October 13, 2020 – The School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine faculty, staff, students, and alumni are working on the front lines of the COVID-19 outbreak. We have asked any affiliates with our school to share their experiences and stories. This story comes from MHA alumna, Taylor Klavans:
During the height of New York City’s COVID-19 outbreak, when confirmed cases were rising by thousands per day, the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center was transformed into a field hospital to serve as a relief valve for overwhelmed hospitals across the city. Governor Cuomo requested that Northwell Health send a team of administrators and clinicians to lead operations for the 1,000 bed facility.
Taylor Klavans (BS ‘11, MHA ‘13), director of Northwell Health's consulting division, was a member of that team and oversaw the military outreach missions. Each day small teams of physicians and nurses from the Army and Navy were sent to the most overburdened hospitals to identify and transfer patients that met the criteria for admission to the Javits.
Throughout the month of April, the Javits New York Medical Station treated 1,095 COVID-19 patients, thereby freeing up 1,095 hospital beds to care for New York City’s most critically ill.
