By Dr. Jeremy Boal, President of Mount Sinai Downtown
I am excited to announce that MSBI ranks in the top 100 hospitals nationally in patient safety for cancer care and hip fracture repair on the CareChex® website. We also scored very high in interventional coronary care, stroke care, and other areas. I’m not surprised by these outcomes, and I am so appreciative of the thoughtful and safe care you provide our patients.
We also ranked highly with CareChex® last year, and you can see some of our many 2017 accomplishments in this video.
Some of the respiratory team members, celebrating Jessica’s birthday, from left to right: Sarah Ganpat, Medical Office Specialist (MOS); Sharanda James, MOS; Anna Malinowska, MOS; Sara Alayevaa, RN, Onaida Soto, Secretary; Donna McLenan, Secretary; and Rosaura Torres, Secretary. Not pictured: Practice Manager, Rosalba Perez.
In 2018, we continue to grow. We recently opened the Mount Sinai-National Jewish Health Respiratory Institute in Union Square, which will deliver interdisciplinary care for patients with all types of respiratory diseases. This practice includes many of our wonderful specialists from our pulmonary division, our new sleep medicine department, and a whole host of longstanding and new employees.
From left to right: Nakia Mitchell, Program Coordinator, and Eduardo Pagan, MOS.
From left to right: Jessica Matos, MOS; Bibi Udden, MOS; and Mohenna Charles, MOS.
Some members of our Mount Sinai Heart team, left to right: Edith Morgan, Mayra Alicea, Deepika Misra, MD, Claudia Fletcher, Lehi Pilarte, Denise Bracero, Lena Chang, Director of Nursing, Invasive Cardiac Services, Yuri Suaro, Yelena Fuzaylova, Practice Administrator.
It has already been an exciting start to the year for our South of 34th Street network. Union Square opened two brand new suites last month.
In one of these suites on the second floor is our Union Square cardiology team, now known as Mount Sinai Heart. The multi-disciplinary ambulatory practice will offer care for coronary heart disease, heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, and many other conditions as well as access to electrophysiology, interventional cardiology and other procedures. Their new suite is beautiful and has been bustling with patients the past few weeks.
Mount Sinai Heart’s practice administrator, Yelena Fuzaylova, returned to Union Square last year. During her prior time here she spent nine years in the department of surgery and then left to explore other opportunities. After a few months away, she realized her heart was here.
“The people here are great. MSBI folks are down-to-earth and approachable. It feels like a family,” Yelena said.
We are thrilled to have her back and even more thrilled that she and her team have such a beautiful new space.
Last week, we also celebrated “Go Red for Women” to bring awareness to heart disease. Wonderful employees from many departments joined together and hosted a fair that featured CPR instruction, healthy snacks, dietary coaching, cholesterol readings, and more. Check out our staff in red below.
I cannot believe it’s already February. Time flies when your job is as rewarding as mine.
I’ve had some time to reflect on what we’ve accomplished in 2017. I am so grateful to you all for your incredible dedication during a year of so much change. My thoughts are best summed up in the video below. Click below and see if you can spot one of your colleagues.
9 Silver team members with NYPD auxiliary and patient, Evelyn Camacho, first row, left to right: Phoebe Andaya, RN; Evelyn Camacho; Marian Abbey, PCA; Nicole Bennett, PCA; back row, left to right: Sandra Warner, PCA; Valentina Nicaj, RN; Colleen Fischer, RN.
With 33 beds, our 9 Silver medicine unit is one of the largest in the hospital. The staff takes care of a wide range of patients. Many of our colleagues on this unit have been at MSBI for a long time. They all do an excellent job staying flexible and mindful in such a fast-paced environment.
A great example of this is Patricia Diaz, RN, who recently noticed that a patient’s medication did not match the prescription written on her record. The two medications had similar names, and this great catch helped ensure that the patient was kept safe. Thank you for your incredible professionalism, Patricia.
On Wednesday, 9 Silver was flooded with NYPD police officers from the 44th precinct. They congratulated patient Evelyn Camacho for her more than 35 years of service as an Auxiliary Captain in the precinct and appointed her to Deputy Inspector. Evelyn was extremely moved by this great honor and by the care she received from our amazing 9 Silver staff.
Thank you for supporting New York’s finest and for providing excellent care to our community.
Phillips School of Nursing graduates at Stern Auditorium at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Many people may not know the Phillips School of Nursing at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. They are an integral part of our health system, providing three excellent nursing programs for our community.
Last weekend the School held commencement where we celebrated 55 new graduates. One of those graduates is our very own, Selah Gaznabi, who is a pharmacy tech at Petrie. Congratulations, Selah!
Two other graduates are children of our very own MSBI family members. Alegria Morales, a nurse in ECT, celebrated her son, Kristoffer’s graduation, and Carol Rindler, a nurse on our IV team, celebrated her daughter, Samantha’s graduation. Both of these women have been at MSBI for over 30 years, and their passion for nursing has clearly rubbed off on their children.
Kristoffer Kyle Morales with his mom, Alegria Morales, RN at MSBI for over 30 years.
Samantha Rindler and her parents, Andrew Rindler, and Carol Rindler, RN at MSBI for over 30 years.
Samantha Rindler was also awarded the Rose M. Hauer Award of the Alumni Association for Outstanding Contributions to the School. Her peers voted for her to receive this award.
Last year, the School received a Nursing Workforce Diversity grant of approximately $800,000 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to help increase access to nursing education for under-represented and disadvantaged students. This “Workforce Inclusion in Nursing” program will include a summer boot camp, mentoring, career development, and other supportive programs for selected students. We are so proud of their dedication to our community.
Mount Sinai Beth Israel has a rich history of addiction care. We were pioneers in methadone maintenance treatment. We still have the largest network of opioid treatment programs in the country, and this kind of care is becoming increasingly important.
All of our Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs) do incredible work, and today I want to focus on our Gouverneur Clinic. I am thankful for everything they do to connect with and build up their patients.
Our OTPs are very connected with our entire Downtown network. The PA and social worker at Gouverneur connect patients with the medical care they need outside of the clinic. Recently Ariane Aubourg, PA, helped patients get hepatitis treatment through a study that was offered by researchers at MSBI.
Often, our patients need more than medicine. This clinic runs many groups each week so their patients can unite with peers sharing the same struggles. Their counselors strive to develop personal relationships with each patient and spend a lot of time following up on their needs.
Every three months, they host recovery events where their patients get creative and share their stories through skits and music led by counselor, Angela Blair-Adams. The arts can be incredibly healing. In the fall, this clinic expanded Recovery Day and worked with many of our OTP locations to present and uplifting program at Union Square.
The Gouverneur clinic is just one example of how our OTP employees have created a family. I know their patients are thankful, and so am I.
