Representatives from two GNYHA member hospitals spoke about recent power outages during a November 16 GNYHA briefing with Con Edison. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s Vice President of Facilities Operations Amy Nunziata discussed August and September outages that impacted the hospital’s new Koch building. Richmond University Medical Center’s Emergency Manager Tina Campbell and Facilities Director Michael Chiappone described a late-July outage during a storm. The speakers shared how they learned of the outages and mitigated their impact before working collaboratively with Con Ed to remedy the immediate issues. They also discussed what they have done to try to lessen the impact of future outages. Con Edison colleagues described how they helped the hospitals until full service was restored.
Richmond University Medical Center’s Tina Campbell describes a recent power outage
Con Edison’s emergency preparedness structure and available energy efficiency incentive programs were also reviewed. SUNY Downstate Medical Center’s Emergency Preparedness Director Bonnie Arquilla shared information about the installation of two fuel cells on the SUNY Downstate’s campus. This enabled the hospital and other surrounding buildings to completely relinquish the need for power from the grid, resulting in $1 million in annual savings and significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Con Edison reviewed its customer service infrastructure for critical customers, which gives hospitals targeted support on a daily basis and during emergencies. This was the second collaborative event held with Con Edison this year. The first, which took place in March, focused on regional and local electrical, gas, and steam systems, and the utility’s customer support infrastructure. Con Edison and GNYHA will continue to strengthen collaboration between the utility and member institutions.