPE that was recommended by state officials, President and interim CEO Dr. Anthony Boutin said.

“Nassau University Medical Center has been caring for the most vulnerable during this global pandemic by providing high quality health care at NUMC, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility and the LIFQHCs,” he added, referring to Long Island federally qualified health centers.

Richard J. Murphy, president and CEO of Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital, said that the grant will help the hospital recoup some of the costs of ventilators, dialysis machines and PPEs that the hospital needed to acquire since the outset of the pandemic.

“We are very grateful to Supervisor Clavin and Councilman D’Esposito for obtaining the funds to help local hospitals within the Town of Hempstead that have been on the front lines of this life and death struggle, which is continuing today and which will have financial ramifications for months to come,” Murphy said. “We need and appreciate the help.”

“The health care workers at our four local hospitals have been on the front lines throughout this entire public health emergency, and this funding will hopefully help ease the tremendous burden these facilities have endured to keep us safe,” Clavin said in an emailed statement. “It is only right that the Town support the heroes that have supported us throughout this entire ordeal. Our health care workers are our heroes, and we hope this aid will help alleviate these unforeseen financial stresses.”

Due to the population threshold of 500,000 to apply to the federal aid program, Hempstead was the only town in Nassau County to receive funding. The county received $103 million of its own in federal aid.

The Economic Recovery Committee announced on May 5 that $2 million of the funding will be given as a grant to temporary food banks to provide relief to food insecure families during the COVID-19 crisis. The town is partnering with Hauppauge-based food bank Long Island Cares in this effort.

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