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.

Beth Oliver, DNP, Heart Health Leader

Sep 11, 2018 | Community

Beth Oliver, DNP

The American Heart Association (AHA) New York City recently named Beth Oliver, DNP, Senior Vice President of Cardiac Services, Mount Sinai Health System, as its new President of the Board of Directors. Ms. Oliver is the first nurse to hold the position and is the only nurse to have been a member of the organization’s Board of Directors, which she joined in 2006.

Since then, Ms. Oliver has been involved with multiple initiatives that champion heart health, including the Wall Street Run & Heart Walk. Additionally, Ms. Oliver was the first nurse in New York City to receive the Heart and Stroke Lifesaver Award from the AHA for outstanding support of the organization’s mission to build lives free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

“I am passionate about helping the AHA continue to raise awareness about heart health and tackle health disparities in the city,” she says.

Mount Sinai Hosts First Tri-State Diversity Summit

Sep 11, 2018 | Community, Engagement, Featured

From left: moderator David Epstein, Director, Domestic Human Resources, Doctors Without Borders; with Mount Sinai’s Pamela Y. Abner, MPA, Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, Office for Diversity and Inclusion; and Barbara Warren, PsyD, Director, LGBT Programs and Policies, who was a panelist at the event.

The Mount Sinai Health System recently hosted the National Diversity Council’s inaugural Tri-State Health Care Diversity Summit at the Corporate Services Center, which brought together nearly 100 health care administrators and diversity and inclusion professionals from across the region. The Council, a nonprofit organization that advances inclusiveness in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, presented the Health System with a Health Care Diversity Excellence Award, recognizing Mount Sinai’s deep commitment to diversity and inclusion in the workplace and surrounding communities.

“This event provided a valuable forum for sharing and learning,” says Mary Koshy, MPA, Associate Director, Office for Diversity and Inclusion, Mount Sinai Health System. “The Council received such positive feedback that we were asked to host the event again next year.”

Showing respect and understanding for people of all backgrounds improves patient satisfaction—benefiting both patients’ well-being and a medical institution’s bottom line, panelists said. The keynote speaker, Mecca Santana, Senior Vice President of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement, Westchester Medical Center Health Network, said it was also important to consider diversity in mentoring, retention, and promotion of staff. “Diversity is being invited to the party,” she said. “Inclusion is being asked to dance.”