Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, Featured
South Nassau Communities Hospital will become the flagship hospital on Long Island for the Mount Sinai Health System under an affiliation agreement announced Wednesday, January 24, by the Boards of Trustees of the two institutions. Final state regulatory review is under way, and approvals are expected in the coming months.
A nonprofit medical center and 455-bed teaching hospital in Oceanside, South Nassau is a premier provider of health services to more than 900,000 residents on Long Island’s South Shore. It also operates the only Trauma Center on the South Shore of Nassau County, as well as Long Island’s only free-standing 911-receiving Emergency Department, in Long Beach. With 3,500 employees and 900 affiliated physicians, it is one of the few remaining independently controlled hospitals on Long Island.
If the affiliation is approved, South Nassau will become the eighth hospital campus within the Health System, which includes the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 300 ambulatory practices and other affiliated community health centers, and more than 6,500 physicians. Mount Sinai’s current Long Island footprint includes 200 physicians and other health care professionals at 11 practices who indicate they will embrace the affiliation.
Significantly, South Nassau will become a major clinical and academic affiliate of the Icahn School of Medicine. With Mount Sinai’s academic, clinical, and research expertise, South Nassau intends to offer advanced medical care to “rival and surpass any of those available on Long Island,” according to a joint document outlining the transaction.
“The addition of South Nassau to our Long Island network represents our commitment to broadening access to innovative treatment and research in this region,” says Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System. “We are thrilled about what this transformative partnership means for patients and families on Long Island.”
The two institutions signed a nonbinding letter of intent last May, when they began in earnest to explore clinical programs to enhance and expand patient care and services on Long Island.
“The clinical and administrative leadership of Mount Sinai and South Nassau have been working diligently and collaboratively over the last six months to establish the foundation of this very important relationship and opportunity,” says Arthur Klein, MD, President of the Mount Sinai Health Network. “We are already convinced about the wisdom and success of this partnership.”
As part of its commitment to Long Island, Mount Sinai intends to infuse a total of $120 million in capital contributions over a five-year period for capital projects to be mutually agreed upon.
Designated a Magnet® hospital by the American Nurses Credentialing Center for outstanding nursing care, South Nassau also provides first-rate care in cardiac, oncologic, orthopedic, bariatric, pain management, mental health, and emergency services.
Even before the affiliation was announced, South Nassau was on a path of growth and expansion. Plans are already under way to renovate and nearly double the size of the Emergency Department and to build a four-story facility in Oceanside, and to expand medical services in Long Beach.
“Joining the Mount Sinai Health System represents a unique, once-in-a-generation opportunity for all Long Islanders,” says Richard J. Murphy, South Nassau’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “South Nassau and Mount Sinai have a shared vision to improve services, especially on the South Shore, which is why this affiliation makes so much sense.”
Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community
Fourth-year medical student Emily Leven, center, with first-year medical student Emma Stanislawski and second-year medical student Eddie Cytryn.
Students from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai distributed more than 150 gifts—at a value of more than $4,000—to patients of the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership (EHHOP) on Saturday, December 16. The student-run clinic provides free health care to uninsured patients in East Harlem. The students compiled an Amazon “wish list” of gift requests for patients or their family members that included winter clothing, kitchenware, children’s toys, and books. “We were so pleased by how many people generously contributed,” says Emily Leven, a fourth-year medical student who led the project. Ms. Leven credited the success to medical students and faculty, doormen at the student residence building who helped organize packages on arrival, administration staff who helped publicize the event, and those who donated. “Donors purchased every gift we asked for and wrote kind notes to our patients,” she says. “It highlighted that we are part of a community here.”
Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community
Several dozen individuals signed up for lung screenings at a recent event hosted by the Mount Sinai Health System’s Lung Screening Program in Guggenheim Pavilion to raise awareness about lung health. “We want certain at-risk people to understand they need an annual lung scan in much the same way they get an annual physical,” says Claudia I. Henschke, PhD, MD, Professor of Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Lung Screening Program Co-Director. Attendees picked up literature, spoke with representatives from smoking cessation programs and lung cancer support groups, and were able to walk through a large inflated educational model of a pair of lungs.
Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, Pediatrics
Baker Mayfield autographed a football for Darrell Clarke.
The 2017 Heisman Memorial Trophy winner Baker Mayfield delighted patients at Kravis Children’s Hospital at Mount Sinai during a visit on Sunday, December 10, a day after receiving college football’s most prestigious award. Mr. Mayfield’s visit was arranged by Companions in Courage, a nonprofit foundation founded by hockey star Pat LaFontaine, and coordinated by the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department. The senior quarterback from the University of Oklahoma autographed footballs for patients and participated in a question-and-answer session before patients and families with 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. Recorded in the KidZone TV studio, the session was broadcast live throughout the hospital for those who were unable to attend. “Kids who have had struggles, they put a smile on their faces,” Mr. Mayfield said. “They are fighting for happiness.” He told patients, “Never give up. Just keep fighting.”
Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Breast Cancer, Community
The Dubin Breast Center of The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Mount Sinai Health System recently held its sixth annual benefit at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Manhattan. The celebratory event attracted 520 guests and raised a record $3.4 million to support the Center’s breast health and treatment programs.
From left, Eva Andersson-Dubin, MD; Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mount Sinai Health System; and Elisa Port, MD, FACS.
The evening honored Kara DioGuardi, Brooke Morrow, and Steven J. Burakoff, MD, Dean for Cancer Innovation at The Tisch Cancer Institute. Eva Andersson-Dubin, MD, founder of the Center and a Mount Sinai Trustee, and Elisa Port, MD, FACS, the Center’s Director, presented the awards.
Ms. DioGuardi and Ms. Morrow, close friends who helped each other through two different breast cancer journeys at the Center, were recognized for their inspirational stories of survivorship and their ongoing support of the Center. Dr. Burakoff was honored for his overall commitment to cancer research and clinical care and for his role in leading The Tisch Cancer Institute to be recognized as a National Cancer Institute designated cancer program. Dr. Burakoff, the Founding Director of The Tisch Cancer Institute, is also Lillian and Henry M. Stratton Professor of Cancer Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, Featured
Former trainees gathered around Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, front row, center, at the 16th Year Anniversary Dinner of the VF Society.
More than 140 members of the VF Society, a nonprofit alumni association for the training graduates of Mount Sinai’s Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute, recently gathered for its 16th Year Anniversary Dinner.
The Society is named for Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, the Institute’s Director, who is also Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital, and the Director of Mount Sinai Heart and the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health.
The VF Society was created by former trainees to honor Dr. Fuster’s strong commitment to them, and to strengthen their alumni bonds with The Mount Sinai Hospital.
