Milly Gleckler, RRT
Saving patients requires clinical skill and the interdepartmental coordination that can only be built and maintained through teamwork centered around that common goal, says Milly Gleckler, a Respiratory Therapist who works in the Emergency Department (ED) at The Mount Sinai Hospital.
“Our patients are not saved by tasks. They are saved by relationships, and the stronger those ties are the better,” she says.
Milly was among the speakers at The Mount Sinai Hospital’s recent Town Hall meeting, where she described the high level of teamwork that goes on 24 hours a day in the ED. Many departments work “side by side together at what unites us,” Milly says. “We care for people and each other, save lives, and make a difference every day, every shift, every hour.”
Milly’s work as a Respiratory Therapist requires her to apply a BiPAP mask to the faces of emergency patients who need help breathing. Patients often enter the ED anxious and scared, she says.
“It is my role as part of an incredible team to take care of them with kindness and love and skill, and reassure them that they are in the best hands, because they are.” When Milly and her team are able to stabilize patients and improve their breathing, they can avoid intubation, admission to the Intensive Care Unit, and even life support.