Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1395101
Northwell Health has been recognized by national telehealth leader Amwell with its New Models, New Normal Award. The distinction went to organizations nationwide that demonstrated outstanding achievements in adapting care delivery models to respond to rapidly changing healthcare circumstances. Northwell rapidly scaled up its telehealth offerings as it faced the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, witnessing an unprecedented 5,031% expansion in use between February 2020 and February 2021. Those telehealth visits, powered by Amwell technology, were conducted across 85 departments using the integrated direct-to-patient platform. Patient consults were performed through 130 telemedicine carts deployed across Northwell emergency rooms, facilities and affiliated locations. The health system also adapted existing telehealth programs to meet the new needs brought on by COVID-19 restrictions. During 2020 alone, the health system added more than 8,000 clinicians, nurses and office managers onto the Amwell system to conduct virtual visits. The effort allowed patients to get immediate care while limiting staff exposure during the height of the pandemic. Northwell treated more than 163,000 COVID-19 patients in the span of a year. Northwell Health eICU nurse Delia Abitante speaks with an on-site provider using telehealth technology. Stony Brook Southampton Hospital has become the first hospital on the East End to be granted Level III Trauma Center verification from the American College of Surgeons. Trauma Center verification is an ACS evaluation process administered by its Verification, Review and Consultation Program (VRC), designed to help hospitals improve trauma care. In 2016, the New York State Department of Health recognized Stony Brook Southampton Hospital as a provisional Level III Adult Trauma Center, providing care to the most critically injured patients. Trauma patients who require a higher level of care can be transported to the Stony Brook University Hospital Level I Trauma Center either by ambulance or, when critical, by a clinically staffed Suffolk County Police Department helicopter in 12 minutes. In addition to the Level III Trauma Center at Southampton Hospital, Stony Brook Medicine, along with Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and the Southampton Hospital Association, are working toward providing the town of East Hampton with a satellite Emergency Department to help address the urgent medical needs of year-round residents and the area's increasing number of visitors and second-home owners. Members of Stony Brook Southampton Hospital Emergency Department Trauma Center Team Over Memorial Day Weekend, Northwell Health held the return of Side By Side: A Celebration of Service in honor of military and healthcare heroes. The event featured a television special produced in partnership with Al Roker Entertainment, a livestream benefit concert with superstars Katy Perry, Ne-Yo, Gavin DeGraw and a special performance by Northwell's Nurse Choir, with Alfonso Ribeiro. The celebration can be viewed via Northwell Health's YouTube channel (youtube.com/c/NorthwellHealth1). Northwell Health first launched Side By Side: A Celebration of Service over Memorial Day weekend 2019 in honor of our veterans, active military and those who have died serving our country. In 2020, Side By Side: A Celebration of Service recognized those on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2006, Northwell has been serving and supporting active-duty personnel, veterans and their families as a proud, military-friendly employer and provider of both medical care and behavioral health treatment for those struggling with PTSD, while also recruiting and assisting newly returned veterans trying to find a job and acclimate back into civilian life. Northwell hires hundreds of veterans a year, and over the past decade has also awarded about $2 million to employees who were mobilized and deployed overseas — funds that represent the difference between their military pay and the regular salaries they would have earned at their Northwell jobs. In recognition of its efforts, Northwell is ranked as the nation's seventh top nonprofit employer by the veterans' advocacy group Military Friendly. Michael Dowling speaks to servicemen at Side By Side 2019 CREDIT NORTHWELL HEALTH. Share your story in the next issue of MD News. For consideration, please email your press releases to Press@LexMediaGroup.com. M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S L O N G I S L A N D ■ 2 0 21 2 9