GNYHA and Con Edison last week co-hosted a member briefing—the third in a series—at Con Edison’s Learning Center in Astoria. Hospital emergency managers, engineers, and facilities managers attended the event, which addressed recently passed building emissions legislation, available Con Edison energy efficiency programs, and how Con Edison uses virtual reality technology to train staff, among other topics.
Amy Nunziata, Vice President for Facilities Operations and Engineering for NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP) Health System, and Kapila Bhamidipati, Customer Project Manager, Energy Services, Con Edison, discussed two planned total shutdowns of an NYP inpatient hospital building in March and May necessitated by equipment repairs. Due to advanced planning and close collaboration among NYP, Con Edison, and other partners, both shutdowns were managed with no major issues.
Discussion at the briefing also centered on immediate lessons learned from the July 13 blackout that impacted the west side of Midtown Manhattan including one hospital. The discussion generated several ideas on improving hospital resiliency in the future.