Schumer calls on FEMA for $6.5 million in funding for Peconic Bay Medical Center’s emergency preparedness

Sen. Chuck Schumer is calling for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to approve $6.5 million in hazard mitigation grants for Peconic Bay Medical Center to purchase additional emergency power generators and make other improvements to the Riverhead hospital’s emergency preparedness.

PBMC has applied for federal hazard mitigation grants to fund the purchase of two additional emergency power generators as well as to retrofit its roof and upgrade its doors and windows to those made out of ‘storm-grade’ materials.

The hospital has three emergency generators on site and in the past has had to rent two additional generators in order to remain fully powered and operational during power outages.

The additional generators and proposed improvements “aim to prevent catastrophic flooding and wind damage, ultimately protecting … patients, staff, and visitors, as well PBMC’s life-saving equipment,” Schumer said in a press release issued Friday.

“Peconic Bay Medical Center serves hundreds of thousands in Eastern Long Island and this mitigation project is vital to ensuring the safety of the patients, staff and visitors that pass through its doors every day,” Schumer said.

PBMC is a 200 bed hospital and is “the hospital of refuge for the East End,” according to the press release.

“As the largest and most comprehensive healthcare facility on the East End, PBMC plays a unique and critically important role during regional emergencies,” PBMC president and CEO Andrew Mitchell said in the release. The hospital serves a regional population of almost 200,000, he said.

In addition to having the East End’s largest Emergency Department, PBMC is a New York State-designated stroke center and has been established by the Centers for Disease Control to store special regional supplies in the event of certain emergencies, Schumer said.

Power and structural failures during a natural disaster could potentially force thousands of people to be without life-saving, nearby medical care, the senator said.

“During Superstorm Sandy, Peconic Bay Medical Center received numerous patients evacuated from a compromised East End hospital and provided portable emergency power to another hospital.

“PBMC was also designated by the Town of Riverhead as a special needs shelter for evacuated residents with medical needs during Sandy as well as tropical storm Irene,” Schumer said. “Though PBMC itself was able to stay open during the storm, the increasing rates of major natural disasters reminiscent of the 1938 hurricane that completely devastated the East End necessitate significant upgrades to prevent discontinuity of care and dangerous evacuations. A power outage or flooding at PBMC would lead to overwhelming patient evacuations, requiring patients, families, and medical professionals to travel over 30 miles in extremely dangerous conditions,” Schumer said.

“We need to equip this hospital with the generators and protections it needs to serve our communities, even during the worst of circumstances and so FEMA must swiftly approve this crucial grant.”