Littauer plans more growth Posted on May 29, 2009 by Dakota PikeNathan Littauer plans $3.1M ER renovation; fed funding possibleBy Barbara Pinckney, special for for the Business Review (Albany)First published in print Friday, May 29, 2009Nathan Littauer Hospital is moving forward with plans to upgrade and expand its 26-year-old emergency department—possibly with federal help. The Gloversville hospital filed a certificate of need application with the state Health Department earlier this month seeking approval for the $3.1 million plan.At about the same time, U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko and Sen. Charles Schumer introduced appropriations bills in their respective houses seeking $1 million to help finance the project. Laurence Kelly, CEO of Nathan Littauer, said the project does not hinge on the federal funding—the hospital recently completed a $4 million capital campaign—but “it would be nice.”The plan calls for the ER to be renovated and enlarged, from 5,000 square feet to about 10,000 square feet. Kelly said the department sees about 25,000 people a year, and was built in 1983 “for probably half that.” The department has 13 patient rooms. This will be increased to 17, but some of the rooms will be large enough to accommodate two patients if necessary. Kelly said this should allow all patients to move to a room immediately after being triaged.The patient rooms will be equipped with televisions to ease the wait. The project also includes a new nurses’ station with four times the space as the current, “really congested,” station. The computer system already has been upgraded and medical records are electronic.Nathan Littauer, which has about $50 million in assets, had net income of about $2.1 million on revenue of $78 million in 2008. That represents an operating margin of 2.8 percent.
Nathan Littauer’s Green Efforts Appluaded Posted on April 16, 2009August 16, 2012 by Dakota PikeLittauer strives to care for mother earth, too.Dyana Perez reportingCapital News 9First aired April 16, 2009GLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. — “We’re constantly thinking green all the time. Every time we change a process, every time we evaluate a new piece of equipment” said David Bruhns, Director of Engineering.Here at Nathan Litteaur Hospital, it’s all about being ecofriendly. Over the years, the facility has come up with simple and creative ways to stay green.“One of the initiatives is actually in the cafeteria. We’ve started actually selling the cups from the register rather than allowing our customers to take them. That’s reduced our usage per week from eight cases of foam cups per week, which is equal to 8,000 cups and reduced it almost in half,” said Timothy Forte.And hospital officials say switching from old-fashioned cord mops to micro-fiber mops has saved thousands of gallons of water. “You are not re-dipping your mop. Like the old mops, we had to re dip them and the water got dirty .We have saved by switching 24,000 gallons a year. Three pool sizes,” said Debrah Fountain.The hospital also uses a chemical free floor stripper, which is non-toxic and odor free. And in nutritional services, the facility has replaced equipment that uses less chemicals, energy and water.“One of the biggest highlights, I think, for energy savings, is our pot scrubber was using a full load of 95 amps with a booster heater and now the replacement we are using 29 amps with the new unit we put in place.” Forte said.Hospital engineers are also giving out tips on things you can do at home that can help cut your energy bill significantly.“Periodically do a cleaning of the condenser coil behind or under the refrigerator or freezer because. So have done some measurements and studies that if you clean three or four times a year, that we use six to eight percent less electricity,” Bruhns said.Hospital officials say these simple techniques can make a big difference in helping keep a safe environment.
