Part of what makes MSBI so unique is that our employees, regardless of discipline or role, create genuine connections with patients and take care of them even beyond their basic medical needs. We recently discharged a very special person who touched the hearts and souls of so many of our colleagues. I am inspired by the way so many of you cared for this patient as if he is family. 

This patient’s story is complicated. He is developmentally delayed and needs full-time care. Both he and his father, who was also his sole caretaker, contracted COVID-19 early on in the pandemic’s arrival in our region. His father did not recover, which left his son orphaned and anxious about being taken from the only home he has ever known.

Early on, Rachael Holbreich, MD, the psychiatry intern serving on 9 Silver, helped staff connect with him.

“Because he mainly expresses himself with non-verbal cues, it became apparent that the staff needed to adapt to better understand and communicate with him. I tried to set an example that he was a kind and loving person who does express his needs. This demonstrated that we can work with him and help him transition during this difficult time,” said Dr. Holbreich.

The staff quickly learned to understand our very special patient and took every step to help him heal, adopt him as their family, and find a new, stable home environment that met his needs.

When I say every step, I mean it:

• Our social workers and physicians accompanied him to many group home interviews and oversaw his care until we could get him a new guardian. Our staff helped fit him for hearing aids, framed photos of his family in his room, and danced and made music with him.
• Our psychiatry and music therapy teams regularly came to check in with him.
• Denise Green, PCA on 9 Silver, would let him help with the linen to keep him busy. He loves the singer Selena, and she would play Selena videos for him on available workstations.
• Fanny Castillo on our environmental services team would take him on walks through the unit. “He didn’t always understand what we were saying, but we always had a good time,” said Fanny.
• Vivian Frimpomaa on our food services team also took incredible care of him. He preferred to eat his meal in the hallway, and she would help set up his table and put the condiments he liked directly on his food. She paid special attention to the menu items he liked.
• It is impossible to name everyone who cared for him during his time with us, but it was a labor of love and based on teamwork across many different disciplines.

One of my favorite stories is that Alicia Tennenbaum, LCSW, our Senior Director of Social Work, advocated and got an expedited hearing to appoint him a guardian. She coordinated with the guardian to go to the patient’s home to gather some belongings like his stuffed animals to bring him comfort. His father had put a mechanism on the door to keep him from wandering out, and the guardian got locked inside the house. He had to climb the out the window and down the fire escape to get out. It was worth it. Having a few items from his home comforted our very special patient during this transitional time.

This new guardian cares deeply about him, and we recently discharged him to a group home in Queens. Paul Guzman, 9 Silver PCA, took the day off for his discharge so he could accompany him to his new home to ensure that he felt comfortable with the transition. Mr. Guzman has since traveled two hours each way to visit him multiple times and plans to continue twice a week. They have a special connection.

“When he got a certain look, I knew I needed to sit right next to him and just be there. Sometimes he needs to sit quietly near someone he trusts,” said Mr. Guzman. He is regularly in touch with the caretakers at the group home where he now lives.

“It was unexpected love. I will always be there for him,” he said.

Some of the other staff members have also checked in with him via FaceTime.

“I checked in with his new community, and he is doing very well. I’m thankful; he now has a community. We have improved his life in so many ways,” Ms. Tennenbaum said.

This is because of your extraordinary teamwork and compassion.

I am in awe of the compassionate, connected care you provide to our patients each and every day.

After the nearly overwhelming pandemic came to our region in the first half of this year, I am thankful that we are in a better place now and can continue serving all the needs of our community members.

We have taken so many steps to ensure that our patients and colleagues are safe. I’m so thankful for everyone who is taking part in this.

The most observable change is that all of our entrances now require us, our patients, and our visitors to be temperature-checked and screened for other COVID-19 symptoms before or upon entering our facilities. Those who screen positive for symptoms then return home with education on how to contact Employee Health for further directions. I can’t stress how important this is. We have to guarantee everyone who steps foot inside our facilities to take care of patients is 100% healthy.

Implementing this new process is a complex endeavor that requires ongoing teamwork among our clinical, security, support, transformation and other teams. Thanks to many people across numerous departments for taking on screening shifts and welcoming our patients and employees to a safe environment. With your feedback, we will continue to fine tune and improve the process.

We are also taking many precautions prior to a patient’s ambulatory appointment to ensure safety for patients and staff. We test all pre-surgical patients for COVID-19 before their procedure and pre-screen ambulatory patients on the phone before they arrive. These are just a few examples of the many proactive actions we are taking.

Our Union Square concierge team has been particularly accommodating by pressing the elevator buttons for our patients. We greatly appreciate this. At Chelsea, the security team has been explaining the screening process to patients with kindness and empathy. In addition, you may have seen the social distancing signage all over our many locations to remind everyone to maintain maximal distancing.

There are many more actions we are taking to ensure safety in our facility. You can read about them on the Mount Sinai Safety Hub, which is updated regularly. You will also find material to help you communicate with patients and colleagues about these topics. I hope you will visit.

This week I was so happy to hear about some of our physicians gathering at a networking event for Mount Sinai Doctors Downtown. We have so many doctors who provide care at 14 locations throughout our Downtown network. Because they are spread out at different locations, they don’t always get to connect in person. I’m grateful to our Mount Sinai Doctors Downtown leaders for creating this opportunity. Likewise, we have an absolute army of exceptional voluntary physicians who are equally part of our family and community. I am grateful for each and every one.

We welcomed twenty brand new physicians to these practices this past year. You can see a list of them and their specialties here.

This connection among our physicians is vital in our transformation as we build a network of services that can fully support our community where they are, keeping patients healthy and out of the hospital. They provide compassionate, comprehensive care while staying at the top of their expertise and education. I’m so proud of all the work they do to engage their patients, often trying new ways to connect our patients and make their Mount Sinai journey seamless.

We also took time to honor physicians in these practices who have been with us for more than 20 years:

• Samuel Altstein, DO: Family Medicine, West 23rd Street
• Kristine Chu, MD: Gynecology, East 34th Street
• Maki Kano, MD: Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Japanese Medical Practice
• Yuichiro Kuwama, MD: Internal Medicine, Japanese Medical Practice
• Rowena Rosales, MD: Internal Medicine, Japanese Medical Practice

This week I would like to feature our Emergency Department registrars. They have such an important role in helping us gather patient information while helping patients move through emergency care. They help bring order to a sometimes chaotic and always fast-paced environment.

Even during the rush of the day, they do a great job of connecting with our patients. This isn’t an easy task since patients frequently come to us during the most stressful time in their lives. Many of the registrars agree that the relationships with the patients are the highlight of their work.

A registrar must gather a lot of detailed information for a new or returning patient. This task can be more complicated than you think for many reasons. One time one of our registrars was helping a patient who was already in the electronic registration system using the two patient identifiers: name and date of birth. Luckily, the registrar connected with the mother who noticed that the phone number was wrong on the chart. It turns out that two twins with the same name and date of birth had both been to our ED. In this case, we needed three identifiers, and our registrars did not miss a beat!

Click below to see photos of many of our registrars.

A registrar must gather a lot of detailed information for a new or returning patient. This task can be more complicated than you think for many reasons. One time one of our registrars was helping a patient who was already in the electronic registration system using the two patient identifiers: name and date of birth. Luckily, the registrar connected with the mother who noticed that the phone number was wrong on the chart. It turns out that two twins with the same name and date of birth had both been to our ED. In this case, we needed three identifiers, and our registrars did not miss a beat!

Our registrars are the very best at what they do, and we are incredibly grateful to them.