A New Year’s Message from Dr. Berger and Dr. Winston

By Communications & Marketing | Dec 31, 2021

It is with a sincere hope that what seemed like an insurmountable challenge we faced in the last two years, COVID-19, will continue to diminish even as we face a new strain of the virus.

Since University Hospital at Downstate saw its first COVID patient in early 2020, we have continued to learn more and have adapted that expertise to care for our patients. But, unfortunately, we suffered losses—including colleagues—that may be difficult for those who do not care for patients to comprehend fully.

We are enormously grateful to you for your work and your continued commitment to our mission that includes caring for the most vulnerable. Serving as a safety net hospital in a community with such great need is humbling to us all. Yet, you show up each day to provide the best care for everyone.

Your work can never be measured effectively or acknowledged in ways you truly deserve. First, however, we want to clarify our gratitude to you for maintaining daily operations, ensuring that processes work smoothly for those in greatest need.

Each of you, our doctors, nurses, social workers, environmental teams, lab technicians, engineers, phlebotomists, radiology teams, dietary staff, technical and IT experts, scientists, patient support and transport teams, clergy, clerical, and other administrative support staff—have continued working hard to make sure that we meet the needs of those who come to us for care.

You show up every day ready to provide the highest level of compassionate attention to our patients and their families during these unusually challenging times. University Hospital at Downstate will remain a crucial player in protecting our community against COVID-19 and caring for those infected by the virus.

Everyone’s combined efforts have made the past year a successful one, even in the face of COVID. We recommend and encourage everyone eligible to get the COVID vaccine and booster to protect themselves and their loved ones, friends, and community, especially with the new variants.

We are grateful to you for helping to advance policies that protect and provide care and solutions for those who need us most. We will carry forward the momentum of 2021, a year when we leveraged our greatest strength—our unity—like never before. We appreciate your support, the extraordinary care you deliver to patients, and the enduring service you provide to our communities.

We look forward to the new year and our work together to help improve care for all of our patients. We remain energized by its challenges and buoyed by the promise of even greater collaboration with everyone, and confidently, to a great victory over COVID.

Thank you for your continuous commitment and hard work to deliver our goals and achieve our purpose: caring about others when they need it most.

We wish you all a safe, happy, and prosperous new year!