2:15
- ABC News
- March 22, 2020
NY doc’s memos raise concern about supplies
Supplies of masks, equipment, available beds is well short of impending needs.
2:15
The startling figures from Smith comes just hours after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced more restrictions on state residents and businesses in order to slow the spread of the virus.
\"These provisions will be enforced,\" Cuomo said at a Friday press conference. \"There will be a civil fine and mandatory closure for any business that is not in compliance. Your actions can affect my health.\"
Former Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert told ABC News' \"This Week\" on Sunday morning that the coming days will require more Americans to take these threats seriously. Bossert, now an ABC News contributor, said he is concerned for the three states that have the largest number of positive cases right now including New York. \"I say this, and hope i'm wrong, that this is going to overwhelm the New York health system in the coming days.\"
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/coronavirus-health-workers-ap-jef-200320_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
The letters from Smith appear to be intended to rally doctors to confront the immense challenge they are about to face.
\"Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to apologize profusely in a few weeks for having overestimated the threat. The next month or two is a horror to imagine if we’re underestimating the threat,\" he writes. \"Remember that our family, friends, and neighbors are scared, idle, out of work, and feel impotent. Anyone working in healthcare still enjoys the rapture of action.\"
In another memo, circulated Saturday, Smith referenced the famed UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden, when trying to motivate his team.
\"To think we could mimic Italy seemed risible a week ago. Not today,\" Smith writes. \"No one is standing still, wringing their hands.\" The chairman ends his weekend memo with an optimistic message quoting Wooden: \"'Failing to plan is planning to fail'. That will not be us.\"
Smith told ABC News the memos are \"circulating much more widely than we imagined, and are creating angst in other quarters over control of the message. I’m thinking today about how to deal with that.\"
In one of the letters, Smith, who supervises more than 100 full time faculty members, references the story of the sled dog named Balto who helped save infected children by carrying life-saving serum to Nome to fight the 1925 diphtheria epidemic – an inspiring story that became an animated feature film, \"Balto.\"
A bronze statue of the hero dog has been located in New York City’s Central Park since December 1925.
\"So what can we do? Load the sled, check the traces, feed Balto, and mush on,\" he wrote. \"Our cargo must reach Nome.\"
","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/Politics/internal-memos-chief-surgeon-york-presbyterian-hospital-revealed/story?id=69735650","legacySlug":"/news/story/internal-memos-chief-surgeon-york-presbyterian-hospital-revealed-69735650","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"14:37","publishDate":"03-22-2020","updatedTime":"22:14","updatedDate":"03-22-2020","socialImage":{"alt":"Another shift of medical staff prepare to start woking at a drive-through testing center for COVID-19 in Paramus, N.J., March 20, 2020.","credit":"Seth Wenig/AP","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/coronavirus-health-workers-ap-jef-200320_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"3/22/2020 14:37:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":69735650,"headline":"NY doc’s memos raise concern about supplies","mediaAssetTitle":"SUPPLY CONCERN","description":"Supplies of masks, equipment, available beds is well short of impending needs.","duration":"2:15","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/03/200322_gma_besser_819_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["69186419","69363462","69435165"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"March 12, 2020","headline":"Coronavirus symptoms: Answers to your COVID-19 questions","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/coronavirus-important-covid-19-questions-answered-69186419","id":69186419,"image":{"alt":"Coronavirus symptoms: Answers to your COVID-19 questions","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Health/coronavirus-travelers-03-gty-jef-200227_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"March 6, 2020","headline":"How to prepare for coronavirus in your community","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/prepare-coronavirus-community-69363462","id":69363462,"image":{"alt":"How to prepare for coronavirus in your community","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Health/coronavirus_main_med_unit_story_200304_hpMain_20200304-111120_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Denis Lovrovic/AFP via Getty Images","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"September 22, 2020","headline":"Timeline: How coronavirus got started","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/timeline-coronavirus-started-69435165","id":69435165,"image":{"alt":"Timeline: How coronavirus got started","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/trump-3-gty-aa-200313_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images, FILE","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"NY doc’s memos raise concern about supplies","description":"Supplies of masks, equipment, available beds is well short of impending needs.","duration":"2:15","uploadDate":"03-22-2020","publication":"03-22-2020","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/03/200322_gma_besser_819_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/03/200322_gma_besser_819_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/internal-memos-chief-surgeon-york-presbyterian-hospital-revealed-69735650"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132281378","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132283010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132273278","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132231169","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132206748","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132200241","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054443","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054798","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132033010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131912713","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131830583","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131834976","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554765","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554815","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131543053","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131432442","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131121474","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131247079","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131228784","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131178806","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:news:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"news","title":"NY doc’s memos raise concern about supplies","pubTime":"10:37","pubDate":"03-22-2020","modTime":"18:14","modDate":"03-22-2020","taxonomyTags":"none","id":69735650,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"NY doc’s memos raise concern about supplies","mediaAssetTitle":"SUPPLY CONCERN","videoId":69735650,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/news/story/internal-memos-chief-surgeon-york-presbyterian-hospital-revealed-69735650"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/69735650","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/69735650","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};