Learn how FEMA continues to support the restoration of New York's infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Here you will learn more about the recovery and mitigation strategies used by NYU Langone Medical Center.
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NYU Langone Medical Center, located 200 feet from New York City's East River, suffered severe flood damage during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The medical center was forced to evacuate in the middle of the night. With FEMA's assistance, learn how NYU Langone applied mitigation measures to help prevent future flood damage.
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NYU Langone Medical Center has been called the "poster child" for flood mitigation.
Learn more about how NYU Langone staff, in conjunction with FEMA Hazard Mitigation subject matter experts worked together to mitigate against future flooding.
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Restored, Revitalized, Resilient—NYU Langone Medical Center
“I was in the command center, with other members of the emergency management team that night,” said Kimberly S. Glassman, PhD, chief nursing officer and senior vice president of patient care at NYU Langone Medical Center (nyulangone.org).
As Hurricane Sandy began its destructive march up the Eastern seaboard, the medical center’s hospitals, medical school and research facilities began preparing for the storm.
With the emergency management plan activated, the hospitals on the campus released all medically-stable patients, cancelled elective surgeries, and closed the emergency department. As part of its existing emergency management plan, sewer openings were covered and sealed, workers distributed temporary protections throughout the campus and water pumps were strategically deployed. The medical center released all medically-stable patients, cancelled elective surgeries, and closed the emergency department.
All of the buildings on the main campus are connected at the basement level. Flood waters from Hurricane Sandy breached the campus buildings through exterior doors, mechanical vents, interconnecting electrical conduits and then traveled to adjoining buildings. Before the night was over, 15 million gallons of water poured onto the campus, knocking out power, destroying equipment and forcing an evacuation of 322 patients.
“When we lost power in the command center, I immediately sent an email to the nurse managers on duty in each department asking if they were okay,” says Glassman. “They responded that they were fine, that the generators had kicked in and they were operating on full emergency power. Then I got word that the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit), did not have power.” Since the elevators were not working, Glassman and colleagues ran up nine flights of stairs arriving a few minutes later to a dark NICU, illuminated by cell phones and flashlights of the doctors and nurses caring for these infants.FEMA Administrator and New York Senator Charles Schumer talk to construction workers at NYU Langone Medical Center.
Although the life-sustaining equipment the 20 infants depend on was battery powered, the battery life was limited, and Glassman knew she would have to evacuate the NICU. “Premature infants don’t like to be jostled,” says Glassman. To keep them stable, nurses swaddled the babies and wrapped them in warming blankets, and held them securely close to their bodies. One-by-one, the nurses, tightly cradling the infants, made their way down nine, dimly-lit flights of stairs. They were surrounded by other medical personnel carrying the oxygen, intravenous pumps and monitors critical to the infants’ survival.
Hurricane Sandy took a huge toll on NYU Langone facilities. The plumbing, mechanical and electrical systems were overwhelmed by flood water; the main kitchen was destroyed. In addition to losing its CAT scanners and five MRIs, the hospital’s gamma knife and a linear accelerator, used to treat cancer, were damaged beyond repair.
On Nov. 9, 2012, eleven days after Sandy’s landfall, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate arrived for a firsthand look at the damage wrought by the storm. “You’re going to deal with the FUD — fear, uncertainty and doubt,” Fugate told medical center staff gathered at the devastated campus. “Don’t look at this. Think about what’s next.”
Clean-up and emergency restoration began within hours of the last patient leaving and continued for nearly a year.
FEMA personnel consulted with medical center staff, offering advice and help applying for FEMA funding. On Dec. 6, 2012, FEMA awarded NYU Langone more than $114 million to pay for emergency repairs and other expenses incurred as a result of Hurricane Sandy. An additional $35 million in funding was made available later in the month.
Along with educating the medical center on specific program issues and procedures, assisting with the development of projects and reviewing them for compliance, FEMA also provided an additional grant to pay for permanent work. In July 2014, FEMA awarded $982 million in Public Assistance funding for repairs to facilities and for mitigation projects designed to protect the medical center from future disasters.Two large generators at NYU Langone Medical Center.
Over the last thirty months, NYU Langone has instituted a comprehensive mitigation plan, with robust and redundant systems designed to protect the campus, and more importantly the people who rely upon the medical center from future storms.
The electrical, plumbing and air handling systems that were housed in the lower levels have been elevated to the first floor along with the new MRI and CAT scan machines. The IT systems were moved to a higher floor and there is a back-up storage facility in another location. A flood barrier system that will protect the entire campus is under construction. Next year, a new Energy Building, will provide power to the entire campus, including the neonatal unit.
“We learned the importance of close collaboration during Hurricane Sandy,” Glassman says. “There is now greater coordination among hospitals; we plan for future emergencies together, not just in New York, but across the region and nationally.”
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The Revitalizers
On October 29, 2012, as Hurricane Sandy roared into New York City, employees at NYU Langone Medical Center worked throughout the night to safely care for and evacuate patients and minimize damage to the facility. The storm caused extensive damage to the medical center’s hospitals, research facility and medical school.
FEMA Public Assistance (PA) and Hazard Mitigation staff met with NYU Langone personnel immediately after Sandy’s landfall and continued to work with them to revise and implement plans.
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“Not a lot of people have experience restoring flooded hospitals,” said Paul Schwabacher, senior vice president for facilities management at NYU Langone. “The FEMA folks have been through this before and shared their expertise with us.” Thankfully, the medical center was in the midst of a large-scale renovation and mitigation project when the storm hit, so it had design professionals, construction contracts, estimates and workers on hand.
Approximately six weeks after the storm, FEMA PA awarded more than $149 million to pay for emergency repairs and other expenses incurred as a result of Sandy.
New York native Anastasia Holmes, served as the public assistance coordinator (PAC) on the project. Holmes, who holds a master’s in Public Administration, credits her experience in the nonprofit community with helping her understand the needs of NYU Langone and to help them meet the requirements of the federal government. “I know how Public Assistance recipients operate,” says Holmes. “I understand the pressures and priorities they face while continuing to provide services while also applying for assistance. I tried to leverage my human services experience as a PAC.”
“NYU Langone is the poster child for mitigation,” says Nancy Pogensky. A licensed architect, Pogensky says that working at FEMA has broadened her perspective. “In my mind, as an architect everything is about structure, but in trying to rebuild and increase resiliency, there were so many other things to consider.” Pogensky, a FEMA Hazard Mitigation subject matter expert, discussed plans NYU Langone staff had developed for building new facilities and modifying existing ones and provided valuable assistance in making them more resilient. “They are constructing a campus-wide comprehensive mitigation strategy that protects the facility from a .2% annual flood event (aka 500 year).”
NYU Langone Medical Center re-opened its doors to surgical patients on December 27, 2012, less than two months after Sandy struck. In January 2013 the medical center’s services expanded to include all pediatric services and labor and delivery. The restored and expanded emergency department, funded largely by a contribution from Ronald O. Perelman, opened for the first time since Hurricane Sandy in April 2014. FEMA funded the restoration and/or replacement of some equipment and mitigation measures designed to protect the emergency department from future storms.
Much of this mitigation work has been paid for by FEMA. In total, NYU Langone has received almost $1 billion including $982 million awarded through the Alternative Procedures Pilot Program for Permanent Work, an innovative program spearheaded by the Sandy Recovery Office.
“The Pilot Program for Permanent Work helped expedite our rebuilding and mitigation projects,” said Schwabacher. “That is really important because we care for very sick patients, if we have to move them that may create a risk to their health. We want to ensure that what happened with Sandy will not happen again.”
Paul Schwabacher, Anastasia Holmes and Nancy Pogensky are just three of the hundreds at NYU Langone and FEMA who came together to bring the facility back, up and running, making it stronger and more resilient against future storms. Their work will help make a difference to the thousands of New Yorkers who rely on NYU Langone Medical Center for care.