Mount Sinai South Nassau Transitions Back to More Normal Operations, Urges Residents to Seek Treatment for Non-COVID Ailments

Launches ‘Don’t Put Your Health on Hold’ Campaign

Mount Sinai South Nassau is beginning to return to more normal operations post-COVID-19 and is urging residents to seek treatment for non-COVID-19-related diseases and medical conditions that they may have put off due to the pandemic.

The hospital has taken extraordinary measures to ensure that all its facilities, including the comprehensive network of outpatient specialized health care centers, are thoroughly cleaned and sterilized and patients entering the hospital for any procedures are also screened for COVID-19 within two days before entering the facility. Mount Sinai South Nassau is one of the only hospitals on Long Island to be designated as an Infectious Diseases Society of America Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence.

“We are adjusting to the ‘new normal’ and that means a hypervigilance on patient safety, cleaning procedures, and infection control to ensure patient and staff safety,” said Richard J. Murphy, President and CEO of Mount Sinai South Nassau. “Residents should not be afraid to come to the hospital, including to our Emergency Department, if they need urgent medical care. They should not put their health on hold any longer.”

All areas that once housed COVID-19 patients, including the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Units, have been or will be terminally cleaned with EPA-approved, hospital-grade sterilization agents. Some areas are also receiving fresh coats of paint and new fixture repairs. All of this is in addition to the regular 24-hour, 7-days a week daily deep cleaning of the hospital.

While some COVID-19 patients are still being treated at Mount Sinai South Nassau, they are housed in separate units, isolated from non-COVID-19 patients. An area of the Emergency Department has been set aside for patients with non-COVID-19 ailments who are seeking emergency treatment.

“We are hearing from our physicians that some patients put off seeking care during the COVID-19 crisis for cardiac, oncology, and other medical conditions that now have become more serious,” said Dr. Adhi Sharma, Mount Sinai South Nassau’s Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President for Clinical and Professional Affairs. “Those patients should not hesitate to seek care out of fear of COVID-19. They may be putting themselves more at risk by staying home and delaying needed treatment.”

The hospital will be launching a campaign on social and mainstream media to encourage patients to return to seek needed medical help at the hospital and at its extensive network of ambulatory sites.

In mid-March, Mount Sinai South Nassau postponed all elective surgery to make room for the surge of coronavirus patients. Hospitals in our area are awaiting approval from the New York State Department of Health to resume elective surgery. In the meantime, the hospital’s emergency departments in both Oceanside and Long Beach have seen a 50 percent drop in volume.

Patients visiting the hospital for any procedure, oncology or infusion treatment, or surgery will be required to undergo pre-procedure COVID-19 testing at a new drive-up COVID-19 testing site in the hospital’s Washington Avenue parking lot. The test must be performed no more than two days before the procedure.

Hospital staff also are instructed to take all precautions, including wearing full personal protective equipment when needed, to ensure their own safety and that of the patients being treated. The hospital remains under a no-visitor policy. Once visitor restrictions are lifted, the hospital will implement stringent safety policies for visitors. All visitors will be screened upon entrance for symptoms of COVID-19.

Visitors may be required to wear personal protective equipment depending on which patient unit they are going to visit. All patients and visitors age 2 and above will be required to wear a mask at Mount Sinai South Nassau and at its specialty health care centers.

Social distancing reminders also are being installed within the hospital. If you had an elective procedure scheduled at Mount Sinai South Nassau, please call your physician’s office for information about rescheduling. For the most updated information about our COVID-19 response and reopening for elective surgery, please refer to our website: southnassau.org/covid19. In the event of an emergency, call 9-1-1.

About Mount Sinai South Nassau
The Long Island flagship hospital of the Mount Sinai Health System, Mount Sinai South Nassau is designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for outstanding nursing care. Mount Sinai South Nassau is one of the region’s largest hospitals, with 455 beds, more than 900 physicians and 3,500 employees. Located in Oceanside, NY, the hospital is an acute-care, not-for-profit teaching hospital that provides state-of-the-art care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health and emergency services and operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County, along with Long Island’s only free-standing Emergency Department in Long Beach.

In addition to its extensive outpatient specialty centers, Mount Sinai South Nassau provides emergency and elective angioplasty, and offers Novalis Tx™ and Gamma Knife® radiosurgery technologies. Mount Sinai South Nassau operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County verified by the American College of Surgeons as well as Long Island’s only free-standing, 9-1-1 receiving Emergency Department in Long Beach. Mount Sinai South Nassau also is a designated Stroke Center by the New York State Department of Health and Comprehensive Community Cancer Center by the American College of Surgeons; is an accredited center of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Association and Quality Improvement Program; and an Infectious Diseases Society of America Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence.