SCHUMER, GILLIBRAND ANNOUNCE OVER $7.5 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDING TO SUPPORT WATERTOWN’S SAMARITAN MEDICAL CENTER & LORETTO HEALTH IN SYRACUSE COVID RESPONSE

Hospitals, Long-Term Care Facilities & Health Centers Heroically Responded To COVID Outbreak, Ripping Holes In Their Budgets To Obtain PPE, Cleaning/Disinfecting Facilities, Testing, Tracing, And More 

Senators Say FEMA Funding – At A 100% Federal Cost Share – Will Reimburse Samaritan Medical Center & Loretto For Costs Related to Pandemic Response

Schumer, Gillibrand: Federal Funding Will Help Keep Up The Fight Against COVID-19

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $4,512,600 for the Loretto Health & Rehabilitation and $3,035,960 for the Samaritan Medical Center from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to cover costs associated with emergency protective measures taken for their COVID responses. The funds reimburse each for expenses related to providing COVID-19 laboratory testing and testing supplies, used to test their employees ensuring that individuals did not spread the virus to staff, patients, or the local community as they provided direct care and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding is provided at a 100% federal cost share, which Schumer fought hard to include for NY since the pandemic began.

“Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, Loretto in Syracuse, and so many other entities throughout New York heroically stepped up by increasing spending, while experiencing significant revenue loss, and working ceaselessly to help New York beat back the virus. I am proud to deliver this vital federal support to help these essential medical facilities recover and continue to keep our communities safe,” said Senator Schumer.  “Upstate New York and its hospitals have been amongst the hardest hit in the nation, and with this funding, the continuing frontline fight being waged by our health care system and its incredible workforce will receive the dollars they need, and so very much deserve, to keep saving lives.”

“Health care providers have lost billions of dollars during the pandemic due to spiking costs and slashed revenues,” said Senator Gillibrand. “This federal support will help ensure that Samaritan Medical Center and Loretto can maintain staffing levels, provide PPE, and continue to keep our Watertown and Syracuse communities safe as we encounter and fight new variants of COVID-19. I’ll keep working to help New York medical facilities offset operating costs so that they can continue to provide quality care to every New Yorker.”

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