Food & Nutrition’s ResponseThe Aftermath of Hurricane SandyBetty Perez

July 30, 2013GNJSHFSAScotch Plains, New Jersey

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About NYU Langone Medical Center•Located 100 yards from the East River and in Manhattan the most densely populated of the five boroughs

•Composed of three hospitals:

-Tisch Hospital, 705 –Bed acute-care tertiary facility (Zone A)-Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (Zone A)-Hospital for Joint Diseases, 190-bed (Zone B)

•NYU School of Medicine

•Multiple outpatient facilities

•~15,000 employees

Zone A: Flood risks from any hurricane that makes landfall close to NYC.Zone B: Flood risks for a category 2 or higher hurricane.

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Super Storm Sandy at Landfall

• Category I Hurricane: Winds 74-95 mph

•Massive size: 1,000 miles in diameter

• Storm surge: ~14 feet high

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October 29, 2012:-Views of North Service Wing Loading Dock

-Corner of 34th Street and FDR Drive

(early to late evening)

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Super Storm Sandy Evacuation (10/29/2012)

•Water is reported in the basement of several NYUMC buildings as storm hits

-Ultimately 15M gallons of water entered into Medical Center

• HICS Emergency Operations Center loses power during evening report; moves to secondary location and eventually to lobby

• Systems rapidly begin to fail

• Scope of damage leads to decision to evacuate patients

• NYC Office of Emergency Management and other hospitals notified

•Multidisciplinary teams safely evacuated 325 patients using med sleds for non-ambulatory patients (298 transferred to 14 other facilities/remainder transferred to Hospital for Joint Diseases)

10Department of Emergency Management

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Department of Emergency Management

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Starting all over….Kitchen Demolition

(New kitchen targeted to debut 8/19/2013)

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Before Kitchen Equipment Removal Started

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Before Kitchen Equipment Removal Started

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After Removal of Production Equipment

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After Removal of Walk-in Refrigerators

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Temporary Kitchen

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Location of Temporary Kitchen: Roof Top of Schwartz Building

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Crane Used to Lift Components of Temporary Kitchen

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Lifting Units

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Landing and Opening First Unit (repeated again for second unit)

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Temporary Kitchen on Roof Top with Two Refrigerator Units

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Inside Temporary Kitchen

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Staging Area(repurposed Main Cafeteria)

-For assembly of patient meals

-For perishable and dry storage

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Staging Area

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Staging Area

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Retail Innovation

Presentation Title Goes Here 28

Roaming Food Carts

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Repurposed the Gift Shop

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Lessons Learned

• Reinforcement of the power of networking

• A true test of leadership “soft skills”

• Accounting for each staff member and returning them safely home

• Food and Nutrition plays an integral role in organizational emergency preparedness (evacuation and shelter in place plans)

• Contingency plan needs to include provisions if you lose your “entire department”--how do you plan to feed patients, staff, and visitors?

• From everything bad comes something good - Creating an opportunity to re-do…

-Coming – New hospital kitchen targeted for August 19, 2013 (ground level)

-Coming – New state of the art main cafeteria with a support kitchen (1st floor) planned to debut 1st half of 2014 (a new secondary location for emergency situations)

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“When people are tested they often discover strengths they never knew they had.”

Robert I. Grossman, MDDean and CEONYU Langone Medical Center

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Thank You!

Betty Perez, RD, DHCFASenior Director of Food & Nutrition Services212-263-5170Betty.perez@nyumc.org