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Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane surprises nursing award recipients: To celebrate Nurses Week, Buffalo Bills General Manager Brandon Beane and his family recently surprised several Kaleida Health nursing award recipients, visiting their homes to deliver gifts. Pictured is Lisa Boyer, BSN, RN, CCRN, Rising Star RN at Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute. (Photo by Joe Cascio/Kaleida Health)
Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane surprises nursing award recipients: To celebrate Nurses Week, Buffalo Bills General Manager Brandon Beane and his family recently surprised several Kaleida Health nursing award recipients, visiting their homes to deliver gifts. Pictured is Lisa Boyer, BSN, RN, CCRN, Rising Star RN at Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute. (Photo by Joe Cascio/Kaleida Health)

Kaleida Health offering antibody testing to general public; provides update on waiver application; honors nurses

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Sat, May 9th 2020 11:40 am

Waiver Applications

Kaleida Health today released the following statement Friday regarding its waiver applications to resume elective surgeries:

Kaleida Health President and CEO Jody Lomeo said, “Today we received official approval from the New York State Department of Health for the waiver applications to resume limited elective surgical cases at Oishei Children’s Hospital and Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital. We have also received confirmation that the waiver applications for the Buffalo General Medical Center and our two surgery centers are currently under review.

“I want to thank Gov. Cuomo, Lt. Gov. Hochul and the State Department of Health for their efforts and partnership on this most important issue.

“For more than six weeks now, our physicians, nurses and staff have worked extremely hard battling COVID-19. They have been relentless in providing the very best care for all of our patients. For them to hear news like this and see a hint of normalcy in the coming days and weeks validates all of their efforts. I could not be happier for them and the patients that we serve.

“Moving forward, we will continue to work in collaboration with state and local officials to provide any assistance to our region’s reopening.”

In March, Kaleida Health, along with all hospitals and health systems in New York state, suspended non-emergency surgical cases and other elective procedures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The organization recently submitted waiver applications to the Department of Health for Oishei Children’s Hospital, Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, Buffalo General Medical Center, Southtowns Ambulatory Surgery Center, as well as the Millard Fillmore Surgery Center, as part of the governor’s executive order 202.25, “Continuing Temporary Suspension and Modification of Laws Relating to the Disaster Emergency.”

Antibody Testing

Kaleida Health on Saturday announced it is now offering COVID-19 antibody tests to anyone in the Western New York community.

"Offering communitywide antibody testing will continue to help provide important information about who has had COVID-19," Lomeo said. "From a public health standpoint, that’s important. We are doing all that we can to expand testing and ensuring access in the community for anyone who wants or needs to get tested."

The Kaleida Health Laboratories are antibody testing at locations in Buffalo, Cheektowaga, North Tonawanda and Orchard Park.

Antibody testing requires a blood draw. Each participant must have an appointment to receive a test. A prescription from a primary care provider is also required.

Appointments can be made online at www.kaleidahealth.org/antibodytesting or by calling the Kaleida Health coronavirus hotline at 716-859-3222 (open daily from 7 a.m.-7 p.m.).

Results will be available in three to four days in the patient portal on the MyKaleida mobile app. The link to the patient portal is in the "My Health" section.

One must have a patient portal account to view results. If not, they will receive an email invitation to gain access. Tested individuals can also contact their primary care provider for results.

The antibody test does not check for the virus itself. Instead, it looks to see whether a person’s immune system – the body’s defense against illness – has responded to the infection.

Giving community members the opportunity to obtain antibody testing will help determine how prevalent the disease is in the community, slow the spread of infection and help keep people safe.

National Nurses Week

Each year, from May 6-12, National Nurses Week provides an opportunity to recognize the nurses who are integral to the health and well-being of patients throughout the community.

To mark the beginning of Nurses Week, Kaleida Health released the list of 2020 Nursing Award recipients for their “outstanding dedication and commitment to their patients, colleagues, community and the nursing profession.” See the link here: https://www.kaleidahealth.org/kyi/news/?i=14216.

In a message to Kaleida Health employees, Lomeo expressed gratitude for the unwavering dedication of our nurses during this unprecedented time.

“This year, celebrating nurses is more important than ever,” he said. “We are living in a historic time in health care. At no point in the past 100 years have nurses been more critical to our community than now. Their care, compassion and sacrifice to patients – and each other – is nothing short of heroic.

“Since the pandemic arrived in Western New York, I have watched our nurses work harder than ever before on behalf of their patients and their co-workers. Their days are long, but their resolve is unwavering. Kaleida Health nurses not only lead with CARE – they lead with courage and commitment.”

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