NY State Veterans Home at St. Albans wasted up to $1.6 million of personal protective equipment, report says

The New York State Veterans Home at St. Albans in Queens wasted up to $1.6 million worth of personal protective equipment purchased during the COVID-19 pandemic after gear was stockpiled in an outdoor parking lot and became unusable, according to a report released Tuesday by the state inspector general.

Officials were forced to incinerate pallets of masks, gowns and face shields ruined by extended weather exposure, a decision the report blamed on a lack of storage space, poor record keeping and significant communication breakdowns.

“As New York State continues to prioritize public safety and living our shared values by efficiently deploying resources, our report calls for increased and consistent communication to mitigate waste and save lives,” Inspector General Lucy Lang said.

The state Health Department, which operates the veterans home and referred the incident to the IG, said it increased PPE supplies to meet demand during the pandemic, "which at times overwhelmed the existing process for distributing and storing such supplies."

In late 2020, St. Albans, which was "burning" through much of its supplies, participated in a statewide "aggregated buy" of PPE, in anticipation of a "third wave" of COVID that failed to materialize.

On Nov. 5, 2020, St. Albans, using its average rate of PPE consumption from months earlier — and without regard to its storage capacity — placed an order for 5 million units of equipment at a cost of $2.7 million, the report said.

St. Albans expected the PPE to be delivered monthly, beginning in December, but after a month went by without a delivery, it reverted to purchasing supplies from individual vendors, the IG said. St. Albans, investigators said, was unaware the state had not placed its mass order until late January.

The  state Health Department, meanwhile, instructed its aggregated buy vendors to combine the PPE deliveries originally expected in December and January with its February order, hastening an impending storage crisis, officials said. The 52 pallets filled two trailers while St. Albans had the capacity to store only eight pallets, the report said.

The facility exhausted its storage options — an empty barbershop, library and auditorium — and eventually resorted to keeping items in a parking lot covered by tarps, the IG said. Meanwhile, the monthly deliveries continued, even as the pandemic waned, and vendors refused to restructure the contract, the report said.

After months of discussion, the Health Department found surplus storage space in late May — three months after the pallets were first kept outside — and St. Albans signed a lease for a temperature-controlled warehouse space in Inwood, the report said.

But by then, nearly all of the PPE kept outside — representing between 34% and 60% of the original order — was unsalvageable and incinerated, the IG said. The IG valued the loss at $560,000 to $1.6 million, with a precise amount difficult to determine because of the facility's "deficient receiving and record keeping practices," the IG said.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.