Phoebe Putney Health System assists its own in aftermath of storms

ALBANY — While analyzing the long-term impact from last month’s storms and continuing to care for patients, Phoebe Putney Health System has been working to take care of its own.

Meanwhile, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital announced Wednesday that Moody’s Investors Service has reaffirmed its A1 bond status.

More than 200 Phoebe employees have been assisted by the health system with storm recovery needs, including temporary housing provided for more than 20 employees and their families at Phoebe North. Employees have been provided 824 meals, and cash donations — much of which was donated by other employees — has been given to personnel who suffered losses.

The cash donations included $10,000 given to employees who lost everything.

“People around this table were personally impacted,” Phoebe CEO Joel Wernick said at the hospital’s monthly board meeting on Wednesday.

Natasha Hightower, who works at Phoebe Gastroenterology, saw broken windows and a totaled car at her property after the Jan. 2 storm rattled her home. After staying at Phoebe North briefly, she went home just before the Jan. 22 tornado — which brought water into the home.

As the residence has since been deemed uninhabitable, she and her son have been staying in a hotel. Hightower said she has been in constant contact with co-workers and has been exposed to kindness by Phoebe, as well as her neighbors.

“We went out toward Sylvester Road to help people (after the second storm),” she said. “People were out there for us during Storm 1; we can be there. Some lost everything, not just homes but everything.”

The Jan. 2 storm caused the greatest amount of damage to Phoebe facilities, primarily around and to buildings surrounding the main hospital. In all, 36 buildings sustained damage that has been valued at $3.6 million to date.

Phoebe officials said discussions are ongoing with insurance representatives to determine the future of some of the impacted buildings. One of the facilities of concern is a finance building at the corner of West Second Avenue and North Monroe Street that flooded when a felled tree landed on the building and clipped a water line.

The furnishings in the building were destroyed, and the critical resources of the building — including its employees — have since been relocated to Phoebe North.

Trauma injuries were largely avoided during the Jan. 2 storm, but tree damage did result in some paramedic diversion. In the hours after the Jan. 22 tornado, emergency protocol was enacted and patients with non-critical, non-traumatic needs were temporarily diverted.

Forty-five patients were treated during that second storm, eight of whom were admitted. Staff members volunteered to work overtime to help meet health care needs.

At Phoebe Worth Medical Center, patient rooms were opened to provide individuals a hot shower while the kitchen prepared meals for volunteers and storm victims. Employees volunteered and collected $1,200 for an employee at the hospital who had lost everything.

In other business, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital said Moody’s Investors Service has reaffirmed the hospital’s A1 status on bonds issued by the Hospital Authority of Albany-Dougherty County. The analysis is based on the financial performance of Phoebe Putney Health System.

The status is meant to reflect expectations that Fiscal Year 2017 will be an improvement from FY 2016, given the completion of Phoebe’s electronic medical record system and implementation of expense management strategies.