Bernadette Sterling

Bernadette Sterling, a 15-year veteran of the Mount Sinai Health System, loves her job in Food Services at Mount Sinai West, where she covers the Obstetrics service, taking meal requests for moms-to-be and new moms. But for Bernadette, her charge is more than delivering a hot meal or making sure allergies are noted and food preferences are met.

“I want these moms to be happy,” she says. “I will ask them if they need anything, and if I have a little extra time, chat with them and get to know them personally or tell them something about me.”  A note from a recent patient confirms she excels in her mission.  “Ms. Bernadette went above and beyond to make sure my meals were exactly what I needed, even with my food allergies. She is such an amazing person and made my stay the best experience ever.”

Mathea Jacobs, left, and David Reich, MD, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Mount Sinai Hospital

For young patients and their families, being in the hospital can be an especially difficult experience, with many unknowns. One of the staff at Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital who strives to make these patients’ hospital stays positive and empowering is Mathea Jacobs,  a program manager on the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy team, who has overseen KidZone TV for the past six years.

KidZone TV is a state-of-the-art, interactive production and internal broadcast studio within Mount Sinai Kravis Children’s Hospital. KidZone TV produces live programming for pediatric patients and families five times a day, seven days a week, which is  broadcast throughout Kravis Children’s Hospital on a dedicated channel.

Learning, socialization, and creativity are promoted through popular interactive games like Bingo, Name That Tune, Text Twist, and KidZone Trivia shows. In addition, KidZone TV Presents features entertainers and celebrities who lend excitement to daily programming and includes collaborations with local cultural organizations such as the American Ballet Theater and Broadway Hearts. Children who are not confined to their rooms can participate as camera operators, storywriters, or hosts of the show, while others have the opportunity to view the program and participate by calling in and answering a question, creating a story, or winning prizes.

Mathea works with the department’s Child Life Specialists, Art and Music Therapists to help them host and create therapeutically rich and engaging live shows which strengthen the healing partnerships with their patients. In this process, Mathea gets to know our pediatric patients and is able to develop unique shows that engage, distract, educate, and bring joy throughout each day.

Mathea says she decided to take her production and creative skills into health care in order to do something “meaningful and important.”

She explains, “Bringing a child out of his or her shell and finding a new way of expressing feelings during a hospital stay is invaluable.” Her deep commitment to having the studio be a positive experience for hospitalized children extends even beyond the walls of Mount Sinai. With support from the Child Life and studio teams, she leads yearly training sessions for similar professionals in other hospitals, sharing knowledge and experience so that patients around the country might benefit from similar programming.

Recently Mathea was honored by David Reich, MD, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Mount Sinai Hospital, for her work and dedication in this year’s virtual pediatric/perinatal memorial service.

KidZoneTV programming has been generously funded for one year by the Mount Sinai Auxiliary Board.

Luz Amarilis Lugo, MD, says this about Florence “Flo” Rosser: “Your motivation and initiative help our team provide excellent care to all our patients.” Read more testimonials here.

Florence “Flo” Rosser has worked at Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai Morningside for thirteen years as a Medical Office Assistant, and is currently at the Samuels Clinic at Mount Sinai West. The Samuels Clinic is a division of the Institute for Advanced Medicine and serves patients with HIV as well as the LGBTQ community.

According to Flo, she takes care of the “best patients” and works with an “amazing team.”  They clearly think the same of her. She has been called an “angel” and a “star” and her work “exemplary.” A team player who goes “above and beyond” for patients and her colleagues, Flo was recently praised by her colleagues for her outstanding work in the vaccination pods and helping schedule patients and colleagues at Mount Sinai and at city clinics.

“Her passion and dedication to patient care is inspiring,” says Jean Reisman DiNapoli, DNP, RN. “When I heard about her taking on vaccine scheduling for patients all on her own, it didn’t surprise me. We are lucky to have Flo on our team.”

Flo’s approach to patient care is simple. “I treat patients the way I would want to be treated, and I want them to leave the clinic with a smile.” With respect to her colleagues, “I want to make sure they are happy, and I want to solve their problems. Importantly, if I can, I want to give them five minutes without stress in their day.”

Click here to see the tribute created by her colleagues.

Ruth Levy, NP

Loida Lopez, Executive Assistant in Marketing at the Mount Sinai Health System, feels compelled to personally thank Ruth Levy, NP, the nurse practitioner who recently administered the COVID-19 vaccine to her aunt.

It was an emotional moment for her aunt, who lost her husband to COVID-19 in April 2020.

“My aunt was thinking that if the vaccine had been available last year, her husband might still be alive today,” Loida says. “As Ruth was explaining the vaccine process, my aunt began to remember the past and cry, so Ruth listened in a compassionate way to her speak about her family, consoled and supported her.”

Ruth has been on staff at The Mount Sinai Hospital for 26 years and has worked on the front lines caring for COVID-19 patients in the Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit since the start of the pandemic.

“I jumped at the opportunity to be deployed to the vaccine pods when needed,“ Ruth says. “I was excited to help people fight this disease after seeing so many succumb to it, but I also knew the interaction in the pods, outside of the intensity and isolation of the ICU, would be therapeutic for me.”

She continues, “My experience with Loida’s aunt was emotional for me, as well. Having supported so many families who were losing their loved ones, I had to take a deep breath upon hearing her story and sharing her talk about her loss. In a way, her husband was my patient, and we were on this journey together. We understood each other in a profound way.”

Loida also was deeply taken by her aunt’s patient experience. “I was already proud to be an employee of Mount Sinai, but hearing my aunt’s experience has made me even prouder,” she says. “Thank you again, Ms. Levy, for all you continue to do–as well as all of our health care workers. Thank you!”