IN DEPTH: Northwell Health CEO reflects on pandemic 16 months after it began

On a special In Depth we speak with Northwell Health CEO, Michael Dowling as he refects on the last 16 months of the pandemic. 

It was one of the worst periods of the pandemic at Northwell Health’s 23 hospitals. Forty-nine COVID patients in early March had swelled to almost 3,500 by early April. Throughout the pandemic, Dowling set aside time every day to walk the hospital units so he could personally thank workers for their sacrifices and heroic efforts to save lives.

On April 5, Dowling stopped in at the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. That’s where he met Chris Summers, a physician’s assistant. They spoke for a few minutes, wished each other well, and then Summers said something that shook Dowling: “He told me his mother had just died.”

Dowling told Summers to take a break and take some time off, but he said Summers' response was, “No.” “He said, I’m with my team. I’m here. I’m doing my job. I have to stay. This is where I’m needed. I’m with my team.”

Dowling called the experience one of the most impactful he has experienced.
It has been 15 months since Dowling and Summers have seen each other, but that changed when the two were reunited during a 1010 WINS In Depth podcast.

Reporter Glenn Schuck sat down with Dowling to look back at the impact of the pandemic on the state’s largest private health care system. During the interview, the CEO discusses the personal impact of COVID-19 on his family, the impact on his faith, his opinion on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes, and why Northwell Health was so prepared for the crisis while so many others were not.

Of the lessons of COVID-19, Dowling said, “We will all be better because we went through this. Every so often you need to get a kick in the butt to remind you of the fragility of all of us.”

Northwell lost 24 staff members to COVID, and at its height, 90 patients died of the disease every day.

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