Michael Jones
Ellen Marmur, MD, Associate Clinical Professor of Dermatology and former Chief of Dermatologic Surgery at The Mount Sinai Hospital, wasted no time when her son Julien, 15, complained of pains on his right side shortly after dinner last spring.
From the Emergency Department at The Mount Sinai Hospital, it was a quick trip to an operating room for an appendectomy.
Julien was apprehensive. “I had never been an inpatient before, and everything happened so fast,” he says. “It was all a little overwhelming.”
Compassion and creativity by Michael Jones, a Surgical Care Associate, made things easier for Julien. As Michael was taking him from the Patient Recovery Unit to the Pediatrics Department, he made it an adventure, says Dr. Marmur. He asked Julien to name his favorite race car and transformed his bed into a blue Lamborghini for a “drive” through the dark halls of the hospital.
“Michael helped me to smile and be less fearful,” says Julien. “I felt he really cared about me. He was so awesome.”
That is precisely Michael’s mission. “I have worked at The Mount Sinai Hospital for over 22 years, taking patients to and from labs and radiology and surgeries,” he says. “My focus is always on my patients’ well-being. I try to take their minds off of being sick. When it comes to children and teens, humor and imagination go a long way.”