Featured | Mount Sinai Today

Ninth Episode of Mount Sinai Future You Features Stories Celebrating Heart Month

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Featured, Future You

Episode 9 of Mount Sinai Future You features stories celebrating heart month, including a young girl who was diagnosed with two heart conditions. Following treatment with Barry Love, MD, Director of the Catheterization Laboratory and Pediatric Electrophysiology Programs at the Children’s Heart Center, she’s enjoying life in Colorado with her family.

A New Waiting Room that Supports Men’s Health

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Featured, Patient Stories, Your Health

The idea that men often take better care of their cars than their own health led to the recent opening of a sports-themed waiting room at the Milton and Carroll Petrie Department of Urology’s midtown office at 625 Madison Avenue. The special space was designed to serve as a refuge for male patients waiting for a doctor’s appointment or looking for
educational resources on prostate health or men’s health.

Amid the mounted football jerseys belonging to former Super Bowl winners and other framed sports memorabilia featured in the room, male patients can find information on medical services, holistic treatments, or emotional support when dealing with a critical prostate diagnosis.

Ash Tewari, MBBS, MCh, left, and Tom Milana Jr. celebrated the opening of the waiting room with a ribbon-cutting.

The new space was donated by Man Cave Health, Inc., a nonprofit led by philanthropist and Mount Sinai Health System patient Tom Milana Jr., a prostate cancer survivor who recognized the need to raise awareness about the disease and men’s health as he was recovering from his 2016 diagnosis.

At the official ribbon-cutting ceremony in January, Mr. Milana said, “This is a place where men can get educated, screened, and treated for prostate cancer in a welcoming environment. Our goal is to get more men to go to the doctor for their annual screening, which will lead to fewer prostate cancer deaths in this country.”

Mr. Milana’s physician at Mount Sinai, Ash Tewari, MBBS, MCh, the Kyung Hyun Kim, MD Chair in Urology, said, “Men avoid going to the doctor. I think this room makes a difference. They can come here and relax.”

The inspirational message, he added, is about winning at sports and winning the fight against cancer.

Forbes: America’s Best Employers for Diversity 2019 Includes Mount Sinai Health System

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Featured

The executive leadership team of Mount Sinai’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion, from left, Pamela Y. Abner, MPA; Gary C. Butts, MD; and Ann-Gel Palermo, DrPH, MPH.

The Mount Sinai Health System was ranked No. 1 nationally among health systems and hospitals, and No. 19 overall, by Forbes on its recent list of “The Best Employers for Diversity.” Forbes ranked 500 organizations from across the nation, in industries ranging from biotechnology to utilities.

Read the full Forbes list of “The Best Employers for Diversity.”

To compile this list, Forbes, in partnership with the market research firm Statista, anonymously surveyed 50,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees. The rankings take into account diverging perceptions of diversity between minority groups and nonminority groups at each company, as well as which companies had the most diverse boards, executive ranks, and proactive diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Diversity and inclusion are integral to the mission of the Mount Sinai Health System. The Health System is committed to embracing and advancing diversity in its faculty, staff, students, and trainees, as well as providing a high-quality, inclusive patient experience.

The continued efforts of Mount Sinai’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion and other leaders ensure the Health System reflects its diverse patient population.

Musical Partnership Soothes a Young Patient

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Featured, Your Voice Counts

Todd O’Connor, MA, LCAT, MT-BC, in a music therapy session

Three-year-old Levi is among the youngest patients at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital, but due to a rare immune condition that was diagnosed when he was two months old, he is no stranger to Mount Sinai.

Levi’s condition necessitates blood draws and infusion treatments every other week. It has been a challenging physical and emotional experience for both Levi and his mom, Alyssa, but since meeting Todd O’Connor, MA, LCAT, MT-BC, a music therapist and program manager in the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department, both of them now feel more relaxed during Levi’s appointments.

Todd’s approach with Levi is threefold: They do collaborative song-making and instrument playing before a procedure; Todd plays improvised guitar music to refocus Levi’s attention during the blood draw; and the two do more active music-making—usually drumming—to release any tension afterward.

Todd says that Levi is gratified by their musical partnership, and they have been able to build a trusting “therapeutic alliance.”

Alyssa is elated that Levi is experiencing less distress than in prior visits and is grateful for Todd’s advice on how on to prepare Levi for at-home treatments. Todd finds Levi’s resilience encouraging.

“I work with patients and their families during moments of extreme vulnerability,” he says. “It is a privilege to be allowed into that space, and I always come back to feelings of reverence and respect.”

See more Your Voice Counts stories and videos

Good Morning America Features Young Mount Sinai Kidney Patient’s ‘Medical Miracle’

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Featured, Patient Stories

Doctors at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital have performed a ‘medical miracle’ on eight-year-old Lexi. Born without a bladder and with both kidneys blocked, she first underwent surgery at age six so doctors could create an artificial bladder. In January she received a kidney transplant, with her father as the donor.

Watch the video on Good Morning America

Mount Sinai Heart Earns a Top Honor for Comprehensive Care From The Joint Commission

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Featured

Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, far right, with Beth Oliver, DNP, and David L. Reich, MD.

Mount Sinai Heart has earned The Joint Commission’s Comprehensive Cardiac Center (CCC) certification, becoming one of only four organizations in the United States—and the only one on the East Coast—to hold the prestigious honor. The award is a symbol of comprehensive excellence in patient care and recognizes compliance with The Joint Commission’s strict national standards.

“Mount Sinai Heart is honored to receive this award from The Joint Commission that recognizes our outstanding center and quality of care,” says Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Physician-in-Chief of The Mount Sinai Hospital.

The advanced CCC certification has been offered since 2017 by The Joint Commission, the nation’s oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Only hospitals with a comprehensive service line in cardiology and cardiovascular services are eligible to apply. To earn the two-year certification, Mount Sinai Heart underwent a rigorous two-day onsite survey at The Mount Sinai Hospital in November 2018, in which two reviewers from The Joint Commission evaluated performance in many key areas. Those included: management of heart disease, acute myocardial infarction, percutaneous coronary interventions, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, cardiac valve disease, dysrhythmias, and heart failure; transition of care from the Emergency Department to diagnosis, treatment, and outpatient follow-up; collaboration among specialties and disciplines; cardiac rehabilitation of patients; training of staff; identification of cardiovascular risk factors and prevention of cardiac disease; and the use of data collection to monitor and measure outcomes.

Preparing for the visit involved a vast collaborative effort. “We met every week for 10 months, making sure all of our policies and procedures were up to date,” says Beth Oliver, DNP, Senior Vice President of Cardiac Services, Mount Sinai Health System. “And we had tremendous support from physicians and their teams.” They included Cardiovascular Surgery, the Emergency Department, the Quality Assurance Department, the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, and many other departments throughout The Mount Sinai Hospital. “A side effect is that this process brought all of the departments in the service line even closer, because we were all in this together,” Ms. Oliver says.

Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, with patient Maria Pessino-Bacardi.

According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular disease is responsible for more than 17 million deaths each year and costs more than $500 billion a year to treat in the United States. To help combat this disease, the Mount Sinai Health System in 2006 established Mount Sinai Heart, with Dr. Fuster as Founding Director. Its multidisciplinary efforts bring together the expertise of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and The Mount Sinai Hospital, which each year cares for more than 65,000 heart patients and is ranked among the top 10 U.S. hospitals for cardiology and heart surgery by U.S. News & World Report.

“The hard work and expertise of our staff at Mount Sinai Heart are reflected in the new CCC certification, and I congratulate them on this top honor,” says David L. Reich, MD, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Mount Sinai Hospital and President of Mount Sinai Queens. “This accomplishment emphasizes and validates our commitment to providing exceptional care to our patients.”

The Joint Commission certification follows another honor for Mount Sinai cardiac care. The Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at The Mount Sinai Hospital has received the gold-level Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. This award honors units that excel in every facet of patient care. Mount Sinai’s is the only coronary intensive care unit in New York State to have this recognition.