In the fight against COVID-19, NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island has reached a significant milestone – its first employee vaccination.

Rabbi Jonas Gruenzweig, one of the medical center’s chaplains who served patients in the Emergency Department (ED), Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and throughout the hospital with spiritual care throughout the pandemic, received the hospital’s first vaccination on December 16. The first shipment of vaccines were offered to staff members 60 years and older who work in any capacity in the hospital’s ED and ICU.

“As the delivery trucks carrying the COVID-19 vaccinations arrived to our facility, I began to breathe a sigh of relief for the first time in 9 months,” said Svetlana Lipyanskaya, chief executive officer of NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island. “Although our staff will continue this grueling but important work providing exceptional care for the residents of South Brooklyn, it is comforting to know that they will soon have this important, and miraculous layer of protection.”

Rabbi Grunezweig, a resident of Williamsburg, has served as chaplain at the hospital for five years. After receiving the first dose of the vaccine, he said, “I decided to take it because I would like to be protected for myself, my family, my loved ones, my congregants, my patients, hospital staff, or any other person I come together with.” “I hope this injection, which comes in two parts, will get rid of this pandemic and we should all be able to move on with our lives and eradicate COVID-19,” said Rabbi Grunezweig.

President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals, Mitchell Katz, stated today that the health system hopes to have enough vaccine for everyone who works in Health + Hospitals’ 11 acute care hospitals in the next three weeks as vaccine supplies become available and following the priority population guidance of federal and state authorities. The COVID-19 vaccine is available at no cost to staff and although it is not mandatory for anyone, Katz believes it is healthcare workers best defense against the deadly virus. “After nine long months fighting this virus, today was a day of hope for our staff,” said Lipyanskya.

Mayor de Blasio joined colleagues at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst to document some of the first vaccines administered there. You can catch that coverage here and below.

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About NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island

NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island is a 371-bed facility, one of the public health system’s 11 acute care hospitals that offers general and acute medical care to adults and children. NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island offers inpatient services for primary and acute care in general medicine, adult medicine, pediatrics, general surgery, medical and surgical sub-specialties, coronary care, intensive care, obstetrics and gynecology, midwifery, neonatology, critical care, rehabilitation medicine, psychiatry, and behavioral health services to a primary service area of approximately 900,000 NYC residents of southern Brooklyn. The hospital has designations as a SAFE Center of Excellence under the Sexual Assault Reform Act, Designated AIDS Center (DACs), Level 2 Perinatal Center, and a New York State-designated Stroke Center. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org/coneyisland and stay connected on Twitter at @ConeyIslandHosp.

About NYC Health + Hospitals

NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest public health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city’s five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system’s trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlus health plan—all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 42,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NYCHealthandHospitals or Twitter at @NYCHealthSystem.