Mar 4, 2013 | Your Health
While the new concept of a Geriatric Emergency Department is garnering attention recently, Mount Sinai’s Pediatric Emergency Department continues its tradition of innovation and excellence in caring for children during the most stressful of times.
Recent investments include staffing Child Life Specialists, whose role is to advocate for patient care and act as a liaison between patients, families and care providers.
Also, Pediatric Emergency physician Dr. Audrey Paul has spearheaded a community outreach, entitled, “How to Navigate an Emergency Room Visit with your Child.” This innovative bilingual workshop was the first in a series of parent education initiatives for parents in low-income and underserved communities on preparing for pediatric emergencies. The project began at Little Sisters of the Assumption and will expand to additional areas to reach more families in underserved communities.
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Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Your Health
This Saturday, February 23rd, marks the 1-year anniversary of the Geriatrics Emergency Department at Mount Sinai. Recognizing that the US population is aging, and that existing emergency departments were too often designed around provider’s needs – rather than that of their older patients – Mount Sinai emergency medicine researcher Ula Hwang was one of the first to describe the compelling need for specialized geriatric emergency care. Transforming that vision into a reality involved years of planning, construction and even specialized programming of our electronic systems.
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Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Inside, Your Health
A wearable, battery-powered robot called the Ekso™, or exoskeleton, is helping paralyzed patients walk again at The Mount Sinai Hospital’s new Rehabilitation Bionics Program, the only program in New York State that uses this device.
The Ekso, manufactured by Ekso Bionics, based in Richmond, California, is strapped over the patients’ clothing, and enables them to stand and walk with the help of a microprocessor that controls movement and a battery that provides power.
“Patients find it extremely gratifying to stand up and ambulate,” says Kristjan T. Ragnarsson, MD. “With this device, the power comes from a rechargeable battery that is carried in a backpack, and it allows patients to walk in a more natural way.” He says patients report that it is much less strenuous to walk with the device than with traditional leg braces.
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Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Your Health
Philip Abrams didn’t want to go to the Emergency Department.
He’d never felt this way before. What at first seemed like a simple headache just kept getting worse. Though he couldn’t see his regular doctor, the covering doctor suspected sinusitis, and started an antibiotic. When things progressed, he was referred to an ENT specialist, who noted an emerging rash on his nose and forehead, and suspected shingles. He got an anti-viral medication and pain meds, but couldn’t sleep because of the increasing pain.
When his eye started to get involved, his wife persuaded him to go to Mount Sinai’s new geriatric emergency department. “It was the last thing I felt like doing. I felt horrible, I hadn’t eaten anything in the past couple of days, and I didn’t want to move…”
But soon after his arrival, things started looking up. “I wasn’t there more than a few minutes before I was whisked out of that space and ushered to another area where my blood pressure was taken… I was promptly seen, and the physician’s assistant gathered info about me, asked if I had eaten, and promptly brought me a turkey sandwich and drink.”
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Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Health Tips, Your Health
As an oncologist, I am often confronted with patients with advanced gynecologic malignancies with limited successful options to cure them. The success of treating and curing patients with cancer depends not only on the skills and technologies, it is very much dependent on the patients and the stage of their diseases. Too often, we are not able to detect these malignancies early because we do not know what causes the disease and there are no early detection tests so that by the time a patient is in my office, the disease is at an advanced stage. Cervical cancer, however, is one of the few gynecologic malignancies that we know is caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) that can be detected by a simple pap smear. Furthermore, cervical cancer can be prevented with an HPV vaccination.
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Updated on Jun 30, 2022 | Cardiology, Inside, Your Health
When Daquain Jenkins, 29, left The Mount Sinai Hospital last year, he became the first patient in the New York metropolitan area to return home to await a heart transplant with the assistance of a portable artificial heart.
The milestone was remarkable in a number of ways. First, the Total Artificial Heart, manufactured by SynCardia Systems, Inc., in Tucson, Arizona, replaces both failing heart ventricles and four heart valves, eliminating end-stage biventricular failure. It is immediately available to patients, and serves as a bridge while they await a suitable heart donor. In addition, it allows patients to move freely and manage everyday chores while wearing a backpack that stores the 13.5-pound battery-driven device.
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