“Celebration and Joy” on National Cancer Survivors Day

Sep 25, 2018 | Community

Above left: Ralph Kotkov, center, performed with fellow Mount Sinai cancer survivors, from left, Ella Levi, Hyacinth Constance, Maryann DeLeo, and Susan Staal.

About 200 cancer survivors, their families and friends, and Mount Sinai faculty and staff recently a ended the 21st annual luncheon celebrating National Cancer Survivors Day®. At the event, held in the atrium of Mount Sinai Union Square, Shawn S. Smith, who was treated for uterine cancer at Mount Sinai West, gave a talk on her journey as a patient. “I learned to laugh and to help others to laugh, even if only for a moment,” Ms. Smith said. “I learned that it was OK to
be afraid, but not stay in fear—to push past it.” The Mount Sinai Chelsea Cancer Survivors Vocal Ensemble made its debut performance, led by Michael Inge, a singer-songwriter. And additional speakers included Stefan Balan, MD, Assistant Professor,  Medicine, and Hematology and Medical Oncology, and the Hematology/Oncology Network Director for Mount Sinai Brooklyn;  Karen Devries, Nurse Manager, Mount Sinai Union Square and Mount Sinai West Infusion Suites; and Camry Diaz, Medical Assistant, The Blavatnik Family – Chelsea Medical Center at Mount Sinai.

“This well-anticipated annual event was filled with celebration and joy,” says Melissa Bellino, Vice President, Oncology and Therapeutic Infusion, Mount Sinai Health System. “It allows us to focus on the importance of the community that we have created and demonstrates our commitment to provide the highest quality of cancer care.”

 

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Epic Team Wins Honor Roll Distinction

Sep 25, 2018 | Community

Ken Koppenhaver, center, with his Epic team.

The Mount Sinai Health System was recognized recently for its achievements with Epic, the electronic health record system, receiving an Honor Roll distinction, at the Cum Laude level, through the Epic Honor Roll Good Maintenance Grant Program. This is a voluntary recognition program based on application of strategies, lessons learned, and best practices distilled from Epic’s experience serving top-line health care organizations.

“This is a huge achievement that not many other organizations of our size and complexity have achieved,” says Ken Koppenhaver, Senior Director of Epic Applications. “Just like the large-scale implementations that have occurred this year, this accomplishment belongs to all of us in Information Technology, as it took many teams countless hours to meet the requirements of this program.”

The requirements include computer hardware and business continuity, benchmarks in patient experience and population health, and ease of use, requiring collaboration across all of the Information Technology areas. Those who are eligible for the program include Epic customers across the United States who have been live with EpicCare Ambulatory or EpicCare Inpatient for one year or more. In early 2017, the Epic team began the process of achieving the Honor Roll recognition, with the final submission completed more than a year later in June.

Adds Mr. Koppenhaver: “Completing all components of the program helps ensure that Mount Sinai draws the most value from the Epic software and helps us improve the health and wellness of the communities we serve.”

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Courtside at the 2018 US Open

Sep 25, 2018 | Community, Featured

At the US Open, from left: James Gladstone, MD; Melissa Leber, MD, Assistant Professor of Orthopedics, and Emergency Medicine; Leesa M. Galatz, MD; Alexis Colvin, MD; and Aruna Seneviratne, MD, and Shawn Anthony, MD, each an Assistant Professor of Orthopedics.

Top orthopedic surgeons, sports medicine physicians, and musculoskeletal radiologists were courtside to help diagnose and provide rapid professional care to athletes in need of medical attention at the 2018 US Open Tennis Championships. It was the sixth consecutive year that Mount Sinai has served as the official medical services provider of the event, which was held over a two-week span in August and September in Flushing Meadows, Queens.

Alexis Colvin, MD, Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery in the Leni and Peter W. May Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, led player care as the Chief Medical Officer of the 2018 US Open. “We treated not only the pros, but the juniors and wheelchair athletes, as well,” says Dr. Colvin, who is also the U.S. Fed Cup team physician.

An ad from Mount Sinai’s 2018 US Open ad campaign.

This year marked many tournament firsts for Mount Sinai, which hosted the first-ever “Mount Sinai Get Fit and Play” event for the 23rd annual Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day, featuring fun, physical activities for youth. On hand to support the event were members of the sports medicine team and Leesa M. Galatz, MD, Mount Sinai Professor in Orthopedics and Chair of the Leni and Peter W. May Department of Orthopedic Surgery.

“Promoting the sport of youth tennis as a means to stay fi t and healthy is a critical component of our partnership with the United States Tennis Association (USTA),” says James Gladstone, MD, Chief of the Mount Sinai Health System’s Sports Medicine Service, Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, US Open Player Physician, and U.S. Davis Cup team physician.

Also for the first time, Joseph Herrera, DO, Chair, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and Human Performance, and the Lucy G. Moses Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine, along with a team of rehabilitation medicine specialists, participated in Community Day, hosting 32 Mount Sinai patients at the US Open Wheelchair Competition. There, they had a special courtside opportunity to experience the excitement of wheelchair tennis and meet players.

Two wheelchair stars—four-time Paralympic medalist and International Tennis Federation’s Quad World Champion, David Wagner, and Rio 2016 Paralympian Dana Mathewson—also visited Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital, where they filmed a segment for KidZone TV, talking about their experience with the sport and its role in their rehabilitation. They later conducted a live demonstration of wheelchair tennis and basic tennis drills for Mount Sinai rehabilitation patients in the Guggenheim Pavilion Atrium, much to the delight of patients and spectators.

Wheelchair tennis stars David Wagner and Dana Mathewson showed their skills.

Mount Sinai radiologists, led by Carlos Benitez, MD, Director of Musculoskeletal Imaging at Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, and Associate Professor of Radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine,were also onsite working closely with the team of Mount Sinai’s orthopedic sports medicine specialists. They provided players with immediate access to on-the-spot evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of injuries. A portable, laptop-size ultrasound device made by GE Healthcare was used to diagnose musculoskeletal injuries. Also adding to their capabilities for the first time this year was a portable X-ray machine, the GE Optima 200, outfitted with a Konica Minolta Digital Detector providing high-definition digital images of the chest, pelvis, spine, or extremities that could be interpreted by radiologists onsite.

The Mount Sinai Health System also achieved another milestone during the tournament when it launched its first marketing campaign in support of its partnership with the US Open and the USTA Eastern Section. It included highly visible billboards in Lower Manhattan, ads in The New York Times Magazine, digital and social media displays, and ads on the Long Island Railroad, MetroNorth, and subway.

While the ads had a distinct tennis theme and reinforced Mount Sinai’s relationship with the US Open, they also conveyed the broad message that “Mount Sinai is a full-service health system that can not only treat your injury, but also treat the rest of your body.” In mid-October, Mount Sinai will launch a larger six-month ad campaign that will showcase its world renowned excellence in many other disciplines.

Children kept fit at Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day.

 

 

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Summertime Luau at The Mount Sinai Hospital

Sep 11, 2018 | Community

Left, Michele Steinberg, Food Services marketing intern and event organizer, and Valerie Shirley, Regional Marketing and Retail Director for the food vendor Morrison Healthcare.

The Plaza Café at The Mount Sinai Hospital was transformed into a colorful luau on Tuesday, July 24, courtesy of Food Services.

As Hawaiian music played, employees snapped pictures at a photo booth and dined on chicken and shrimp kabobs, coconut chicken, chocolate lava cake, cinnamon doughnuts decorated with paper pineapple leaves, and an assortment of tropical smoothies.

Stars of Hope Commemorate 9/11 Anniversary

Sep 11, 2018 | Community

Star makers included Mount Sinai staff, from left: Igvany Moncion, Jasmin Vazquez, Gabriella Villacis, and Nimota Subair

For three days in August, faculty and staff at the Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health invited patients and visitors to create stars of hope—wooden stars with messages of support and encouragement—to adorn their walls and li the spirits of the people who are treated there.

Located in The Mount Sinai Hospital, the Selikoff Centers focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of occupational diseases and is home to Mount Sinai’s World Trade Center Health Program Clinical Center of Excellence, which cares for more than 22,000 people who were part of the clean-up effort at Ground Zero after the attacks on 9/11.  In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, responders were exposed to harmful toxins that have resulted in significant health consequences.

The Selikoff Centers’ project was a joint effort with the New York Says Thank You Foundation, which created the “Stars of Hope®” program to empower and inspire people and communities throughout the world that have been impacted by violence and natural disasters.

During the week of 9/11, the stars that were created in August will be displayed on a Tree of Hope located in the Annenberg lobby.

In Support of Individuals With Disability

Sep 11, 2018 | Community

Dozens of Mount Sinai Health System employees, patients, and volunteers participated in the fourth annual Disability Pride Parade NYC on Sunday, July 15.

Wearing cobalt blue and magenta capes emblazoned with the word “superhero,” the group carried a Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Center banner along the nine-block parade route, which extended from Madison Square Park to Union Square Park.

The Disability Pride Parade NYC was launched in 2015 by jazz musician Mike LeDonne in honor of his daughter, Mary, who was born with Prader-Willi syndrome, a genetic disorder that impairs development. Each year, the parade celebrates inclusivity and supports individuals with disabilities.

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