Frank Parlatorre, center, Environmental Services, with a team of his colleagues who saved his life. From left: Mark Dela Cruz-Hunt, RN, RN, MHL, Clinical Nurse Manager; Francis Cortes, RN, BSN; Juliana Mariano, RN; Charmaine Escutin, RN; Jonathan Luke Murphy, MD; George Dangas, MD, PhD, Director, Cardiology; Kamran Babri, BLS, ACLS, RCIS, Cath Lab Lead Cardiovascular Tech; Anshika Rani, Physician Assistant; Michelle Hang, AGACNP-BC; Gian Florendo, Senior Physicians Associate; Sharri Keveson, RN; and Stefanie Pinto, RN
It started like any other day—until it wasn’t. On the morning of Thursday, February 20, Frank Parlatore, Jr., a member of the Environmental Services team at Mount Sinai Queens, was preparing for his shift when he collapsed in the operating room locker room.
Frank had gone into sudden cardiac arrest, and his colleagues and friends, including nurses in the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) and operating room, sprang into action and performed CPR right then and there. What happened next was a powerful reminder that at Mount Sinai, the commitment to care doesn’t stop with patients. Staff in the Mount Sinai community take care of each other, too.
“He had a cardiac arrest caused by severe coronary artery disease,” explains Georgios Syros, MD, Director of Cardiac Electrophysiology at Mount Sinai Queens. “He had multiple blockages—three-vessel coronary artery disease—and a weak heart, with only about one-third of normal function.” Lifestyle factors, including smoking and not seeing a doctor regularly, had contributed to his condition.
Following his initial stabilization, Frank was taken to the Emergency Department (ED), where the ED and ICU physicians performed resuscitation efforts for almost 40 minutes. After a normal rhythm was restored, he was taken for a coronary angiogram at the recently opened Mount Sinai Queens Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory. The angiogram confirmed the extent of his coronary blockages. Frank’s heart stopped again in the Cath Lab. He was revived by Jonathan L. Murphy, MD, who used CPR and multiple defibrillation treatments.
Frank was placed on a respirator and fitted with a specialized device to support his circulation. Then, he was transferred to The Mount Sinai Hospital, where his heart function partially improved with medical therapy under the guidance of Ahmed El-Eshmawi, MD. In March 2025, Dr. Syros performed an electrophysiology study and implanted a defibrillator at Mount Sinai Morningside to help prevent life-threatening arrhythmias.
Over the next several weeks, Frank’s heart function continued to improve. By May, he was strong enough to undergo a double-vessel coronary artery bypass. The surgery was a success, and just months after that harrowing February morning, Frank was recovering exceptionally well.
“It’s not every day that the person on your OR table is also someone you know and work with,” Dr. Syros says. “That made it even more personal to me and the entire team to do everything we could to bring him back. This was Mount Sinai Queens at its best—quick thinking, teamwork, and compassion.”