Members of our amazing MSBI family often go above and beyond the call of duty for our patients and their family members. There are so many examples of this day in and day out.

Here are two recent examples from our intensive care unit.

A family member of a patient recently wrote this letter praising Dr. Lina Miyakawa and the ICU team:

“My first compliment is to the staff in the ICU who were wonderfully patient in providing me updates on my uncle’s condition at all hours of the day and night. I live far away so I really was calling at all hours of the day…

Dr. Miyakawa’s approach in opening the meeting was surprising and heartwarming. Before we got into my uncle’s medical condition, she asked us to tell her about him—what kind of person he was, what he liked to do—clearly wanting to understand more about him, recognizing that might influence our perceptions and decisions about his care plan…I think many patients want to feel like their doctor is their advocate—Dr. Miyakawa made me feel like she was an advocate for my uncle and the family—giving us choices for his end of life while still holding his wishes as the highest authority.”

And here is another example:

MSBI patient Lissette met with Donald in kindergarten and they went to school together before losing touch as adults. Because of social media, they reconnected 20 years later and fell in love. For seven years they were together and dreamed of getting married. Lissette had a recurrence of cancer in 2014. In October of last year, they realized they had little time to fulfill their dream of getting married.

They expressed this desire to many people on their care team in MSBI’s ICU. Members of the social work, spiritual care, palliative care, and ICU teams quickly gathered to make it happen. Chaplain Max Reynolds raced down to City Hall to get registered to perform the ceremony, the social workers coordinated with the family, and the palliative care and ICU staff ensured there were flowers and cake for the celebration. Members of Lissette and Donald’s family attended the ceremony around the bed. There was not a dry eye on the unit.

Donald said, “I couldn’t have done any of this without the help of everyone. You guys rock.”

PS. Lissette and Donald and their family members gave us permission to share this story and to include their names.

What can I possibly add to that? Only this… I am profoundly humbled and honored to be a part of the MSBI family with you all.

This past year, Mount Sinai Doctors Downtown welcomed twenty new providers to our broad network of specialties and services for patients below 34th street. We are excited to have these providers as a part of Mount Sinai.

Paula Brignoni-Blume, MD, MPH:  Obstetrics & Gynecology (West 23rd St)
Robert Dewar, MD– Internal Medicine (West 14th St)
Lissette Giraud, MD-Otolaryngology (Delancey Street-opening soon)
Elena Geller: Ophthalmology (34th Street)
Andres Ortega, DO: Family Medicine (East 34th Street)
Jason Rubinov, MD: Gastroenterology (Williamsburg)
Sofya Sigalov, physician assistant: Internal Medicine (West 57th Street)
Marco Yeung, MD: Orthopedic Surgery (Williamsburg)
Komal Pandya, MD: Dermatology (7th Avenue)
Nikesh Patel, MD: Dermatology (Delancey Street-opening soon)
Charles J Mimken, MD: Internal Medicine (West 14th Street)
Shyam M Amin, MD: Cardiology (Delancey Street-opening soon)
Ami J Patel, MD: Internal Medicine/Pediatrics (Delancey Street-opening soon)
Diana Nassar, MD: Internal Medicine (Delancey Street-opening soon)
Kareem Halim, MD: Dermatology (Williamsburg)
Nadia Pelaez, MD: Internal Medicine (West 57th Street)
Ameer Hmeidan, MD: Internal Medicine (Delancey Street)
Samantha Stimmel, MD:  Family Medicine (Friedman Health Center)
Aloke Chakravarti, MD: Pulmonary (West 14th Street)
Sherin Mermash, MD:  Internal Medicine (West 57th Street)
Sain Sain Lu, MD: Gastroenterology (West 57th Street)
Vincenta Delopez, MD:  Gastroenterology (West 57th Street)

This week I want to take the time to honor our security guards who keep our community safe every day. They’ve been key partners in helping us improve safety and care for our communities at Petrie, Union Square, and the Blavatnik Center over the last few years. They provide a warm and welcoming presence along with our concierges, as people enter the buildings.

What amazes me most about this team is their consistent expertise and grace under pressure. Our security guards frequently connect with our most challenging patients and visitors when those patients and visitors are under stress and not at their best. They are expert communicators and calmers who know just what to say and what to do to deescalate potentially dangerous situations. I am awed and humbled by their ability, and I learn from them every day.

They also ensure that everyone who enters the hospital belongs here. They spend time surveying our facility even in the areas that are no longer occupied; they’ve been integral to keeping us safe during so much transformation. I’m thankful for the education they’ve given us so we can contribute to a safer environment as well.

They do all of this with grace, and they often put in extra hours to make it happen.

Just before the holidays, we got together to recognize them for their incredible contributions to our community. You can see photos below, including a collage of our team at Chelsea.

Last year we also celebrated our Director of Security, Garry Resnick, during our Wholeness of Life and Care and Compassion awards. You can read about him and that incredible group here. 

Lastly, I want to acknowledge that so many of our security guards have been here for more than 20 years. They are all such valued members of our family.

This week I want to take some time to reflect on everything we shared and accomplished together last year. Your resilience continues to inspire me.

In the video below, I review some of our major accomplishments for 2019 and ask some members of our MSBI family about what they are most excited for in 2020. It’s going to be a great year.

Click below to see the video. We had many more responses, and we will post an extended version with all of your responses on Instagram next week.

Our medicine residents amaze me with their clinical excellence, composure, and compassion. They are vital members of our care teams.

Residents are typically with us for only a few years, but these past few years have been some of our busiest in terms of change.  The residents were agile and responsive when we changed to a non-geography patient flow model last year. This model improves continuity of care for patients, but it can make the work more challenging for our teams at times.

We have been so impressed with everyone’s resilience and adaptiveness. We still have some work to do to solidify some of the processes associated with this change to non-geography, and the residents continue to share great ideas about how to improve this model and the interdisciplinary communication it requires.

Click below to see pictures of our residents throughout the year. 

After three years, most of our medicine residents will leave for new ventures. Many will go straight into clinical practice. Some will stay on to be our new chief residents. Others, such as those listed below, will go on to further specialty training. Regardless, I congratulate each and every one on their success. 

Medicine Residents:

• Jacob Bell, MD: MedStar Georgetown University Medical Center for Pulmonary Critical Care
• Kelsey Collins, MD: Mount Sinai Beth Israel St. Luke’s/West for Gastroenterology
• Rajan Ganesh, MD: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center for Cardiology
• Lindsay Hammons, MD: Medical College of Wisconsin for Hematology-Oncology
• William Keefe, MD: Northwell-LIJ Health for Allergy & Immunology
• Ira Khanna, MD: Mount Sinai Hospital for Rheumatology
• Ian Kwok, MD: University of California San Francisco for Palliative Medicine
• Kevin Liu, MD: University Florida Health Jacksonville for Cardiology
• Tetsuro Maeda, MD: University of Rochester Medical Center- Strong Memorial Hospital for Pulmonary Critical Care
• Richard Manfready, MD: Rush University Medical Center for Gastroenterology
• Satoshi Miyashita, MD: Tufts University Medical Center for Cardiology
• Ankita Nagirimadugu, MD: Henry Ford Hospital for Gastroenterology
• Reiichiro Obata, MD: Elmhurst Hospital for Pulmonary Critical Care
• Caroline Park, MD: Stanford University Medical Center for Geriatric Medicine
• Charit Taneja, MD: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for Endocrinology
• Yi Chia (Jasmine) Wu, MD: Saint Peter’s University Hospital’s Family Health Center (Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School) for Gastroenterology
• Chief Residents:
  Hailey Gupta, MD: Mount Sinai Beth Israel St. Luke’s/West for Pulmonary Critical Care
  Nelson Feliciano, MD: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for Gastroenterology
  Orysia Kozicky, MD: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for Rheumatology