During the height of the COVID-19 crisis in New York City in April, MCAA member Donnelly Mechanical was an integral part of converting two facilities within Queens and Brooklyn into temporary field hospitals. These hospitals were staffed with doctors and nurses from around the country who traveled to New York to help treat COVID-19 patients and to relieve the burden from the nearby, overtaxed hospitals.
Following a fast-paced, intense, competitive vetting process, Donnelly Mechanical was contracted by SLS Construction to install oxygen lines at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens. Based in Galveston, Texas, SLS Construction provides general contracting and construction management services with a specialty in aiding disaster relief efforts. Within just a few days, the combined effort between SLS and Donnelly converted a dozen indoor tennis courts into a temporary overflow hospital with 450 additional beds.
Once the hospital was up and running, Donnelly returned to the site to assist with additional work. Fully functional ventilators require high-pressure oxygen that meets precise specifications. Donnelly’s service team ran high pressure oxygen tubes to the ventilator location in Ward 1, where many COVID-19 patients were being treated. The team took every possible safety precaution, including the use of proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and HAZMAT suits.
Quality Work Leads to Second Project
The GC was thoroughly impressed by Donnelly’s work and quickly awarded them a similar conversion project at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal. Work to install oxygen lines at the 750-bed facility started immediately.
Teams of 25-30 men worked very long shifts to successfully complete the conversion in five days.
Unsung Heroes Recognized
The dedication of an incredible group of service technicians and field supervisors from Donnelly’s HVAC Service Team played a crucial role in the emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.
The team members involved in those projects were:
- Doug Abramowitz
- John Battles
- Aleko Bode
- Eddie Buffington
- Raphy Caba
- Daniel Carranza
- Domenico Cecere
- Vladislav Ceselka
- Cameron Clarke
- Stephen Croteau
- Eliasaph Dorilas
- William Duffy
- Nick Feliciano
- Brandon Fernandez
- Robert Flynn
- Kevin Gaertner
- Ivan Grigorov
- Richard Harker
- Christopher Hartley
- Luis Hoyos
- Luis Joseph
- John Keaveney
- Delano King
- Everett Kinsler
- Jeremy Klink
- Robert Lagomarsine
- Nekeb (Chad) Laurencin
- Aleksandar Lazic
- James LeCrichia
- Joseph Lopez
- James Lovett
- John Mangino
- James Mansfield
- Timothy Meyers
- Bryan Montesino
- Antonio Mota
- Arnold Padarath
- Gavin Petersen
- George Petersen
- Endri Prifti
- Felix Rivera
- Nicholas Rizoglou
- Thomas Rogoz
- Miguel Sambolin
- Angel Santiago
- Paul Sehlmeyer
- Rejnaldo Shehi
- Mitram Singh
- Rajendra Singh
- Christopher Soto
- Cedric Spencer
- Anthony Tartaglia
- Henry Taveras
- Lester Tom
- Kevin Torres
- Aaron Vanterpool
- David Warner
- Stanley Young
MCAA thanks the Donnelly team and all of our members who have worked tirelessly to protect their communities’ safety. We’re all in this together.