Thanks for your hard work this week as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to escalate. Everyone in our Downtown network and across the system is doing unbelievable work to serve our community.

You may have seen the tent on East 16th street outside the MSBI ED. This rapid evaluation tent provides a place for basic care and education for patients with mild respiratory symptoms. Having this extra space will allow us to focus our emergency and inpatient efforts on those who need it most while keeping our hospital patients and staff safe.

What I love most about the tent is the teamwork that went into setting it up and the diverse group of MSBI colleagues working there. We have nurses, providers, and other team members from Union Square and our other ambulatory sites stepping up to help our community. Their agility and compassion is inspiring.

Thank you can’t adequately capture what our health system and our city owes you.  I have never been prouder to be your colleague. God bless you.

Everyone in our country is grappling with our changed reality, and I am in complete awe of our Mount Sinai heroes caring directly for COVID-19 patients. I want to recognize a few of these brave people today.

Because of our transformation, we have been able to open additional units to help with incoming COVID-19 cases. Getting these units up and running is a complex task. Here are a few photos of many different teams working together to get our 5 Karpas unit ready several weeks ago. It was the first unit we got up and running in advance of the pandemic.

Many of our float staff nurses and others from our inpatient units care for the patients there. They are compassionate warriors who willingly and bravely stepped in to help our patients who need it most. They have also been patient with us as we’ve figured out how to communicate our operational changes as the situation accelerates.

I also want to recognize resident Ian Kwok, MD, who helped collect notes of gratitude for health care workers from the community. You can read about it here and see the messages here. I hope they bring you comfort.

You are all heroes, and our community will forever be in your debt.

I want to keep this short and say: thank you.

Thank you for staying so committed and brave during this challenging time. With so much uncertainty, I know that it is hard to focus on work.

Thank you for bearing with us as we learn how to adapt and communicate the rapid changes from this public health crisis as clearly and quickly as we can. I hope you will give us feedback on the communications we’ve sent out, and the operational and clinical changes we’ve made to keep you safe.

Thank you for staying so flexible. We changed our Petrie entrances three times in one week. Our goal was to ensure that you have a dedicated entrance for safety and to help you get the supplies you need.

A special thank you to our security and concierge colleagues who are frequently the first point of contact for our patients. They dealt gracefully with many moving parts this week on our building entrances and visitor policies.

Each week going forward, I’ll send a short highlight about the incredible work happening across our Downtown campus to help our community in this time of need.

It’s been quite a week. I want to take a moment to thank everyone for doing such good work preparing us for COVID-19. As you know, there are still relatively few cases in NYC, and the vast majority of people who contract the virus do not require hospitalization and can recover at home.  

Even so, we have many coordinated and interdisciplinary teams keeping us calm, focused, and ready for anything that may come our way.

First and foremost, our infection prevention team has been front and center in both the clinical response and educating our MSBI community. They’ve been all over the Downtown campus this week, offering support to our people, but also coordinating a cohesive response with city and government agencies. They’ve provided comprehensive and compassionate support with humor and grace. We are in great hands.

Our security, concierge, registrars, and other teams are doing a great job of welcoming patients while ensuring we understand their symptoms and history. When needed, we are isolating patients until we can rule out a COVID-19 infection. This is happening not only at the hospital but at our ambulatory sites as well. In addition, our call centers know to ask screening questions so they can guide patients who may be at risk to the appropriate care.

Our ED, urgent care, and other ambulatory teams have been alleviating the fears of their patients while educating them and caring for them.

Our materials management teams have been keeping inventory levels up and making sure we are ready to go with personal protective equipment, hand sanitizer, and many other supplies needed to keep us and our patients safe.

Our clinical and administrative leaders have been meeting several times a day as part of our incident management team to assess any new situations that arise from COVID-19.  We have daily safety huddles throughout the Downtown network that allow us to stay connected during complex times. Along with system leads, emergency management, infection prevention experts, they have been putting a lot of thought into the screening and testing processes we now have place at MSBI and throughout Downtown.

They are also thinking ahead to see how we can support you better. I hope many of you made it to one of our town halls this week. If not, we will have more in the coming weeks; we want to hear your questions and will share more as we learn more.

Thank you all for your courage and compassion throughout this situation.

Happy Valentine’s Day, MSBI! For information on our Go Red events last week, visit here.

Union Square and Chelsea have been doing a great job of recognizing MSBI and Downtown employees who exemplify excellence, safety, teamwork, and compassion. I want to share two of these stories with you.

“One Small Step”

An elderly patient who rarely communicates was getting ready to leave the Martha Stewart Center for Living, our geriatric practice at Union Square. When it was time to escort her out in a wheelchair, she became hesitant and resisted any help. She wouldn’t lift her legs to be safely transported. Her aide tried to help, but the patient refused. As Phil Morales was heading out for lunch, he saw what was going on and came to assist. He approached the patient and calmly explained to her how he wanted to help her.

After talking with the patient a little more, Phil realized the patient walked in with a walker, and she wanted to leave the same way. Realizing why she was resisting the wheelchair, Phil helped the patient walk out of the office and escorted her to the lobby with her walker.

Sometimes what our patients need is not always obvious, and I’m so thankful that Phil took the time to fully understand the preferences of this particular patient.

“One of Kind”

Erica Panizo, RN, is a nurse at The Blavatnik Family-Chelsea Medical Center of Mount Sinai, and a recent patient wrote this poem to show her appreciation:

There is a special nurse on your staff,
Someone who is unique among your TEAM
Her caring has changed my life for the better
She is truly a patient’s DREAM
A nurse that is so focused she really knows A LOT
Before we even ask our questions
The answers she already GOT
And who is this professional who we were so lucky to FIND
Her name is ERIKA
The best in AMERICA
A nurse who is one of a KIND!

Phil, Erica, thank you for being role models for me and for so many of us. We are so much better as a family of caregivers because of your compassion and excellence.

February is National Heart Month. MSBI employees educated the community about how to keep your heart healthy, providing information on cholesterol, vein health, stroke care, and heart-healthy nutrition. The event held at Mount Sinai-Union Square on February 7 also allowed participants to have their blood pressure and cholesterol taken, among other screenings, for free.

In addition, our Food Services team prepared healthy snacks for our community in the Petrie lobby and provided tips for heart-healthy eating.