Typhoon Haiyan Hits Our Emergency Department

Patchogue!!!!! Your community Hospital is Brookhaven Memorial Hospital. During Superstorm Sandy it was business as usual in the Emergency Department. All staff worked tirelessly to help the Patchogue Community. Their was not a decrease in volume of patients coming through BMH. Infact their was a surge of patients. With No power , No access to electronic records and with flickering lights the staff at Brookhaven was as busy as any other night but with seemingly insurmountable challenges. However the community was served with exceptional medical care.

That is , largely due to the Nursing staff .... many of whom are Phillipino. A quick disclaimer....NO ONE THAT WORKED DURING THAT TIME EVER EXPECTS ANYTHING IN RETURN FROM YOU. THE HOSPITAL STAFF WORKS TO SERVE YOU AND DOES SO WITH PLEASURE.  So please don't interpret this as a request for help being asked in return for the help we provide you. That is not the intention or feeling of the BMH staff. Rather this post is a FYI.

 The FYI (In case you didn't know ) is that their is a huge portion of the Nursing Staff at Brookhaven who are Phillipino. They have family in the Phillipines and they travel back and forth to be with them. Their families and their lives were torn apart during the Natural Disaster/ Typhoon they just experienced . So many of the nurses who serve Patchogue with all their heart were rocked by this storm.

During Sandy the Patchogue community experienced loss as well and frankly ... it sucked. The staff at BMH  did their jobs as they always do for you: They worked hard, efficiently and compassionately. They were their for you . They are medical professionals and this is what they do. And they do it as good as or better than anyone. That was proven during Sandy. The community was in the midst of an Emergency and needed it's community hospital to be there for them.  And they were certainly there for them. The nursing staff at Brookhaven did not miss a beat. They helped so many members of the Patchogue community under the worst conditions . They will never ask for anything in return and it is their pleasure to serve you. 

So again the purpose of this post is to make you aware that the heart of your community hospital, the nursing staff at Brookhaven Hospital was greatly effected by the Typhoon in the Phillipines. That massive storm we all see on the news hit closer to home than you may have realized...... it hit right into the Emergency Department at Brookhaven Hospital.

So I ask you Patchogue to stop for a second today and think "what can I do today to help in the Phillipines."  You will be helping the Phillipines and also your community more than you may have realized. 

- Thank you