Recovery efforts under way for Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital following storm
Storms on Monday evening resulted in damage, outages at surrounding buildings supporting Albany hospital
By Jennifer Parks
ALBANY — Cleanup is continuing in the area around Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital following a severe storm system that hit the area late Monday.
Phoebe Putney Health System COO Joe Austin told the hospital’s Board of Directors on Wednesday there are minor roof repairs that need to be made and that some water made it into the hospital after a few windows blew open.
A communications tower normally standing atop the hospital hung onto the side of the building following the storm. Beyond that, most of the damage was around Phoebe’s main campus.
Phoebe Health System CEO Joel Wernick said the former Phoebe Foundation building on Fourth Avenue, near the Phoebe Community Care Clinic, suffered a punctured roof when a tree fell on it — likely resulting in a total loss. Austin noted there was damage to a financial building when a tree fell on the roof and broke a water line, resulting in flooding.
The damage to the financial building resulted in a relocation of materials out of the building. Other surrounding buildings, including Family Tree and the community care clinic, remained closed Wednesday due to power outages.
Dr. Suresh Lakhanpal, president of Phoebe Physician Group, said Phoebe Infectious Diseases and Phoebe Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center remained down Wednesday.
Laura Shearer, senior vice president of patient care services at the hospital, said the emergency center saw increased traffic Tuesday following the clinic’s closure. She said that, in order to accommodate the increased traffic, some fast-track rooms have been cleared in the emergency center to streamline the care of those who might be otherwise going to the clinic.
The opening of the community clinic last year was meant to lessen the congestion at the nearby emergency center at Phoebe.
An insurance team is expected to come out to survey damage to Phoebe facilities, and there was no word as of Wednesday on personal injuries to Phoebe staff — but there are personnel who remain stranded in their homes, Wernick said.
Following management reports, Will Peterson, the system’s assistant vice president of human resources, gave a presentation on telemedicine services offered to stroke patients.
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