Hospitals begin reopening for patients

Hours after Irene moved north Sunday, three Long Island hospitals that had evacuated patients began the process of reopening for business.

Long Beach Medical Center, which closed its doors and evacuated its patients Saturday, said it would reopen its emergency department and intensive-care unit at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, which had transferred or discharged 250 patients but kept its emergency department open throughout the storm, anticipated it would be able to take in new patients by Sunday evening, said North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System spokesman Terry Lynam.

Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, which had evacuated 355 patients to other hospitals, was reopening its emergency department, labor and delivery and neonatal intensive care units 7 p.m. Sunday. All outpatient services would be available Monday and operating room capabilities would return to their normal schedule on Tuesday.

In a statement, the hospital said decisions on returning patients to Good Samaritan who had been transferred to other hospitals "will be determined based on the best interest of their care while respecting patient preference and safety considerations."

"The good news is that there was no flooding, no loss of power and no major damage to the building," spokesman Paul Barry said.

Long Beach spokeswoman Cheryl Chapman said the hospital and the Komanoff Center for Geriatric and Rehabilitative Medicine were still awaiting word from Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano about whether patients could be brought back. About 70 Long Beach hospital patients were transferred to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow and 164 nursing home residents were sent to various nursing homes around the island after the county executive ordered Long Beach evacuated.

Luckily, neither the hospital nor the nursing home was much damaged by the storm, Chapman said. "We're in good shape," she said.

Although almost half of Long Island's hospitals were operating on backup power Sunday, all reported they were able to take care of patients.

North Shore-LIJ reported that its Glen Cove, Plainview, Huntington and Southside hospitals all were on emergency power.

"There's no compromise to patient safety," said Mark Solazzo, chief operating officer for North Shore-LIJ, who spent a sleepless night running the health system's emergency command center in Syosset.

Barry said three of Catholic Health Services' hospitals -- St. Francis in Roslyn, St. Catherine of Siena in Smithtown and St. Charles in Port Jefferson -- also were operating on emergency power. But they too were able to function normally, Barry said. "We're open for business," he said.

Solazzo said Plainview had lost its ability to use its normal imaging equipment, and portable X-ray machines were being used. Any patients who needed CT scans or MRIs were to be transported to Syosset Hospital several miles away.

"It's a minimal impact on operations," Solazzo said. "All of the hospitals have enough power to last several days."

North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset reported some minor flooding, as did Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, which also reported some downed tree limbs.

"We are managing staffing levels in taking care of our patients," said NUMC spokeswoman Shelley Lotenberg.

Eastern Long Island Hospital spokeswoman Pat Kiernan reported that the Greenport hospital was on backup power but otherwise operating normally.

Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead had "some major leaks" in its roof that forced the closing of some stairwells but was using regular power except for its cooling system, said spokeswoman Sharon Tietze.

South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, which had pondered -- but rejected -- joining the three other Island hospitals south of Sunrise Highway and evacuating its patients, weathered the storm with little damage, said spokesman Mark Head.

Similarly, Brookhaven, Stony Brook, Winthrop and Mather hospitals reported few problems.

"We fared a little better than we thought," said Winthrop spokesman John Broder.