Annual Event Celebrates the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center

Nov 19, 2017 | Community, Featured

From left: Christine A. Soghomonian, MA; Felice F. Axelrod; Angela Diaz, MD, PhD, MPH; Dennis S. Charney, MD; and Adam Jacobs, MD.

The Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center (MSAHC) saluted the contributions of four individuals who have dedicated themselves to helping New York City’s young people at its 14th Annual Breakfast of Legends benefit at The Plaza on Wednesday, November 1. The Center provides free, comprehensive, confidential health and wellness services to more than 10,000 young people annually and is renowned as a national leader in adolescent health research and training.

Angela Diaz, MD, PhD, MPH

Peter W. May, Chairman, Boards of Trustees, Mount Sinai Health System, warmly welcomed the more than 450 guests, saying: “I amproud to say that I have attended every Breakfast for the past 14 years. I haven’t missed one because the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center is a shining example of everything that we do right at the Mount Sinai Health System.” Angela Diaz, MD, PhD, MPH, Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor in Adolescent Health and Director of the MSAHC, thanked everyone who made the event possible, saying, “If our service can be likened to a strong tree, you—all of our volunteers—are the roots.”

From left: Selena, youth speaker; Anthony, youth host; Matt, youth speaker; and Lola, youth host.

Two patients, Matt and Selena, shared how the MSAHC has changed their lives. Matt, who is nonbinary and transmasculine, said, “The clinic provided a safe and affirming environment for me to accept who I am and become my authentic self.” Selena said, “To me, the Center is not just a clinic—it is a community, a safe haven, and a home.”

 

 

 

 

 

Learn more about the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center

Honorees at the 14th Annual Breakfast of Legends

Felice F. Axelrod, consultant to Bloomberg and a member of the MSAHC Advisory Board;

Adam Jacobs, MD, Medical Director of Family Planning for the Mount Sinai Health System and Associate Professor in the departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, and Medical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai;

Christine A. Soghomonian, MA, Director of Information Systems and Operations at the MSAHC, who received the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center staff award;

Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and President for Academic Affairs, the Mount Sinai Health System, who was presented with the Dr. Joan E. Morgenthau Lifetime Advocate for Youth Award.

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg Visit Kravis Children’s Hospital at Mount Sinai

Nov 10, 2017 | Community, Featured

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg visit Sabrina Giangrande, a patient at Kravis Children’s Hospital at Mount Sinai

The stars of “Daddy’s Home 2,” Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, brought smiles to the faces of pediatric patients during bedside visits at Kravis Children’s Hospital at Mount Sinai, on Thursday, November 9. The occasion was sponsored by Lollipop Theater Network, a nonprofit organization that works with motion picture studios to bring first-run movies to children in hospitals nationwide. In addition to the visit, several adolescent patients and their family members had the opportunity to watch the new movie at their bedsides. “It was wonderful, a real morale booster,” says Cheryl Strauss, Child Life Specialist with the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department at Kravis Children’s Hospital. “Meeting the actors brightened the day for patients and their families.”

Patient Arianna Khelil and her mother, Maria Colletto-Khelil, meet with, from left, Max Schneider, Lollipop Theater Network, Mark Wahlberg, and Will Ferrell

 

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg meet with, left to right, Charles Ennis, Senior Clinical Director, Women and Children’s Services, Mount Sinai Health System; 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; and Frances Cartwright, PhD, Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Vice President , The Mount Sinai Hospital

 

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Book Drive for Hurricane Sites

Nov 6, 2017 | Community

Access Services Coordinator Peter Huang with a bounty of books at the Levy Library.

After watching repeated news reports about devastating hurricanes this summer, Gali Halevi, PhD, MLS, Chief Director, Mount Sinai Health System Libraries, felt compelled to help in some way. So in September, she began collaborating with Robin O’Hanlon, MIS, Assistant Library Director for The Gustave L. and Janet W. Levy Library, to organize a book drive for elementary school libraries damaged by hurricanes.

In just two weeks, hundreds of books were donated at four drop-offs throughout the Health System. The drive was scheduled to run for one month, but it was suspended early because it was such a success there was not enough room to store the books. Three schools in Texas will benefit, and the organizers are also seeking to send books to Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. “Currently there is limited infrastructure in Puerto Rico,” Ms. O’Hanlon says. “Our hope is that once the rebuilding begins, we will be able to connect with other libraries and nonprofit organizations.”

 

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Celebrating Physician Assistants

Nov 6, 2017 | Community

At the Guggenheim Atrium, from left: Talent Acquisition Specialists Jonathan Gohil and Brittany Keyes with registered certified physician assistants Heather Isola, RPA-C; Lana Marks, RPA-C; Donna Russo, RPA-C; and Jonathan McLaughlin, RPA-C.

In honor of Physician Assistant (PA) Appreciation Week—and the 50th anniversary of the PA profession—five celebratory events were held at The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Queens, and Mount Sinai Beth Israel. During the events, held from Friday, October 6, to Thursday, October 12, hard-working PAs were applauded by the hospitals’ leadership and treated to breakfast, lunch, or midday dessert.

Physician assistants undergo rigorous medical education to earn certification, and are able to diagnose and treat illnesses and prescribe medication. The Mount Sinai Health System’s more than 650 PAs—across 16 specialties—are also instrumental in providing high-quality care to diverse communities. “It is absolutely true, we cannot function without you,” said Dahlia Rizk, DO, Chief, Division of Hospital Medicine, and President of the Medical Board, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, during a luncheon on October 10, at the Dazian Rotunda. “You are an integral part of the medical team.”

 

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“Run for Research” Helps Support Brain Aneurysm Foundation

Nov 6, 2017 | Community

Department of Neurosurgery participants from left: Jamie Rumsey NP; Christopher P. Kellner, MD, Director, Intracerebral Hemorrhage program; Jewel Clarke, Marketing and Communications Associate; J Mocco, MD, MS, with his son, Finn; and cerebrovascular researcher Jacopo Scaggiante, MD.

As part of Brain Aneurysm Awareness Month, the Department of Neurosurgery partnered with TeamCindy, a fundraising arm of the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, to host the Fourth Annual “Run for Research,” held recently at Riverside Park. Approximately 100 Mount Sinai faculty and staff, and patients and their families—raising nearly $15,000—were among the 300 participants.

“It is amazing to see how this event has grown to become such an important and impactful part of the fight against this devastating disease,” says J Mocco, MD, MS, Director of the Cerebrovascular Center at the Mount Sinai Health System, who led the Mount Sinai team.

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First Group of Mount Sinai Medical Volunteers Return Home from Puerto Rico

Oct 27, 2017 | Community, Featured

Mount Sinai volunteers who returned from Puerto Rico saying goodbye to volunteers who joined them from other area health care providers

The first group of Mount Sinai Health System medical volunteers returned home from Puerto Rico on Thursday night, October 26, after completing their two-week deployment.

The 10-person team of doctors and nurses supported a hospital in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, where they were assigned a mission to help the Emergency Department. For many this was their first experience on a disaster recovery mission.

“The team worked long hours, without any days off, and saw more than 1,600 patients,” said Kevin Chason, DO, Clinical Director, Emergency Management, Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, and Medical Director for The Mount Sinai Hospital Emergency Medicine Services. “Much of what they were treating was exacerbation of chronic conditions and illness due to the poor living conditions resulting from the destruction of basic infrastructure caused by Hurricane Maria.”

He added: “There were times when the local hospital lost power and the team would rush to the ICU to help maintain ventilator patients until the power returned. The conditions were slowly improving and the hospital was moving off generators and back on to the electrical grid. But the island still has a very long way to go to restore routine medical care.”

On Tuesday, October 24, a second Mount Sinai team, consisting of three doctors, two nurse practitioners, and five nurses, departed for San Juan. Both Mount Sinai teams were part of larger groups of providers from New York State coordinated by Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office, the New York State Department of Health, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA), the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS), the New York State Nurses Association, and 1199SEIU.

The two Mount Sinai teams met Wednesday, October 25, in Fajardo, where the first team briefed the team relieving them and then headed to San Juan to prepare for the flight home.

“We truly appreciate the departments and the staff at home who generously reorganized schedules and covered shifts to allow these volunteers to do this important work,” said Dr. Chason. “We are also extremely grateful for the sacrifices the team has made to help those in need in Puerto Rico on behalf of Mount Sinai and New York State.”

 

The second team from Mount Sinai preparing to leave for Puerto Rico. Front row, left to right: Tamairi Vildoso, RN; Madeline Hernandez, RN; Gail Haynes, RN; Stephanie Ortiz, MD. Back row: Samantha Rose, NP; Diego Giraldo, RN; Sarah Schaefer, MD; Trina Cosme, RN; Sam Kim, MD, and Annette King, NP.

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