$21M resiliency, efficiency project at Coney Island Hospital completed

November 14, 2014 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Gov. Andrew Cuomo. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

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Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Thursday announced the completion of a series of storm resiliency measures and energy efficiency upgrades at Coney Island Hospital that totaled $21 million. The enhancements will help protect critical equipment from such extreme flooding as the health-care facility experienced during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. In addition to fortifying the equipment, the improvements will save the healthcare facility $1.5 million in annual energy costs and reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions by more than 7,000 tons a year.

“Superstorm Sandy showed us the importance of proactively strengthening our infrastructure — especially our healthcare facilities — so it is more resilient to extreme weather,” said Cuomo.

The newly completed project is the result of a partnership between the New York Power Authority, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation and National Grid, which provided more than $300,000 in funding. The project was executed by Cuomo’s Build Smart NY program, a comprehensive statewide initiative to increase energy efficiency in public buildings. The project’s completion comes amidst other major resiliency upgrades to Coney Island Hospital, for which the Federal Emergency Management Agency is providing more than $900 million in financial support.

The New York Power Authority began energy efficiency improvements at the hospital in early 2012, but when Superstorm Sandy hit that fall, the hospital was severely damaged and the project was delayed. Once work resumed, NYPA, in addition to making the energy efficiency upgrades, repaired and fortified the location of the boiler plant to help prevent future flooding.

“Superstorm Sandy—while devastating to the New York City Metropolitan Area two years ago—provided us with an opportunity to not just rebuild what was lost, but to fortify locations for preventing storm damage in the future,” said Gil C. Quiniones, president and CEO of New York Power Authority.

“Quality healthcare is critical for our communities, and this funding will ensure that Coney Island Hospital can continue to deliver quality services to southern Brooklyn,” said Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

State Sen. Diane Savino, whose district include parts of Coney Island, said, “On behalf of the residents of my district, we appreciate the efforts to protect Coney Island Hospital and the added benefit of energy savings in the future.”

“One of the lessons we learned from Sandy was the need to prevent Coney Island Hospital and other medical centers from crippling and expensive damage should another big storm strike our area,” said Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz. “The completion of these storm resiliency measures and energy upgrades will not only ensure that residents have access to their local emergency care facility when they need it most, but will have the important added benefit of protecting our environment and reducing energy costs for Coney Island Hospital.”