Photos showing the damage at Saint George Hospital University Medical Center in Beirut. Source: George Wanna, MD.

For George Wanna, MD, Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Beth Israel, the recent deadly blast in Beirut hit very close to home, which is why he is working so hard to help the city where he was born and raised.

Dr. Wanna, who credits Mount Sinai with giving him an opportunity to become a doctor in the United States and who considers Mount Sinai a second home, has been in touch with colleagues in Beirut and has been working to raise funds, including establishing a GoFundMe account that has raised more than $60,000. A focus is helping Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, a leading hospital in Lebanon severely damaged by the blast.

“They are treating people out on the streets,” said Dr. Wanna, who is also Professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, and Neurosurgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “We are just trying to see what we can do to help care for people in a community that is now completely devastated.”

George Wanna, MD

Following the blast on August 4, Dr. Wanna spoke with the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, Alexander Nehme, MD, someone he knows who trained at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, who told him of the dire need for supplies and also passed along photos of the destruction, which the hospital has also prominently displayed on its website. The hospital says it evacuated 160 patients and the blast killed four nurses and 12 patients.

The explosion has also displaced hundreds of thousands of people in the city, and the home of Dr. Wanna’s parents, about a kilometer from the blast site, has been severely damaged.

Founded in 1878, the hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center owned by the Orthodox Archdiocese of Beirut and affiliated with the University of Balamand in El-Koura, Lebanon, about 60 miles north of Beirut. The hospital served patients through years of civil strife during the 1970s and 1980s and was expanded to 400 beds in 2004.

Dr. Wanna has also been working with Brent Stackhouse, Managing Director of Mount Sinai Ventures, to see if Mount Sinai can provide surplus medical supplies such as hospital beds, mattresses, and IV poles. Georges Naasan, MD, Medical Director for the Center for Cognitive Health and the Vice Chair of Ambulatory Operations and Quality for the Department of Neurology, is also helping to provide assistance to the American University of Beirut Medical Center, which is providing care for those injured in the blast. Dr. Naasan, a native of Lebanon, earned his medical degree at the American University of Beirut.

Dr. Wanna, a prominent hearing and balance surgeon and researcher, received his medical degree from Lebanese University.  He completed his residency training in otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine and a two-year fellowship in neurotology at Vanderbilt University Hospital. Dr. Wanna was an Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Vanderbilt Medical Center before being recruited by Mount Sinai and returning to New York in 2017.

Dr. Wanna, an American citizen who was born in Beirut in the 1970s, spent much of his childhood in a bomb shelter in Lebanon during years of civil war.

“I am one of the lucky ones. Mount Sinai took a chance on me and gave me the opportunity to leave Beirut and achieve the American dream,” he said. “I will always be grateful. Mount Sinai will always be home to me.”

Nosa Choi, RN, left, and Elvira Parales-Jose, RN, observed a Moment of Silence in the Intensive Care Unit at Mount Sinai Queens.

In solitude and in groups, at computer terminals, at nurses’ stations, and in corridors, faculty, staff, and students recently joined events that honored and celebrated members of the Mount Sinai family lost to COVID-19. The events—a Virtual Memorial Service and a series of Moments of Silence—were part of the mandate of the COVID-19 Memorial Committee, chaired by Jonathan A. Ripp, MD, MPH, Senior Associate Dean for Well-Being and Resilience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. And more projects are to come.

“The people we lost to COVID-19 were our colleagues, our friends, and our work family,” Dr. Ripp says.   “There is a deep commitment across the Health System to remember them, honor them, and pay tribute to them.  I am privileged to be leading a group that is working to fulfill that commitment.”

The Virtual Memorial Service on Tuesday, July 28, was attended via Zoom by more than 1,500 people from across all eight Health System hospitals, the School, and outpatient facilities. The service featured heartfelt music provided by the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine, poetry, and messages of healing from Mount Sinai chaplains the Rev. Amy Strano, M.Div, BCC, and Rabbi Jo Hirschmann, BCC, both members of the Memorial Committee; and from Vicki LoPachin, MD, MBA, Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of the Mount Sinai Health System.

The names of those lost to COVID-19 were read by Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System. “We will always remember them for their work, and the lives they lived,” Dr. Davis said.  “And they will forever be a part of Mount Sinai. I also want to acknowledge the family members who supported their loved ones in their quest to make the world a better place, including their work families, who I know miss them every day.”

The Mount Sinai community was saluted for teamwork at every level by Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, Mount Sinai Health System. “Our response to the pandemic now and in the future is a seminal event in the history of Mount Sinai,” Dr. Charney said. “We lost some brave men and women in the midst of defeating COVID-19. We dedicate ourselves to finishing the work that they themselves were dedicated to.”

A week after the Memorial Service came a series of solemn Moments of Silence at 10:30 am and 4:30 pm on Tuesday, August 4, and 12:30 am on Wednesday, August 5. “The Virtual Memorial Service was a large event with many participants,” says Nathan Goldstein, MD, Professor of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who co-chaired the Virtual Memorial Service subcommittee with Rabbi Hirschmann. “We wanted the Moments of Silence to be more intimate, a chance to grieve and heal in small groups.  To do this, we held three Moments of Silence to ensure that staff working shifts round the clock had a chance to participate.”

The work of the Committee continues with projects including an online Wall of Remembrance and physical memorials at sites across the Health System.  If you would like to share your ideas about these projects, please email COVID19Memorial@mountsinai.org.

They dedicated their lives to health care. Each and every one of them played a unique and important role in helping patients and families. And we will forever be grateful for them.

Nathan Goldstein, MD, Professor of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

We will always remember them for their work, and the lives they lived. And they will forever be a part of Mount Sinai.

Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System

May this be a time when we can feel the magnitude of loss, while also holding in gratitude the blessings that these individuals brought to our lives.

The Rev. Amy Strano, M.Div., BCC, Director of Spiritual Care, The Mount Sinai Hospital