Heather Isola, MPAS, PA-C, Director of Physician Assistant Services

Mount Sinai’s physician assistants were the first team redeployed to support the front lines when COVID-19 hit. Our PAs were quick to say “yes,” leaving their home departments to help staff surge tents and emergency departments around the Health System.

We identified PA Captains who were responsible for taking a highly systematic approach to on-the-ground, internal deployments of our teams. These individuals went beyond their usual work responsibilities, taking on administrative roles overnight, and never backed down. With their help, we mobilized more than 600 PAs to redeployments in response to COVID-19. Thank you to:

The Mount Sinai Hospital:  Leslie Schlachter – ICU; Robert Sellman -ED; Jonathan McLaughlin -Inpatient

Mount Sinai Queens:  Zumrate Khaimova and Min Huang

Mount Sinai West: Danielle Kaufman and Ezequiel Rodriguez

Mount Sinai Morningside: Joseph Ciavarro

Mount Sinai Beth Israel: Marco Tardio

Mount Sinai South Nassau:  Jeena Kokura

This particular challenge to the Health System has demonstrated the strengths of the PA profession. The general knowledge base, versatility of skill, and ready-to-learn attitudes were particularly right for this time. It is no surprise that our team has earned deserved praise from PA Chiefs around the Health System. Here are two examples.

Courtney Ciesla, PA, at Mount Sinai South Nassau, says:  “I could not be more proud of my Emergency Department PAs and their resilience, empathy, courage, and flexibility. Our patients lined hallways, were doubling and tripling up in rooms, and in tents. The PAs handled these critical patients and large volumes with ease. They kept up with daily treatment changes and developments and treated patients appropriately. The ED PA staff had to overcome staffing issues due to several of our own contracting the virus.  Everyone was willing to work overtime in order to fill all gaps. At the Mount Sinai South Nassau ED, we are a family, which is the reason we get up every morning and come to work. You know you are never alone, and this is how we are able to make it through these trying times. I could not be more honored to work with such a great group of PAs during this battle.”

Joseph Ciavarro, PA-C, MBA

Allison Chang, PA, at Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West says: “I am proud of the Emergency Department PAs for being flexible and proactive. Even within the ED, there have been staffing modifications and unprecedented expectations, and I am proud of our PAs for stepping up. I am also extremely proud of the off-service PAs. There were Orthopedic PAs that were redeployed to the ED, and not only served in the tent, but also helped nurses draw labs and put in IVs. This week, there were Neurosurgery PAs who had been redeployed to the ED and took it upon themselves to see patients even with non-COVID-related symptoms. I am sure that an Orthopedics PA putting in IVs and a Neurosurgery PA seeing ED patients are not within their scopes of practice, and I applaud them for stepping up to the task and doing a fantastic job. Makes me proud to be a PA.”

As the medical school comes back to life, the PAs and NPs will continue to fill gaps of service for the fellows and residents returning to their academics. And, without doubt, our PAs will likely be the last ones leaving COVID-19 units. As a PA myself, I can speak for my team when I say that this experience has affirmed our belief that being a Physician Assistant is an awesome profession and solidified our feeling we made the right choice.

Submitted by 

Heather Isola, MPAS, PA-C, Director of Physician Assistant Services, Mount Sinai Health System

The Transitions of Care team at The Mount Sinai Hospital.

I would like to recognize the Transitions of Care team at The Mount Sinai Hospital for their extraordinary efforts during this time. Transitions of Care is a small group of nurses charged with a big task: calling patients post-discharge to assist them with the transition from hospital to home. This means tackling needs like continuing patient education, medication reconciliation, referrals to a home health agency, ensuring follow-up appointments are scheduled, and also symptom management.

COVID-19 has changed everyone’s life, both professionally and personally. This crisis has led to an explosion of patients on the daily assignment list, new workflows and new collaborations. It has had a profound effect on the patients: their anxiety is palpable. The TOCC nurses have remained resilient and graceful, giving every patient the time and attention they need and deserve and supporting one another through this harsh time. I salute the entire team for remaining Sinai Strong.

Submitted by:
Arzellra Walters, RN, Nurse Manager, Transitions of Care Center, The Mount Sinai Hospital

Rachel Pappalardo, RN, is one of our heroes at Mount Sinai, and has been for years. She is the heart of our lung cancer program and has supported our program and most important, our patients, for years now.

Through the COVID-19 crisis, Rachel has worked tirelessly, always with a smile on her face and an attitude that keeps us all going. Her young son has been quarantined away with her parents in Pennsylvania while she continues to work tirelessly.

We often connect with him on FaceTime during clinic, which brings a smile to all of us. Rachel, however, has stayed in the city and continues to give something special to us and to our patients, who are grappling with the uncertainty of this time, dealing with life-threatening diagnoses as well as COVID-19—hope.

I have been working on the COVID-19 floors, opening clinical trials, and have donated convalescent plasma, but whenever someone calls me a hero, I like to tell them that our nurses are the true front-line heroes. Rachel is a hero.

Thomas Marron, MD, PhD, Assistant Director of Early Phase and Immunotherapy Trials, The Tisch Cancer Institute

Sarah Avila, MD, and Colin Anderson, MD, at the Elmhurst Hospital Emergency Department.

Hours after Douglas Fredrick, MD, Deputy Chair of Education of Mount Sinai Ophthalmology, asked residents to volunteer to be redeployed, six out of twelve residents raised their hands. Two of them were deployed to the Elmhurst Hospital Emergency Department, and three of them were deployed to The Mount Sinai Hospital medical floors. One had to stay home because a family member was sick.

Dr.  Fredrick and I have never been prouder of our ophthalmology trainees in our entire teaching careers. It is one thing to be told to go somewhere, which many health care systems did with their trainees. It is another level of commitment, service, and bravery, to raise your hand and volunteer to go to the very front lines of the most deadly and frightening pandemic our generation has witnessed.

Colin Anderson, MD, and Sarah Avila, MD, PGY-4s, worked in the Elmhurst ED. Cesar Alfaro, MD, Kirolos Ibrahim, MD, and Ethan Sobol, MD, PGY-3s, worked on the medical floors at The Mount Sinai Hospital. Ethan, Cesar, and Kirolos all took care of patients who died due to COVID and were the first people to share that terrible news with their family members. Colin and Sarah were working hard in the ED during the peak, when oxygen requirements were the highest priority.

Many residents formed new and lasting relationships with members of the team. The volunteer aspect of the teams automatically elevated the spirit of camaraderie and mutual understanding and respect. Some had patients who had remarkable turnarounds.

Ethan Sobol, MD, right, with Kihira Shingo, MD.

All of the residents developed a deeper appreciation for working in teams and for the vital roles that each member plays. One of them reminded me that the physician who discovered the virus was an ophthalmologist. When the Elmhurst ED was short on non-rebreather masks (NRB), Colin was able to invent more NRBs with a physician assistant by being creative with different parts of medical equipment. It worked and saved lives, and many ED doctors have already asked and learned how to make it.

These five individuals demonstrated the most honorable qualities of being a model physician during this crisis. Thank you Colin, Cesar, Sarah, Kirolos, and Ethan for your service. We applaud and salute you and look forward to welcoming you to our Alumni Association soon!

Submitted by Paul Lee, MD, President, Department of Ophthalmology Alumni Association, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai/Mount Sinai Hospital

This story is excerpted from a letter written by Dr. Lee to the Alumni Association of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. To read the entire letter, please go to https://conta.cc/2zlYmEa

Dularie Nandlal, RN, is an asset to the Mount Sinai family. She took care of my mom while she was in the hospital during the coronavirus pandemic and was so diligent in her care.

She embodies all the qualities of a nurse to which we should all aspire. I want Dularie to be recognized for her empathy, high quality care, emotional support, and commitment to superior patient safety. Dularie is a role model to every staff member who has had the pleasure of working with her, and I feel blessed that she was able to care for my mom during this crisis.

I am forever indebted to her for her high quality of nursing, but I also cherish that she is a stellar human being.

Submitted by: Reshma Balkaran, RN, Department of Cardiology, Mount Sinai West

Bertin Salguero-Porres, MD, and Janice Cagigas, RN.

The Center for Advanced Medical Simulation at Mount Sinai West (CAMS) is conducting two-hour sessions to prepare 136 RNs to take care of COVID-19 patients who are on mechanical ventilators after being transferred from intensive care. To observe social distancing in our simulation rooms, the participants are limited to five or six per session.

On Friday, April 24, Bertin Salguero-Porres, MD, who conducts the classes, stayed to do the last two-hour session of the day for the one nurse who could make it to the class. When asked why he conducted this last class for one learner, Dr. Salguero-Porres responded that Janice Cagigas, RN,  had driven all the way from New Jersey on her day off to learn how to take care of these patients on mechanical ventilators, which is a new skill set for her.

I was touched with admiration and awe for both. I should mention that Dr. Salguero-Porres is the recipient of the 2020 Institute for Medical Education House Staff Excellence in Teaching Award and a 2020 IME Blue Ribbon Award of Education Research on the subject of mechanical ventilation using innovative simulation-based education.

Submitted by: Priscilla Loanzon, RN, Director, Simulation Education, Center for Advanced Medical Simulation, Mount Sinai West