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 on his departure as staff cheered him on, waving balloons and banners in his honor.

Elizabeth Kaledin, vice president of public relations at the hospital spoke with the media about Gonzalez’ case. “He came in; he was tested. He was also reporting swelling in his legs,” Kaledin said. “He was treated and went home today [Friday]. So, it’s a good case scenario. Luckily, he was not on a ventilator or anything like that.”

“It wasn’t a severe case of COVID, but he tested COVID-positive,” Kaledin said, adding that as Gonzalez was the one thousandth discharge, it was a big deal for the hospital, which has a long history of taking care of residents in the local area.

Indeed, Weiler hospital is one of the smaller hospitals in the Montefiore hospital network, and though not part of the public hospital system, has strong links with the local community. Since 1996, Montefiore Medical Center has developed advanced models of care management to help patients, especially those with chronic diseases like diabetes, heart failure and mental illness, to achieve better health, and improved well-being in a cost effective manner.

According to its website, the hospital goes beyond fragmented fee-for-service payments, and assumes total responsibility for the quality and costs of care for some of its sickest patients. Through its holistic approach to ongoing care, and its specially designed payment program, the hospital cares for thousands of patients covering inpatient care, rehabilitation, outpatient care, professional services, home care, mental health counseling, community-based services, remote patient monitoring and other programs.

By coordinating patient care across multiple settings, the hospital has earned federal recognition from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a Pioneer Accountable Care Organization. It is one of only 32 organizations in the country, as well as the only one in New York State, to operate under this model of providing Medicare beneficiaries with higher quality care, while reducing expenditures through enhanced care coordination.

As reported by Norwood News in early April, the Einstein campus is also the location of an ongoing, international, clinical drug trial of the experimental drug, remdesivir. The drug is being used to treat coronavirus patients with severe respiratory difficulties. Einstein is the only location in New York State where the drug is being trialled.

Norwood News later reported that preliminary results of the international trials of remdesivir, as a whole, have been greeted with cautious optimism by Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the senior members of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force. Remdesivir received emergency authorized approval from the FDA, on Friday, May 1, to treat additional patients with advanced COVID-19.

For his part, Gonzalez thanked the hospital staff for taking care of him and said he looked forward to going home, giving a ‘thumbs up’ sign before leaving the hospital. Total COVID-19 admissions to the hospital as of May, 10 amount to 1,539 patients.

In a video released on YouTube, Beverly Michael, executive director at the hospital, said of the milestone, “It feels wonderful, but it couldn’t happen without all of the wonderful clinicians who work here at the Weiler hospital, all of our physicians, PAs, nurses, all of our ancillary support staff”. She added, “They are really committed to our patients and they’ve taken excellent care of them while they’re here”.

Earlier in the week, on May 6, Montefiore Health System celebrated the discharge of its five thousandth COVID-19 inpatient from its Norwood campus. Yonkers resident, Huberto Herrera Vanegas, 55, spent 20 days in Montefiore Moses Intensive Care Unit, and another 20 days in a COVID-19 recovery unit. When asked, what was the first thing he was going to do when he got home, Huberto said, “I am going to hug my wife and kids”.

Editor’s Note: Remdesivir is not currently FDA approved for general use. It has only received emergency authorized use by trained professionals in a clinical setting. Readers are reminded to always consult a trusted physician in relation to health care matters.

*Síle Moloney contributed additional reporting to this story.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.