Encourages community to cheer them on along the route and via Facebook live.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: John Turner, Vice President, Public Relations

Cayuga Health

(607) 274-4498

Cayuga Health (CH) will be filling two Cornell Campus-to-Campus buses with of doctors, nurses and other professional staff on a medical mission to assist with the NYC COVID-19 pandemic.  Community members are encouraged to cheer and hold up posters along the route out of town in support of the Cayuga Health staff, as they embark on their medical mission.  There will also be a Facebook live stream made available on Cayuga Medical Center’s Facebook page of the send-off ceremony and their departure.

Cornell University will provide two buses to transport the teams from Cayuga Medical Center located at 101 Dates Road, Ithaca NY on Wednesday April 8 at 8:30am to New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan.

“We are proud to be sending such outstanding medical professionals and true ‘Healthcare Heroes’ to assist hard hit New York City in fighting this COVID-19 pandemic,” states Martin Stallone, President & CEO of Cayuga Health. “We are encouraging our community to hold up signs and cheer on our professionals as they head into the epicenter.  Special thanks to President Pollack and Cornell University for providing the transportation of our teams.”

“These volunteers, and all of the health care workers at the forefront of this pandemic, are acting with courage and compassion in a situation that is both unprecedented and incredibly challenging,” said Cornell University President Martha E. Pollack. “Together with our essential workers, like police, firefighters, facilities workers, food and grocery workers and others, they deserve every support we can offer them as they help to meet the critical human needs in this crisis.”

The official route can be found at www.cayugahealthsystem.org/nyc/. Downloadable Cayuga Health Hero Posters are also available to print in support of CH medical professionals during this send off. Members of the community are also advised to continue to practice good social distancing of being at least 6 to 10 feet apart from one another as they cheer and support the healthcare employees along the route.

Tompkins County Sheriff Derek Osborne has offered to assist with the procession through Ithaca and the Ithaca Fire Department will hoist the flag in a short send-off ceremony at Cayuga Medical Center while representatives from nearby Watkins Glen International will follow the procession in the NASCAR official pace car through Ithaca on its way out of town.

“We will continue to do what it takes to fight this epidemic and meet the healthcare needs of our community and beyond,” adds Stallone. “We may be a small community, but our employees have huge hearts and we know that we can step up and help out in a big way.”

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About Cayuga Health

Cayuga Health (CH) has two hospitals, Cayuga Medical Center and Schuyler Hospital, as well as a multi-specialty group, Cayuga Medical Associates. Combined employment, including affiliated organizations, is over 2,200 employees. CHS is clinically linked to Mayo Medical Laboratories, Rochester Regional Health for cardiac services, Roswell Park for cancer services, and the University of Rochester for neurosciences.