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.”

 

Read more stories about Mount Sinai in the Community

“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.

Read more stories about Mount Sinai in the Community

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.

Read more stories about Mount Sinai in the Community

A Ceremony at Mount Sinai Queens Honors Past, Present, and Future

Oct 24, 2017 | Community

Staff and community members joined Caryn A. Schwab, far right, to celebrate the creation of a new time capsule that was placed inside a cornerstone from 1895. The time capsule now rests in a lobby wall in the Mount Sinai Queens Pavilion.

What mementos would you place in a 2017 time capsule that might not be opened for 100 years or more? When that question was posed to employees from Mount Sinai Queens and residents of western Queens through social media almost a year ago, the responses included a variety of items: copies of the weekly Queens Gazette newspaper and The New York Times, a New York City MetroCard, trailers of 2017 Oscar-nominated movies, an iPhone, the soundtrack from the popular musical Hamilton, and an issue of Inside Mount Sinai that highlighted the hospital’s building expansion project.

In September, Caryn A. Schwab, Executive Director of Mount Sinai Queens, together with a small group of employees and community members, placed these items and other historical keepsakes into the wall of the new Mount Sinai Queens Pavilion lobby. The Pavilion is a modern, light-filled, state-of-the-art ambulatory medical facility on the hospital’s Astoria campus.

A cornerstone marked “1895” that was preserved from the old building that once stood on the site of the new Queens Pavilion served as their time capsule. When construction workers were demolishing the old building in 2013, they removed the cornerstone. Inside they found keepsakes from 1929 that had been placed there by John Daly, MD, who ran an inpatient hospital known as Daly’s Astoria Sanatorium on the site at the time.

 

A closer look at the cornerstone from 1895

Although construction of the old building was completed in 1895, Dr. Daly renovated the building in 1929. At that time, he and his colleagues placed a bible and a copy of The New York Telegram, dated January 21, 1929, into the same cornerstone. Front page news of the day announced “President-elect” Herbert Hoover’s trip south and concern by physicians in London over King George V’s “mental state.” Another story about trading on Wall Street provided no indication of the Great Depression that would follow later that year.

Inside the 2017 time capsule, Ms. Schwab placed the items from 1929, the new items, and a letter on Mount Sinai Queens stationery that was addressed to “Dear Friends in the Future,” in which she provided a short background about the hospital and explained why the latest keepsakes were chosen.

“This capsule represents hope, determination, and good will for the future,” Ms. Schwab wrote. “We cherish our history as we look ahead with excitement to the future. These are uncertain times in health care and our world, but we are optimistic in our ability to keep improving health care for the Borough of Queens and beyond.”

The bible and newspaper uncovered from the first time capsule.

Awareness for Gynecologic Cancers

Oct 24, 2017 | Community, Women's Health

Members of the Gynecologic Oncology nursing, medical, and social work team at the health fair.

To commemorate Gynecologic Cancers Awareness Month, the departments of Nursing and Social Work Services hosted a wellness-centered health fair in Guggenheim Pavilion on Thursday, September 28. “One of the best things a woman can do with her cancer diagnosis is to take it as a cue to embrace a healthy lifestyle—eating a balanced diet, engaging in low-impact physical activity, and reducing stress,” says Stephanie V. Blank, MD, Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Director of Women’s Health, Mount Sinai Chelsea. Activities included blood pressure screenings, as well as advice on nutrition, yoga, and massage therapy—all while a flutist entertained participants, and pet-assisted therapy dogs made themselves available for hugs. Representatives from Woman to Woman, a gynecologic cancer support group, and the Department of Spiritual Care also attended. “Caring for our patients requires far more than treating their bodies,” says Karen Terry, Chaplain Fellow, The Mount Sinai Hospital.

Read more about the Mount Sinai Community

Even Some CATS Get the Flu Shot

Oct 24, 2017 | Community

From left: Dominique Stennett, MHA, Practice Manager, and general practitioners Jason Kindt, DO, and Ramon Pesigan, MD, of The Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts, with CATS cast members.

The Samuel J. Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts—a medical facility jointly established by Mount Sinai Doctors and The Actors Fund—increased awareness of the importance of the flu vaccine with the help of two feline friends from the Broadway show CATS. On Monday, October 2, Claire Rathbun, who plays Victoria, and Tyler Hanes, who plays Rum Tum Tugger, visited the Health Center to shoot a video for Playbill.com that enforces the safety and effectiveness of the flu vaccine in preventing and spreading the seasonal flu. Located above The Actors Fund headquarters at 729 Seventh Avenue, it is the sole health center in New York City that caters to the performing arts community—which includes actors, musicians, dancers, ushers, and stagehands— and is open to the public.

Read more about the Mount Sinai Community