SHOP LOCAL: The Port Jefferson Farmer’s Market is officially open for the season! Over 25 vendors gathered at a temporary spot at the Mariners Way/Gap parking lot located off Arden Place on May 10 and will be open every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. through Nov. 15. Purchase local produce, jams, pickles, olives, soaps, plants and much more.
Participating vendors include:
Sweets by Amy
AB Fresh Food
Natural Hounds LLC
Bee Natural Body Care
Arlotta Food Studio
Maryhaven Center of Hope
Turmeric Store
Laurel’s Butter
Beaverdam Organic Farms
Priscillas Farm
Malik Farms LLC
JoAnns Desserts Inc.
Quality Parks
Condzella Farm
The Ferm Kombucha
Twin Stills Moonshine
Mecox Bay Dairy
Pickle Packin’ Papa
Terra Nut
The Spice Cabinet
Modern Primal Soap
Naela’s Organics
Beewitched Bee
Knot of this World
The Perfect Pickle
Sweet Melissa Dip
Foundation for Wellness Professionals
For more information, call 631-473-4724 or visit www.portjeff.com.
With No Indication of a Reopening Date, Businesses Try to Survive
Stock photo
A federal program meant to help keep businesses afloat during the pandemic has caused more headaches than relief. Business owners are concerned they will be saddled with more debt and unclear guidelines have left them with more questions than answers.
James Luciano, the owner of the Port Jeff Lobster House and the Port Jefferson BID secretary, has received PPP loan funds, but expressed concern of how the federal government will handle the forgiveness process.
“It [the PPP restrictions] has been so loosely written, it’s like reading a different language,” he said. “They have also changed the applications for loans two or three times.”
“There are some things that the current guidance doesn’t answer.”
— Bernie Ryba
Luciano has begun to use the money for rent, other remaining bills, paying vendors and some payroll expenses. Though until he and other business owners receive the approval to fully reopen its businesses, he said he may struggle to comply with the forgiveness guidelines.
For the loan to be forgiven, 75 percent of funds must be used for payroll, keeping staff to pre-pandemic levels for eight weeks after the money is disbursed.
“The clock starts ticking once the money hits your account,” Luciano said.
The Port Jeff Lobster House owner reiterated the difficulty of bringing all employees back without the doors being open. Another obstacle is that some employees may opt to continue on unemployment as they are receiving considerably more money than at the restaurant, according to Luciano.
Bernie Ryba, director of the Stony Brook Small Business Development Center, said there has been a lack of clarity on the forgiveness guidelines.
“Clients have expressed some concerns to us, we are looking to the [federal Small Business Administration] for guidance on the forgiveness provisions,” he said. “It has caused many questions from us, CPA firms and law firms. We are hoping this is cleared up as soon as possible.”
Ryba said the center advises hundreds of clients and has received dozens of calls and emails from business owners on this topic.
“As a business center we try to do research and address their questions the best we can, but right now there is very little to refer to,” he said. “There are some things that the current guidance doesn’t answer.”
Ryba pointed to one of the provisions of PPP that requires 25 percent of funds must be used on utilities.
“Can it be used for heat, power, internet and transportation expenses? No one knows because there are no specifics,” he said. “There are lenders who have already spent some of their funds.”
The director of the business center said that the federal government didn’t have much time to react and the SBA was not staffed to handle the influx of applications from the onset.
A recent report from SBA Inspector General Hannibal Wared detailed that many small businesses could struggle to meet the 75 percent payroll requirement.
Ware called on the association to evaluate the potential negative impact to borrowers regarding the percentage of loan proceeds eligible for forgiveness and update requirements.
With uncertainty over the current criteria of PPP, local municipalities have stepped in to offer alternatives to businesses.
Brookhaven Town is offering $10,000 grants to small businesses as part of its Emergency Microenterprise Business Relief Program. It is aimed at microenterprise businesses within the town that have five employees or less. The town received a special allocation of funds provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under the CARES Act.
The new norm for businesses could include being six feet apart and the use of protective dividers. Sean Hanley of LB Fabrication & Automation LLC., has begun making plexiglass social distancing dividers in an attempt to help his own business survive and also to allow any business to open up to full capacity. He has already installed dividers at Salon Blonde in Port Jeff, which is run by his wife.
Many who first applied for the PPP loans after the initial April launch did not receive funds before the first set of $349 billion ran out by April 16.
Hanley’s Smithtown-based business was shut down following Governor Cuomo’s executive order. A good portion of its business comes from work on construction and other job sites where its metal fabricator and masonry services are sought after.
“The clock starts ticking once the money hits your account.”
— James Luciano
He and his wife both missed out on the first round of the PPP loan applications but were able to get through in the second batch of applications.
“We’re still waiting to hear back, but we would look at paying the rent first,” he said.
Hanley is hoping the state will begin to relax restrictions so he and his wife can reopen their businesses and bring back their respective employees.
While owners are anxious to reopen, there has yet to be any indication in what capacity businesses will be able operate. Social distancing guidelines will also play a factor.
Luciano said it would not help his restaurant at all if he is potentially forced to reopen with significantly fewer customers.
“We’re used to filling the place up, it would be hard for us with less capacity,” he said.
In addition, Luciano expressed concerns on how social distancing could affect the day to day operation of the restaurant and impact the customer experience.
“I think right now it is better to do the takeout services, we have been taking full advantage of the village’s delivery program,” he said.
He said this is time when many businesses reap the benefits of increased foot traffic in the village and use funds to pay bills from the offseason in the winter.
“We start to break even during May and in the summer is where we make a lot of our money, Luciano said.
Close to two months into the pandemic, Ryba said they are still “early in the game}” and even as the crisis ultimately ends it could have wide-ranging effects.
“There are a lot of difficult things that need to be sorted out, you could have millions of individuals who will be without a job,” the director of the business center said.
Jennifer Hoang and James Labriola at the Acupuncture Tradition in Port Jeff. Photo by Kyle Barr
In the lot of a small medical park in Port Jefferson, people relax in the drivers’ seats of their cars, the subtle smell of lavender wafting from barely cracked windows. In amidst the panic, both of the overriding senselessness of the world being turned upside down, and the smaller, creeping tide of waiting for things to get better, it was as close to an oasis as the current times could see.
Mather OR nurse Olga Turner receives acupuncture by Jennifer Hoang. Photo by Kyle Barr
Done up in mask, gloves, hair cap, goggles and lab coat, acupuncturist Jennifer Hoang, the owner of Acupuncture Tradition in Port Jeff, has been providing small free-of-charge acupuncture sessions to people in the community. It does not matter if they were previous clients of her’s. All are welcome as long as she has supplies.
To her, it’s her way of giving back. As so many people are stuck at home, and many with chronic conditions unwilling to visit the hospitals and possibly contract the virus, the acupuncturist is offering whatever she can to aid people, especially those with anxiety, depression, and may help those in pain who may not have access to prescribed painkillers during the crisis.
“So many doctors are overloaded in their work and have not been able to take care of the patients who are not COVID,” she said. “There’s this whole population who are not being taken care of.”
The nature of the current pandemic makes it especially hard for practices like Hoang’s. Normally a procedure on different parts of the body could take upwards of an hour, but close proximity is not in the cards with the current crisis. Still, doing what she can, she is offering procedures on people’s ears while they remain in the car, and she remains outside.
Olga Turner, an operating room nurse at Mather Hospital, has been a patient of Hoang for a little over a year. She suffers from vertigo, anxiety, depression and upset stomach, but the acupuncture treatments, she said, has helped her immensely. She said being able to return to get any sort of treatment for her ailments, while she returns to work in the hospital, means so much to her.
“We are so used to caring for everybody else, and that’s one of my biggest issues because I have asthma so I couldn’t go into the city,” Turner said. “It just gets me that I can’t help more than I want to.”
Hoang knows of the crisis situations, and the impact such small services can have on the people experiencing it. She knows it from her childhood and from her father, Ngoc Hoang. When she was around 7 years old, her father and their whole family were caught up in the wave of “boat people” fleeing Vietnam after the Vietnam War in the late 1970s. Her father, was a Chinese medicine practitioner provided acupuncture treatments to the refugees right on the ground in the harsh jungle of South Vietnam and Malaysia. She and her brothers and sisters watched their father help others when so few people could.
“There were people who were really sick, and there was no medicine — there were doctors there but without medicine, there was little they could do,” Hoang said. “[My father] was able to help so many people … I would see grown men crying in pain or suffering from something else, and after an hour they walked out, better. That was something so powerful to me. I knew from then I was going to be an acupuncturist.”
The small Port Jeff team seems to have the process down. After filling out paperwork, Hoang performs the procedure, putting the needles in five points in the ear. The person then relaxes for a time after, normally around 30 minutes. On their cars is placed a small sign calling the car a “waiting” or “treatment room,” depending on what step a person is at. Each person is given a cotton ball scented with lavender, plus a small bag containing tea supplies.
Mount Sinai resident James Labriola has started to volunteer and help Hoang during these sessions. First reading about it, he simply called up Hoang and said, “You helped me, can I help you?”
Labriola said his dad had been to several sessions with Hoang before the start of the pandemic. His father, suffering from Parkinson’s disease, would limp into the acupuncture’s office, but the man would leave with a steady gait after treatment. After a few days, the pain would come back, but Labriola said seeing him move freely, even for such a short time, was worth it.
“It would usually last only two days, but it gave him two days of freedom, and that was amazing,” he said.
The acupuncturist has seen an average of 10 cars each day they’ve done the free procedures. Saturday, May 9, she treated a total of 17. Each is done for free, though she has accepted donations to help her afford the materials, especially needles. As long as she has the time and resources, she said she will continue to offer the service as long as the crisis mandates it.
“People are losing their income or falling back into their addictions,” Hoang said. “It’s wonderful to stay connected to the community, to my current patients, and offer some kind of relief.
Acupuncture Tradition, located at 640 Belle Terre Rd. Building D, is hosting other sessions Tuesday, May 12 from 3 to 6 p.m. and Saturday, May 16 from 1 to 4 p.m.
This article was amended May 14 to correct the experience of Hoang’s father, as well as small details of the services provided.
Margot Garant Speaks with Mike Philbrick, Owner of Port Jeff Brewing, during one of the zooming with the mayor series. Screencap from video
Thinking of ways to help promote the struggling Port Jeff village businesses, the Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce and Business Improvement District came up with the idea to host online video meetings between the mayor and owners to talk about what services they offer and how they’re getting by.
Mayor Margot Garant speaks with Debra Bowling, the owner of Pasta Pasta in Port Jeff. Photo from Zooming with the Mayor
But what surprised Mayor Margot Garant, she said, was just how much the business community has worked not just to support themselves, but support fellow businesses and the wider community during a time of crisis.
“I’m just hearing all these wonderful stories,” Garant said. “Everybody’s trying to help each other … everybody’s finding their way to give back.”
As part of the village’s Open Today portion of their website, which displays which businesses are open and what services they offer during the ongoing COVID-19 shutdown, the videos have offered a candid glimpse into the minds of local business owners.
Many stores are offering curbside pickup, not just eateries.
Marianne Ketcham, the owner of Home Kingdom which has been a near 16-year village staple, is offering curbside pickup of its stock, with people able to look at items through the shop’s website and Facebook page.
Joey Zangrillo of Joey Z’s on Main Street said they have been doing curbside pickup as well as home delivery. While they were inspecting different locations on Long Island for pizza shops, the pandemic put a squash to that, though now that he’s making and selling pizzas in house, which have been “flying out the door.”
The Amazing Olive on Main Street has focused more on its online shop, shipping to anywhere in the country, but owner Steve Munoz and his family has also taken to doing home delivery of products from nearly anywhere on the Island to save on shipping. They have been sharing customized bottles and labels, such as one for Mother’s Day.
In a time where many businesses are threatened with huge drops in revenue, the desire to give back is proving an even greater incentive.
Kristine and Brian Viscount, the owners of the Kilwins shop on Main Street, talked about their curbside pickup. Though their preordered Easter Baskets were a success, they partnered with community members to help ship around 60 baskets full of chocolate to the Infant Jesus R.C. Church food pantry for them to hand out to people who needed it.
It has worked both ways as well. Locals who know their favorite shops are struggling have been making sure they get some business, desperately trying to make sure they stay solvent.
Debra Bowling, who owns Pasta Pasta along with her husband, has been serving their full menu seven days a week. Though she has been in her position for about 15 months, the restaurant is coming up on its 30-year anniversary. Bowling said one customer bought all the products they would have for the couple’s 50th anniversary, and each who would have gone to the party had the same meal at their own house.
“They just say thank you for being here,” she said. “It is the most amazing town with the most amazing loyal customers.”
To look at the full breadth of Port Jeff Open Today, visit portjeff.com/zoomingwiththemayor/. Businesses can email [email protected] to schedule a slot.
Port Jefferson Village Mayor Margot Garant. File Photo
On a daily update video, Mayor Margot Garant announced the village would be closing all on-street Main Street weekend parking starting Mother’s Day weekend, May 9 and 10.
Main Street in Port Jefferson empty of traffic on a weekday. Photo by Sapphire Perara
The mayor cited the two hospitals within village bounds, St. Charles and Mather, with “hundreds of residents on the front lines on a daily basis.” Two weeks ago, Suffolk County Police said they issued a summons answerable to the village to a man they said allegedly wasn’t obeying social distancing guidelines during the coronavirus pandemic. The mayor said at the time people in Harborfront Park were being “belligerent” to code enforcement and police alike and were refusing to both wear masks and keep apart.
Reports of groups of motorcyclists gathering together on main street, and other pedestrian traffic with people not wearing masks, have left officials concerned that residents and visitors are possibly spreading COVID-19 as warmer weather incentivizes more outdoor activity.
All businesses are limited to curbside pickups on the weekend. Code enforcement will be patrolling “in an army,” the mayor said, to enforce social distancing directives, as well as checking in on businesses to make sure they are also following guidelines stating no sit-down eating.
On Sunday, the village is bringing back the farmers market, this time in a new location in the parking lot behind what was once the Gap clothing store, just north of Arden Pl. New guidelines dictate cars can only pull one way in and one way out, and all visitors must be wearing a mask. Only one person is allowed at a stall at a time. Guidelines may change, the mayor said, if rules aren’t followed.
“It’s going to be a test — it’s going to be up to you,” she said.
Otherwise, village beaches remain open to Port Jeff residents, and all cars are asked for residents’ identifications before they can park.
Richard Hoey’s son Kevin lives in a Central Islip residential home, and he said its high time facilities like his son’s receives targeted testing. Photo from Hoey
Port Jefferson resident Richard Hoey’s son Kevin lives in a Central Islip residential home for the developmentally disabled. Kevin is diagnosed as intellectually disabled with Down syndrome, autism, behavioral disorders and is developmentally delayed. His mobility is confined to a wheelchair. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, 21-year-old Kevin has been largely confined to the facility. Family has only been able to communicate with their son via video chat, in which Hoey said Kevin’s attention span is “minimal.”
“Kids in residential homes, they are all not able to protect themselves.”
— Richard Hoey
“Look to see him, he doesn’t recognize inside that little square TV screen,” Hoey said.
The issue, the parent said, is simply not knowing. Though he said the facility, Eaton Knolls, one run by United Cerebral Palsy of Long Island, has largely been communicative of current goings-on, two staff and one resident have tested positive for the virus. Though staff has been wearing personal protective equipment, they have been “low on the totem pole” in receiving masks and gloves.
“Kids in residential homes, they are all not able to protect themselves,” Hoey said. “They have no idea the dangers with sneezing, coughing or licking things. And they’ll never have any idea about it.”
The Port Jeff resident and his family have created a Change.org petition saying that Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) should take similar action to Massachusetts and mandate testing at long-term care facilities, such as residential, veteran and nursing homes, for all staff and residents.
The petition, change.org/p/andrew-m-cuomo-save-my-son-s-life-new-york-group-homes-need-mandatory-covid-19-testing, has already raised over 1,000 signatures since it started Friday, May 1.
The site is operated through the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, which sets the rules and regulations for facilities such as UCPLI.
Camille Schramm, the director of development and public relations for UCPLI, said her company, which was mandated to close every service except for the residential homes since March 17, has struggled to get their hands on the necessary PPE. Through donations and requisitions they’ve managed to procure enough masks and gloves for now, but they have struggled to receive the necessary number of gowns.
Otherwise, facilities like hers “should be in the top 10” of long-term care organizations that need targeted testing. Residents cannot simply go to the local pharmacy to get tested, a plan the governor said is currently in the works. Many have major communication problems and mobility issues. Many are confined to wheelchairs.
UCP would not release the number of people at their 31 facilities who have tested positive for the virus, citing resident and family confidentiality, though she said they have fared better than others in the field.
“We’ve been hit, but not as hard as some of the other agencies on the Island due to the safety protocols and precautions we have in place,” Schramm said.
Currently, the policy for staff who present symptoms isthat they are sent home for at least two weeks and they require a doctor’s note to be allowed back in. After learning of a positive case, UCPLI brought in a company to clean and sanitize the facility, which Schramm said is “costly, especially considering the number of homes we have.”
For residents that start to show symptoms, they are self-isolated in their rooms. Though if they start to display problems with breathing, they are sent to hospitals where many remain because many also have compromised immunities.
“They are part of an underserved demographic population that are very challenged by something like this,” Schramm said.
At the end of March, Massachusetts deployed National Guard technicians to long-term care facilities to attempt to test all workers and residents across the state, though things have only ramped up since then. After an April 27 $130,000 state funding plan, the National Guard has completed more than 28,000 tests at 525 care facilities in Massachusetts, according to The Boston Globe. Though the Bay State is ranked 10th in overall nursing home population, currently New York is ranked at the top with over 101,000 patients.
The OPWDD issued a statement saying testing is being prioritized for people receiving supports from OPWDD or service providers who display symptoms, adding that the state “continues to expand testing opportunities as new tests and locations become available.”
“OPWDD is taking the threat of COVID-19 to the people we support and the broader community very seriously and has activated our emergency response team to closely monitor all reports of possible contact within our system across the state,” the statement read. “All staff are fully trained on infection control practices and OPWDD has released guidance to staff and voluntary provider agencies regarding visitation, PPE use and quarantine protocols at our facilities. OPWDD monitors levels of PPE in all of our community residences, both state and provider operated, and has created a 24-hour emergency services number for providers and staff to contact when issues arise.”
Residential facilities, mostly nursing homes of adult care facilities, have come under severe scrutiny since it was revealed a huge portion of COVID-19-related deaths have come from these places that house some of the most at-risk populations. As of May 5, New York State reported nearly 20 percent, or 4,813 deaths, in New York have come from these locations. Suffolk County has suffered 593, but many suspect COVID-19 deaths have gone unreported at these locations, and deaths may be even higher.
Hoey said targeted testing is the best way to stymie the growing number of deaths at these facilities.
“That will knock down the death rates,” he said. “The only reason [Cuomo is] not doing it because there’s no pressure for him to do this. “
St. Charles Hospital in Port Jeff plays "Here Comes the Sun" every time a patient is discharged during the coronavirus pandemic. Photo by Kyle Barr
St. Charles Hospital ICU nurse Kacey McIntee, walking through the halls of a hospital in the midst of a pandemic, is just one ofscores of RNs who have watched their world flip the wrong way around.
Where once the hospital had one Intensive Care Unit, now it has three. Every time she gets to work, she slips into hospital-issued scrubs and she’s assigned to one of the three units. Every single bed is housing a patient on a ventilator, nearly 40 in all. She’s bedecked in a mask, hair covering and face shield.
Nursing Assistant Martha Munoz is working at St. Charles Hospital during the pandemic
Typically, the ratio is two ICU patients to one ICU nurse. However, now there are cases where she cares for up to three patients, alongside a helper nurse. She starts her day by looking at her assigned patients’ charts, and then spends the rest of her 12-hour shift doing her best to keep these patients, many in such dire straits, alive.
“A lot of times you can kind of expect something is going to go bad just based on blood values alone,” she said. “We mentally prepare ourselves for the worst-case scenario with our patients.”
It’s a common story among many medical centers, but local hospitals St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown and Port Jefferson’s St. Charles, both in the Catholic Health Services system, have been on the front lines of fighting the virus for longer than others, having seen their first COVID-19 positive patients March 8.
Jacquelina VandenAkker, a 33-year veteran respiratory therapist at St. Charles and Port Jeff resident, said while the past week has shown what seems to be a plateauing in the number of new cases, the first 10 days of the virus “was hell. You didn’t know the end of it.”
“We felt it was literally such a war zone. You knew you could be a victim to it because you don’t understand it,” she said.
Hospital officials confirmed there were a number of staff who have contracted COVID-19, but declined to release the number of employeeswho have been infected, citing that staff did not want it known if they’ve been previously infected.
“We see a lot of deaths,” the respiratory therapist said. “I take the same unit. I know my patients. We start to understand the disease a lot more.”
McIntee, a Sound Beach resident, knows the pain and suffering of the COVID-19 patients suffering. It’s hard not to become entangled in the lives of these people, knowing the pain of suffering when the family can only communicate via tablet computer and online video chats.
“Nurses are really, really good at coping mechanisms,” she said. “One of the most useful ones is humor and the other is detachment. We cannot picture our loved ones in the bed — if we hear that one of our loved ones is sick with COVID, all bets are off, we are a mess.”
When it comes to that, when what has universally been the once inconceivable is happening moment to moment, McIntee said they rely on their fellow nurses.
“It’s almost as if we’re all in war together, and we have this bond for life that we will always be connected together, that we had these experiences that really nobody else in the world can experience except during this time,” she said.
The Initial Wave and Beyond
Jim O’Connor, the president of St. Charles and chief administrative officer of St. Catherine of Siena, said hospitals faced initial difficulties but hope things continue to look up.
“Both St. Charles and St. Catherine had their first COVID-19 patient on the same day,” he said. “We struggled to keep up with it and the personal protective equipment we needed in that first week. Thankfully we seem to have gotten our sea legs.”
Dr. Jeffrey Wheeler, the director of St. Charles Hospital Emergency Department
Only about 25 percent of patients who are diagnosed require hospitalization, but of that 25 percent, 50 percent require ICU care, and many of them require a ventilator, O’Connor said.
Even before Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) mandates shutting down all essential businesses, hospital admin said they saw what they call a “surge” of patients.
Bonnie Morales, the director of infection prevention for St. Catherine, said she and other specialists at hospitals around Long Island had started preparing for the “what ifs” a few weeks before it finally came, but even then, it was hard to estimate just how much it would overtake the entire health care system.
“I would have to say we were prepared, but that line list [of staff procedures] I went back to in the beginning, has grown from a page to three pages long,” she said.
The precautions for reducing infections became one of the most supreme considerations with both patients and staff, she said. Morales, a Selden resident, said the average patient on “transmission-based precautions” which were before only meant to help patients and staff avoid contact, has now gone from 20 to 30, up to over 100 that are currently on these transmission-based precautions because of the virus.
The hospitals had what the admin called a surge plan, but as the St. Charles president put it, “a man plans, and God laughs.” Learning just how many beds they would have to increase to was staggering, but he thanked the admin team who worked with barely little notice to start the process of acquiring more beds and space.
After Cuomo announced an executive order mandating hospitals increase their bed capacity by at least 50 percent, St. Charles and St. Catherine have boosted the number of beds to 243 in St. Charles and 296 beds at St. Catherine.
Mike Silverman, the COO at St. Catherine, said early on the hospitals decided to close access to the public. It was something that was unpopular to start, but in hindsight has been a smart decision.
Silverman only joined the hospital little more than two months ago and has had a trial by fire in the truest sense of the phrase.
“I don’t think anybody thought this was going to happen,” he said. “There was no playbook for this … It’s a lot of people doing what needs to be done,” he said.
O’Connor said the hospitals hit a high in the number of patients in the previous weeks, but since they have been climbing, inch by strenuous inch, off of that peak. Since the start of the outbreak, St. Charles has gone from eight ventilators to nearly 37 at peak. St. Catherine had 35 at peak. Each hospital has transformed its space to accommodate the massive number of critical patients by creating two new ICUs in each. All elective surgeries have been suspended and those workers have been moved to aid COVID-19 patients.
“There’s definitely some angst,” Silverman said. “We know how many people are dying in the state, and we would see this many deaths in a week. It’s tough, whether it’s at work, whether its friends or friends’ families.”
Michelle Pekar, in purple scrubs, is part of the St. Charles Emergency Department. Photo by Marilyn Fabbricante
Both admin and health staff agreed the community has done an incredible amount of support for the health care workers. There have been consistent donations of meals, snacks and drinks. There have been a rollout of homemade masks and PPE supplies as well, along with cards and notes thanking the health care workers for all they do.
Still, to say it hasn’t taken an emotional toll would be wrong.
“It has been very tough on the staff because there is a very high mortality rate for people on ventilators,” O’Connor said. “What compounds it we weren’t allowed to have visitors so that really adds a whole different isolation for the patient and the families.”
The hospital has been using tablet computers to connect patients with family members at home, but it has also meant having to give them difficult news about those family members remotely.
“They have their own fears understandably about it. They have their own families they go home to that they worry about spreading it to,” he said. “I give them so much credit for them to put themselves at risk to be in a room with someone with a contagious disease.”
There have been moments of hope throughout the day in between the darkness. Every time a patient comes off a ventilator, the hospital plays “Breathe” by Faith Hill over the loudspeaker. When a patient is dismissed from the hospital, they then play the classic Beatles song “Here Comes the Sun.”
Hospitals’ PPE
O’Connor said the hospitals sterilize the PPE used by hospital workers at the end of each shift, and after the N95 is used three times then it is discarded, though if it becomes “soiled or contaminated” then it is discarded before that. Normally, such masks are not designed to be reused, but with supplies tight, hospitals and other medical centers have been looking to get as much use out of equipment as possible.
Susie Owens of St. Charles Hospital delivered a special message to her colleagues in chalk. Photo from St. Charles Facebook
“We know it is not a perfect system,” O’Connor said. “Nobody expected to have this patient volume, but I think we’ve done a good job, but is it perfect? No.”
The federal Office of Emergency Management has added to supplies, along with donations from companies and other local individuals. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has made guidelines for decontaminating such equipment, and hospital administration said they are following those guidelines. Catholic health systems announced earlier this month they had created an ultraviolet light sterilization system for masks in CHS hospitals.
The New York State Nurses Association has taken issue with the hospital’s practice of reusing such PPE as N95 masks after they’ve been sterilized. The union points to mask manufacturer 3M, who said there were no disinfection methods that would kill the virus and maintain effectiveness, though the CDC’s website cites numerous sources related to the positive results of disinfecting such masks.
Though a union representative could not be reached by press time, nurse representatives have spoken to other news outlets saying that both hospitals lacked PPE supplies, and that unlike systems, nurses in St. Charles and St. Catherine were made to wear gowns for an entire shift that are meant to be disposed of after one patient encounter.
McIntee said at the start of the pandemic, things were confused with PPE, with the CDC changing its guidelines constantly. Regarding gowns, she said hospital workers have a choice, they can either spray down reusable gowns with a cleaning solution in between patients, use disposable blue/plastic gowns, or the so-called bunny suits, the full-body white suits with a hood. With face shields, there are no other choices than rinsing it with solution.
Now, McIntee said if a worker wears an N95 mask continuously throughout the day in a 12-hour shift, they can discard them. If they wear them intermittently throughout the day, then they are bagged and sent to be sterilized at night. Sterilized masks then can be worn intermittently three more days before they are discarded.
“Not once have I ever had an issue with the N95 masks being told ‘no, you can’t have one,’” she said. “I’ve always been able to have access to any PPE I wanted … Now I think we have a system down, and it’s less anxiety.”
St. Catherine April 22 accepted a donation of gowns and masks from the Kings Park Chamber of Commerce, and Morales said the bevy of donations they have received have truly helped in the fight against COVID-19. The hospital has received donations of tie back and bunny suits.
Regarding St. Catherine staff reusing gowns, Morales said “We are giving out supplies for the staff to utilize and they have what they need in order to take care of their patients.”
O’Connor said the hospitals have been doing multiple things to aid the front line workers, including bringing in agency staff and repurposing staff from outpatient to inpatient services to add more hands on deck. The hospitals have developed quiet rooms for staff to catch their breath, and Silverman said St. Catherine has a service where staff can purchase basic items, they have little time to get from working long days during the pandemic.
“It would be very foolish for us to not keep our staff safe,” O’Connor said. “Why would we possibly not be doing anything we can to keep them safe?”
Harborfront Park in Port Jefferson. File photo by David Luces
Though the majority of local residents are doing their best to practice social distancing and comply with state executive orders, Suffolk County police said others have been belligerent and uncooperative in suppressing the spread of coronavirus.
Police said 6th precinct officers responded to Main Street in Port Jefferson Sunday, April 19, at around 1:30 p.m. There was a report of a large group of people not practicing social distancing.
Police said one individual refused a request to social distance or put a mask on. He was taken to the Sixth Precinct and was released with a civil summons returnable to the Village of Port Jefferson for failure to comply with the executive order.
Port Jefferson village Mayor Margot Garant said in the April 20 trustees meeting that Sunday saw large groups of people down in Port Jefferson, with many congregating on Main Street and in Harborfront Park. Many were not wearing masks. The park along the waterfront was temporarily closed after the incident when cops arrived.
“Sunday was a very difficult day in the village — it was a sunny day and people had cabin fever,” the mayor said. “Between groups of motorcycles, people showing off muscle cars … we did have to close down Harborfront.”
She said such actions by locals and visitors means they could be spreading the virus not only to others, but also to police and code enforcement, which she said should be especially respected now since they are “part of the front line.”
The fear, village officials said, was a kind of political backlash and further gatherings. In other states, there have been protests about closures of businesses and amenities. While nearly every state, both Republican and Democrat-led, now has some sort of lockdown laws in place, these protests have taken on a political edge to them, with President Donald Trump (R) in some cases explicitly supporting the rallies, despite health officials warning it may spread SARS Cov-2 even more.
Some of these protests have blocked roadways and reportedly even restricted health care workers from getting to hospitals.
“Knowing there are certain groups that are causing rallies, this will not be getting better for us,” Garant said. “This situation is not going to get better for us, this is a destination village.”
Currently, the village is working on staggered shifts, and suspects some projects slated for 2020 may be put on hold, though the Toast stairway project is moving ahead, with only sprinkler systems yet to be installed.
Otherwise the village has instituted a spending freeze, and any expenditures have to go through administration staff before they get approved.
The mayor added village tax bills are still being generated, and will be due June 1.
From left to right across the top, Rich Klefsky, the senior vp of retail and banking for SFCU, Micah Schlendore, the assistant vp for retail member experience at SFCU, John Urbinati, the owner of Fifth Season; bottom row, left to right, Mayor Margot Garant, Community Outreach Manager for St. Charles Hospital John Perkins, SFCU President Ralph Spencer, Port Jeff chamber president Mary Joy Pipe, BID President Roger Rutherford, Manager of the Steam Room Vincent Seiter. Photo by Kyle Barr
With close to $9,000 raised online, the Port Jefferson Business Improvement District and chamber’s program to donate food to hospitals just got another big boost in funds.
On April 14, Suffolk Federal Credit Union donated a $7,500 check to the BIDand Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce’s program that takes food made by local restaurants to the two hospitals in Port Jeff, St. Charles and Mather.
The funds come on top of another $5,000 check donated last week by Teachers Federal Credit Union. The program’s Gofundme, which can be found at gofundme.com/f/help-port-jeff-restaurants-feed-hospital-workers, has so far raised just over $8,500 as well.
The program is twofold —one helps restaurants stay active and keep staff on payroll, and other is aiding the hospital workers who are burdened under the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
“We were trying to coordinate this ourselves, but we were ecstatic when we found out the chamber was doing something, so it worked out very well.” said SCFU President Ralph Spencer.
Mary Joy Pipe, the president of the chamber, said she was “thankful for your participation and community involvement,” of SCFU, calling the credit, which has an office at St. Charles, a good partner to the business community.
Participating restaurants include Slurp Ramen, Nantuckets, Prohibition Kitchen, Wave Seafood & Steak, Pasta Pasta, The Steam Room, Fifth Season, C’est Cheese, SaGhar, The Pie, PJ Lobster House and Salsa Salsa.
Officials from the Port Jefferson village, chamber and BID joined Teachers Federal Credit Union and hospital heads to accept a $5,000 check allowing more meals to hospital workers. Photo by Kyle Barr
This post has been updated with new information of more funds coming from Suffolk Federal Credit Union.
Port Jeff business organizations have gotten a helping hand from Teachers Federal Credit Union in their quest to bring meals to hospital workers on the front lines of the coronavirus, as well as support restaurants that have seen massive drops in sales since the start of the pandemic.
Mary Joy Pipe, the president of the Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, and Inna Sprague, the chief experience officer of Teachers, joined together in offering a check to the chamber and BID’s program offering meals to hospital workers. Photo by Kyle Barr
Holding a large $5,000 novelty check in front of the PJ Lobster House, Mary Joy Pipe, the president of the Greater Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce and Inna Sprague, the chief experience officer of Teachers,joined village and hospital officials in accepting the check. It was also a show of how people try to maintain social distancing even in such simple events like a press conference.
“Thank you for thinking of us as your hometown as all of our hometowns are suffering,” Pipe said.
On Tuesday, April 14, Suffolk Federal Credit Union will also be presenting the business organizations a $7,500 check to help with operations, according to chamber executive director Barbara Ransome. This brings the total in donations from credit unions
to $12,500.
For the past few weeks, Port Jefferson village, the chamber and the Business Improvement District have teamed up to have restaurants supply meals that are shipped to both John T. Mather and St. Charles hospitals. James Luciano, the owner of PJ Lobster House and the BID’s secretary, said they are sending 40 meals to hospital workers at a time on a rotating basis between businesses. Participating businesses include Slurp, Nantuckets, Prohibition Kitchen, Wave Seafood & Steak, Pasta Pasta, The Steam Room, Fifth Season, C’est Cheese, Saghar, The Pie, PJ Lobster House and Salsa Salsa.
The money raised is also partially to help businesses support some of their staff while there are a limited number of customers.
BID and chamber leaders said they have been holding constant meetings alongside village officials to try and keep on top of events.
“The BID and chamber are matching contributions from the restaurant association to help keep these meals moving along,” Mayor Margot Garant said. “We accept any support we can get from partners and our residents to help keep our businesses relevant and open to help feed the front line and also the people who are in need of supplies and meals.”
“The restaurants and shops are the backbone of our community,” Roger Rutherford, the general manager of Roger’s Frigate and BID president said. “When we see partners such as Teachers stepping up it’s a really wonderful thing that helps us sustain and weather the storm.”
The idea of supporting hospitals during the crisis has spread to downtowns all throughout the Island. Sprague said Teachers originally caught on to what Port Jeff and other communities like Patchogue were doing through the Greater Long Island websites. Last week they donated $5,000 to the fundraising efforts in Patchogue. Later this week the credit union plans to donate another $5,000 to restaurants in Bayshore and Babylon.
“Our goal is to continue to support frontline staff who are deemed essential to our society, as well as keep our local businesses employed and functioning and operating,” she said.
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