Facts and Fun in a Visit to Mount Sinai Beth Israel

Oct 9, 2017 | Community, Pediatrics

Mount Sinai Beth Israel’s Pediatric Short Stay Unit received a few special guests in May— kindergarteners from Chelsea’s PS 33 who were studying a “Med School” curriculum—and more visits from the school are on the agenda for this academic year. “I was giving Biology 101 lessons to these children, and they were eating it up,” says C. Anthoney Lim, MD, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Director of the Pediatric Emergency Department at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, which includes the Short Stay Unit for young patients who require less than 48 hours of hospitalization. Along with their biology lesson, students received new bike helmets and toured an ambulance and the emergency room. In June, the Unit received a second visit from PS 33 when fifth graders came bearing goodie bags filled with books and coloring activities for pediatric patients.

Kindergarteners from PS 33 in Chelsea were doctors-in-training during their visit to Mount Sinai Beth Israel.

The kindergarten class explored an ambulance.

Make Way for the Mount Sinai Mighty Milers!

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, Pediatrics

A club sponsored by the Parenting Center at Kravis Children’s Hospital at Mount Sinai has inspired a love for running in about 70 patients ages 5 to 12. From April to June, the Mount Sinai Mighty Milers met on Wednesdays in Central Park to chat, stretch, and run on the half-mile East Meadow loop. Along the way, they were chaperoned by 20 volunteers, including medical students, residents, attendings, nurses, social workers, and support staff.

“Wednesday afternoon quickly became the highlight of the week for everyone involved,” says Keith J. Benkov, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, and Gastroenterology, who was an organizer, along with Abby T. Klock, MS, Child Life Specialist; Katie Connolly, Program Coordinator, and Mariel Benjamin, LCSW, both of the Parenting Center; and Michael N. Yaker, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, and founding partner of Westside Pediatrics. The program will return in October. For more information, contact sinaimightymilers@mssm.edu.

Pictured above, Delilah Rodriguez (with a purple friend) and Ezra Rzetelny; George Hendy getting a high five from Michael N. Yaker, MD; and runners at the starting line.

Granting Wishes and Bringing Joy to Sick Children

Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Community, Pediatrics

WATCH: Lorraine Rodriguez, MSN, BSN, RN, FNP, discusses her special connection with Make-A-Wish.

Two members of the Mount Sinai Health System, Lorraine Rodriguez, MSN, BSN, RN, FNP, and Samantha Vasquez, LMSW, were chosen last spring to promote World Wish Day® on behalf of the Make-A-Wish ® Foundation, an international organization that has granted the wishes of more than 400,000 seriously ill children. In the past few years, Ms. Rodriguez, a nurse practitioner with the Mount Sinai Epilepsy Center, and Ms. Vasquez, a social worker within the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Division of The Mount Sinai Hospital, have referred more than 80 children to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The organization’s stated goal is to grant one wish to every eligible child.

WATCH: Samantha Vasquez, LMSW, explains the healing power of wishes.

World Wish Day is an annual event that honors medical professionals, donors, volunteers, and sponsors, as well as the children and their families whose lives are touched by the granted wishes. Wishes have included visits with sports or musical celebrities, serving as a firefighter for a day, or receiving a toy playhouse.

Ms. Rodriguez was honored by being featured on a Make-A-Wish billboard in Times Square and by ringing the Nasdaq Stock Market bell at the start of business, tributes that she says brought tears to her eyes. Her patients’ wishes help them heal, Ms. Rodriguez adds. “When the children come for follow-up visits you see they’re smiling, jumping, having hope. You can sense that sparkle in their eyes. They’re happy.”

Ms. Vasquez was featured in an advertisement for Make-A-Wish that appeared in TIME magazine. “It is not easy for kids to undergo a severe treatment like chemotherapy,” she says. “When I talk to them about their wishes, they smile. It is rewarding to be able to witness that joy and hope.”