Gov. Christie reports widespread power outages at NJ hospitals
In a press conference on Tuesday morning, New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie said 91 healthcare facilities throughout the state, including 29 hospitals and 58 long-term care facilities, had reported losing power due to post-tropical storm Sandy.
“Most are managing well and many are using generator power to continue to be able to care for their patients,” said Christie.
[Also: HackensackUMC prepares for Hurricane Sandy to ensure patient safety, sufficient supplies]
Christie noted that reports of additional power outages at healthcare facilities are anticipated. “We are expecting the numbers to increase as people call them in,” he said.
Healthcare facilities in neighboring New York state also suffered through power outages in the wake of the storm.
Approximately 200 patients, including 45 critical care patients, were evacuated from New York University Langone Medical Center after a power outage was followed by the failure of backup generators, ABC News reported Tuesday morning.
According to The New York Times, NYU Langone spokeswoman Lorinda Klein could not say what had caused the failure of the hospital’s emergency generators.
In a press statement, NYU Langone said the evacuations were “due to the severity of Hurricane Sandy and the higher than expected storm surge.”
Ambulances took patients to other New York City hospitals, including Sloan Kettering and Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Other New York hospitals experiencing power outages include Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn and Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.