Corona discusses Upstate nurses responding to a call for COVID-19 help downstate

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Dr. Robert Corona, president and CEO of Upstate University Hospital, said the top official at Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island “made a call out for help.”

“They need staff badly. The call went to our nursing staff and we have a large [contingent] of nurses that are going to be heading downstate to help out with the Stony Brook initiative,” Corona said in remarks at the April 8 Onondaga County daily coronavirus briefing at the Oncenter in Syracuse.

Upstate University Hospital sent 22 nurses to Stony Brook to help provide vital patient care in an area hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The nurses departed Syracuse on the morning of April 9. Most of them will stay at Stony Brook University for two weeks. The Long Island university will provide their food and lodging.

“They are getting overwhelmed right now with COVID-positive patients. They’re building a 1,000-bed hospital on their football field, and our nursing staff is going to go down there and support them, so I’ve very, very happy about that,” Corona said at the briefing.

Hospitals on Long Island along with the rest of the New York City area have been inundated with sick patients during the coronavirus outbreak. More than 95 percent of New York state’s coronavirus cases are in the greater New York City metropolitan area, which includes Long Island.

The Upstate University Hospital nurses will work alongside staff at Stony Brook University Hospital in intensive-care units with critically ill patients on ventilators and in the emergency department.

“There are fellow [registered nurses] from across our region who are also answering New York City and Long Island’s call. The passion for our patients and the passion for nursing’s profession is really the self-less driver of these incredible staff [members],” Nancy Page, chief nursing officer of Upstate University Hospital, said in remarks following Corona’s announcement at the Oncenter. “Upstate nurses come from across our emergency departments, from all of our intensive care units.”

Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon praised the efforts of the nurses at Upstate University Hospital, both those working locally and those who have traveled to Stony Brook.

“We’re one state. What can we do to help? Upstate and Stony Brook have a proud history of helping each other, and certainly Long Island, when you look at what is happening in New York State, Long Island is really in a point of crisis right now. … This is big, sending down some of our people that we can spare to help our fellow New Yorkers down on Long Island,” said McMahon.