North Central Bronx Hospital: Impromptu Elevator Musical Performance

By David Greene

As mega performers like Elton John, Billy Joel and Beyonce remain sidelined during the coronavirus pandemic due to the closure of most concert halls around the world, the sound of song and yes, even some laughter, have continued to fill the halls, rooms and even the elevators at North Central Bronx Hospital (NCB). Over the past few weeks, members of the creative arts therapy department have been spreading much-needed joy and light relief throughout the hospital, located on Kossuth Avenue in Norwood, with their song and dance performances, to the benefit of both patients and staff. In

By Síle Moloney

When COVID-19 cases at Montefiore Health System grew from two to almost 700 in the space of just two weeks in March 2020, those on the front lines of the pandemic knew dramatic changes to regular operations lay ahead. As the reality of the crisis set in, the New York State health department instructed every hospital in the state to double capacity to meet the surge. The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) looked to its inpatient pediatric unit on the building’s eighth floor, and in a short amount of time, transformed it into a 40-bed unit that would become

By David Greene

A few dozen staff members at one local Bronx hospital took a few minutes out of from their busy day on May 8 to applaud their collective efforts in the ongoing fight against COVID-19, as they said goodbye to the hospital’s thousandth patient to have recovered from the virus. Bronxite, Maximo Gonzalez, 56, originally from the Dominican Republic, was discharged on Friday from the Jack D. Weiler Hospital at the Einstein campus of Montefiore Medical Center in the Morris Park area of the Bronx, after being admitted with suspected COVID-19 two days earlier. Gonzalez got the red carpet treatment

Starting Monday, the Bronx will no longer be the only borough in New York City without a kosher food distribution site as part of the City’s Get Food program. After weeks of advocacy from Bronx elected officials, the City has agreed to distribute free kosher grab-and-go meals at P.S. 24 in the the borough starting Monday, May 11, opening the City’s prevailing meal distribution program to observant residents in the borough for the first time since the program’s launch. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and Council Member Andrew Cohen had been advocating for kosher food offerings in the Northwest Bronx to

By Síle Moloney

On May 5, Mayor Bill de Blasio warned New Yorkers on Twitter that if their children were experiencing persistent fever, rash, abdominal pain or vomiting, to call a doctor right away. The previous day, City health officials had issued a bulletin to New York City health care providers instructing them to immediately report any patients under 21 who displayed these symptoms. In the bulletin, the officials also wrote that 15 patients aged between two and 15 years of age had been hospitalized in the City between Apr. 17 and May 1 with an illness possibly linked to COVID-19. “We

New York State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi and Bronx Community Board 7 will be providing free hot meals today, May, 8, 2020 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on the northbound corner of 199th Street and Grand Concourse. Contact Ischia Bravo, District Manager for questions. Bronx Community Board 7 ibravo@cb.nyc.gov 646-330-3599

Antibody Testing To Begin Next Week

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on May 7 that, beginning next week, antibody testing will be offered on an appointment-only basis for approximately two weeks in Morrisania, East New York, Upper Manhattan, Concord, and Long Island City. Through a partnership with BioReference labs, the City will conduct its own antibody survey at community testing sites in the five boroughs to better understand the spread of COVID-19. The survey will test approximately 70,000 New Yorkers over an initial two-week period, with the capacity to administer up to 5,000 tests per day. Scheduling will open this Friday via a dedicated

By JOSÉ A. GIRALT

It took just 15 minutes for City workers to run out of free face coverings at a mask distribution site in Williamsbridge Oval Park on Tuesday, May 5. Distribution of the masks was scheduled to take place between noon and 2:00 p.m., but empty folding tables were already being moved back inside the park’s recreation building by 12:20 p.m. as residents were still arriving. “We gave out 1,700 masks,” said a City worker who did not wish to be identified. New Yorkers across the five boroughs began receiving free masks and face coverings on Saturday, May 2, at

By David Greene

There is no firehouse or hospital in the immediate area of the Amalgamated Housing Cooperative, located opposite Van Cortlandt Park South, yet residents of the cooperative have been joining in the national ritual to thank first responders on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic by going to their windows every night at 7 p.m. and diligently applauding. A recent visit to Building 11 in the complex, which was built between 1927 and 1970, found residents banging on pots and pans, blowing horns and cheering on the front line workers, hospital workers, and paramedics who have been helping and