Recognizing Our Colleagues, Week of April 13
Kristine Ortiz, a stroke coordinator at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, has the kindest heart of anyone I have ever met. She is a dedicated and a hard-working nurse who is always willing to take on new responsibilities. During this COVID-19 crisis, Kristine has taken on so many different and difficult roles. She does not hesitate for a moment to lend a helping hand to a co-worker or any hospital employee, or a patient or their family member. There is no job that Kristine considers below her. She functions as a stroke coordinator, covers multiple hospital units as a manager, helps nurses on the units with supplies and managing complicated patients, and, in the midst of all this chaos, Kristine does not hesitate to pull out her cellphone and help an elderly patient, who is likely at the end of his or her life, to FaceTime with his or her family. I have a high admiration and respect for Kristine and am honored to be working with her.
Holly Morhaim, NP
Neurology
Mount Sinai Beth Israel
My colleagues and I were recently deployed to assist the department and take over the Emergency Department surge portion. There are not enough years of experience or any previous experience that can prepare you for an overwhelming experience like this, where many are counting on you. We are learning and processing many new things all at once, but the leadership from Associate Nursing Director Cindy Nelson-Lewis, RN, is phenomenal. She has helped alleviate so many stressors and is an active listener who takes everything into consideration.
Thamar Prendergast, RN
The Mount Sinai Hospital
Jillian Burns, RN, and Tamara Pinder, RN, to me have been the nurses of the month. Their dedication to their work with COVID-19 patients at Petrie 5 cannot be compared. Everything about a RN, they have it.
Paul Donkor, Patient Care Associate
Mount Sinai Beth Israel
Tina Mukwaya and Caroline McKinley are fantastic Emergency Department social workers helping to discharge patients safely to keep things moving. They do all they can to keep our patients safe, secure, informed, and cared for as they collaborate with the ED medical teams, registrars, and everyone helping to keep our Health System community running smoothly.
Heidi Ross
Assistant Director, Social Work
Mount Sinai Beth Israel
Want to give HUGE recognition to the Environmental Services (EVS) team at Mount Sinai Union Square. They have been always at the ready, responsive to every need, always with smiling eyes, keeping our suites, the elevators, the atrium, lobby, and all hallways clean and disinfected. Also recognizing all staff who have been redeployed to the EVS team on a daily basis. It is so wonderful to see the teamwork here and the enthusiasm during assignment. We all are doing whatever we can with the tools available to keep our site clean and safe for our patients, their families, and our staff. Rohan Cleary, Vito, Isabella, Juana, Miguel, Tiffany, Jomannah, Mirvi, Luis, Nikki, Maya, Cristina—just to shout out a few particular names. Thank you to all of you!! So proud to be your colleague.
Denise Saunders, RN
Nurse Manager
Cardiology
Mount Sinai Beth Israel and Mount Sinai Union Square
Domingo Dimalibot and his wife cooked and packed up meals for his “ED Family” at Mount Sinai Queens..
On Thursday night, Medical Assistant Domingo Dimalibot, who is on long-term disability, delivered 40 trays of food to the Mount Sinai Queens Emergency Department in a show of solidarity and commitment to his team, his “ED family.” Though he can’t be in the hospital himself, Domingo said that he knows the battle his team is facing every day, and he wanted to show them that he is on their side and will be standing on the sidelines and cheering them all the way. Domingo and his wife personally cooked and packaged each tray.
Bernadette Springer, RN
Nurse Manager
Emergency Department
Mount Sinai Queens
Joshua Shatzkes, MD, has gone above and beyond for our COVID patients. He has responded immediately to our every concern and will come into the rooms with us to assess patients in person. He learned each nurse’s first name and/or nickname immediately, and he quickly has become a valued member of our team. We are thrilled to have him with us and our patients during this fast-paced and stressful time. Thank you!
Elizabeth Tortu, RN
Clinical Nurse
The Mount Sinai Hospital
Even with the volume of patients and hectic status of the Emergency Department at The Mount Sinai Hospital, Cristin Carey, a Senior Physician’s Associate, continues to give her best to each patient. She is continuing with the same level of empathy and care that she knows each patient deserves. Knowing that these patients cannot be with their families, she does her best to keep them comfortable and calm. She has maintained a positive and uplifting attitude.
Tess Levy
Senior Genetic Counselor
Psychiatry
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Our patient sent the following email:
“I could not go to sleep peacefully without acknowledging the incredible care I received today at the Infusion Center at Mount Sinai. I was under the care of Maria Rodriguez, RN, a clinical nurse (who has been there for 20 years, and it shows). She went above and beyond today as I was getting my infusion and knew how petrified I was being in the hospital for six hours to get my treatment. She continued to clean, scrub, monitor, check in on me, and dealt with me so professionally and with a satin touch. I needed to honor her and let you know that she is not just any nurse, she is exceptional.
Monica Reiter-Wong, RNC
Nurse Manager
Faculty Practice Associates
Yadi Mangual, a nursing auxiliary, helped coordinate a swallow evaluation with a COVID-19 patient in a telehealth conference by feeding the patient and holding the tablet while he ate. She was so kind and patient when I had to give instructions. I really appreciated her helping me complete the assessment while also maintaining patient safety and limiting excessive COVID exposure! Thank you, Yadi!
Cristen Jones
Speech and Language Pathologist
The Mount Sinai Hospital
The cafeteria staff has always been kind and helpful to everyone. They have been so sweet and gracious to everyone during this COVID-19 crisis as they are daily told to make changes. They now have to scoop the food that used to be self-serve. They do it with patience and smiles, asking how much would you like, is this enough, being accommodating when I say I’d like the well-done pieces, etc. It’s nice to go to an oasis of people who truly want to take care of and serve us well.
Jillian D’Angelo
Mount Sinai West
Assistant Nurse Manager Brandy Rex, RN, was amazing when informing family and friends visiting the Emergency Department that they needed to leave the ED for the safety of themselves, the patients, and the staff. When presented with family members in predicaments, such as two children whose parents were patients in the ED, Brandy was empathetic and flexible in her approach. She helped visitors feel reassured that they were welcome to wait in the ED until they had a ride home, and she made sure all patients felt heard and understood the reasoning behind the new visitation policy.
Emma Cohen
Patient Representative Coordinator
The Mount Sinai Hospital
Thank you, Veronica Canturencia and so many other housekeeping staff for keeping our lobbies, bathrooms, and facility clean during this crisis while keeping a smile and showing empathy towards visitors and staff at all times. You are our heroes!
Silvina De La Iglesia
Associate Director
Language Services
The Mount Sinai Hospital
During a busy shift where we had to transfer many patients due to our unit’s shift to a COVID-19 unit, Regan Marooney, RN, enthusiastically agreed to go upstairs to our sister oncology unit to help out. She went upstairs with one of our more anxious patients who was being transferred, then took three more patients upstairs to help decrease the workload on the other nurses. The patients were extremely grateful for her being so attentive and compassionate during that time. It made their transition easier, both logistically and emotionally. Her co-workers were impressed with the maturity and positive attitude Regan displayed during the entire shift. We are so grateful for our Regan! She is a team player through and through, and a phenomenal nurse as well. She is everything you could ever want in a co-worker!
Elizabeth Tortu, RN
Clinical Nurse
The Mount Sinai Hospital
Thank you, Chelsea Ugarte, Patient Coordinator, for assisting in scheduling a patient for additional visits during the early morning hours, and dropping your primary responsibilities to help this patient. You bonded with them in a time that they are nervous to come in because of the coronavirus. Thank you for your dedication and compassion to our patients, and your willingness to drop your work to improve the patient experience!
Stefanie Haft
Speech and Language Pathologist
Rehabilitation Medicine
The Mount Sinai Hospital
“Stephanie is so kind and caring. She always greets you with a smile. Thank you for being welcoming and helpful.”
“I am a naturally social and curious person and generally want to know about the backgrounds of the families of my patients. As you get to know more about each family, you have a deeper understanding of who they are and how they may respond to challenges with their children or other family members. When I get to know them better, I think they feel more cared for. I try to make eye contact with everyone in the room throughout the visit—not just focusing on the primary caretaker—to make everyone feel they are part of the care of the child we are discussing. I also make a huge effort to speak in nontechnical language.”
“Making my patients and their families feel special is important to me. I listen very carefully, and I never rush. I don’t underestimate a parent’s concerns. If they are serious to the parent, I treat them as such. I always summarize key takeaways of a visit and verbalize and write down prescribed medications, with dosing instructions and potential side effects. I encourage questions and underscore that I am always available if questions arise—as they inevitably do—after the visit.”
“Each year at the international meeting of CHEST, the American College of Chest Physicians, I recite and recommit myself to a pledge of patient-focused care: “Patient-focused care is compassionate, sensitive to the everyday and special needs of patients and their families, and based upon the best available evidence.” This commitment of physicians has been present for centuries. The 12th-century Sephardic Jewish physician and philosopher Maimonides pronounced, ‘The physician should not treat the disease but the patient who is suffering from it.’ He also famously said, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’ Offering patients advice gives them satisfaction for that day. Teaching them about their condition—what is going wrong with their body, how to cope with the condition now and into the future—can offer them comfort for a lifetime.”
“I am fortunate to have long-standing relationships with many of my patients. The ability to connect with them has been built over time, which allows for a trusting rapport and ease to our communication.”
“While surgeons are sometimes stereotyped as being paternalistic and lacking empathy, we have a unique culture in our department that is perhaps unusually humanistic. It takes a little extra time to make sure patients feel they are heard, supported, informed, and empowered. Surgery is such a serious business, it’s the least we can do.”
“I pride myself on sitting with the patient and their family members, speaking in clear language, and providing both written and spoken instructions that I review twice. Above all, I believe that my patients and their parents know that I care and that we will help their child feel better together.”
“I try to follow the Golden Rule. It sounds clichéd, but it’s true. Do to others as you would like done to you. That means anticipating their concerns, alleviating their anxieties, seeing them as a whole person and not just a patient, and being available for their questions. I am honest with them. I let them know when I am unsure and when I think we need to bring in another expert. I listen. I care about them; I worry about them—and they feel it.”
“I feel that I may have an unfair advantage as a pediatric pulmonologist. I get to ‘play’ with my patients in the context of a visit. Simply asking about a recent birthday party or allowing a child to demonstrate a new fist bump can go a long way in developing a connection. I try to make an appointment seem less like an appointment, even turning routine breathing tests into a game. I do not trivialize concerns expressed by a parent. If a symptom is worrisome to a parent, but is not overly so to me and my team, we do our best to explain why, rather than saying, ‘Don’t worry about that.’”
“I try to allocate enough time with my patients, not only to obtain a detailed medical history but also to find out a bit about their personal lives and work demands. It is important to get to know each patient as a unique individual in order to formulate the best treatment plan together.”
“Martina always goes above and beyond to deliver the highest quality patient care.”