Andres Arredondo, MD
There are many reasons why the Mount Sinai community should be thankful for the residents and fellows who help provide care every day. But their contributions during the height of the pandemic a year ago may be one of the most dramatic, and that was on the minds of many recently as they marked “Thank a Resident Day.”
“As New York City entered its darkest days during the peak of the pandemic, our residents and fellows wanted to jump right in and join their colleagues on the front lines in an act of great professionalism and compassion. They were the backbone that kept us all going during a very difficult time,” says I. Michael Leitman, MD, FACS, Dean for Graduate Medical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “It makes me proud and very, very happy to know them and work shoulder to shoulder with them,” says Dr. Leitman, a surgeon who specializes in minimally invasive surgical innovations to treat abdominal conditions.
Icahn Mount Sinai runs the nation’s largest and one of the oldest training programs for medical residents. Each year, these programs train approximately 2,500 residents and clinical fellows—doctors in training—in every specialty, including several specialty areas that are highly ranked by Doximity, which polls doctors on the best U.S. training programs. Specialties ranked in the top 20 include Dermatology (No. 4), Physical Medicine/Rehabilitation (No. 9), Nuclear Medicine (No. 12), Otolaryngology (No. 12), Psychiatry (No. 15), OB/GYN (No. 18), and Ophthalmology (No. 20).
Andres Arredondo, MD, is a resident in emergency medicine at The Mount Sinai Hospital who spent time at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens—considered an epicenter of the pandemic in New York City—when the pandemic struck last spring. Originally from Colombia, he was struck by the disproportionate effect of the pandemic on the Hispanic community.
Ciera Sears, MD
“The impact of the pandemic on the Hispanic community really highlighted the need for us to place an emphasis on addressing the social determinants of health, such as economic stability, crowded living conditions, quality education, and access to health care,” he says. “We worked long, hard hours but we banded together and supported each other. I was impressed by my fellow residents. Some voluntarily worked extra shifts, some started fundraisers for the Queen’s community, while others helped out in departments that were stretched. We all pushed ourselves to give as much as we could. I’m thankful for all of these things.”
Ciera Sears, MD, a fellow in Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, was one of many fellows and residents called upon during the pandemic to embed in the hospital’s emergency department, where she would provide counsel to patients at risk of dying, all the while giving much appreciated support to her busy colleagues in the ED.
“We were seeing patients in the worst days, close to death, and alone. Because it was too risky to allow family to enter the hospital, their only support was their doctors and nurses,” says Dr. Sears. Dr. Sears was infected with COVID-19 during the first week New York State was in lockdown. She lost her sense of smell for six months but is now feeling well.
At the same time, the Black Lives Matter movement was gaining momentum, and Dr. Sears was on the front lines. “Here I was risking my life to fight this pandemic which disproportionately affects Blacks and Hispanics, and simultaneously engaging in protests,” she says.
Caitlyn Kuwata, MD
Caitlyn Kuwata, MD, also a fellow in Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, was deployed to the ED where she used her training in palliative medicine to support patients and their families with difficult decisions and symptom management, sometimes with patients who had very little time left.
“Because the COVID numbers were so high, we did a lot of emergency consults on big issues like patient values and goals surrounding quality of life in the context of COVID. It was very eye opening and emotional. One of the hardest aspects of our work was assisting our patients in saying goodbye to family members who were not allowed to visit,” she says.
She became infected with COVID-19 in March. “The two week quarantine while sick was really hard. I wanted to work and I wanted to be useful,” she says.
“Like all of our wonderful staff, my fellows were rock stars during the pandemic and beyond,” says Helen Fernandez, MD, MPH, Professor and Program Director for Geriatrics and Palliative Care at Icahn Mount Sinai, the top rated Department of Geriatrics in the United States according to U.S. News & World Report. “They were true advocates for patients and caregivers, helping them navigate complex decision making. I consider myself extremely lucky to work with such gifted and talented staff. Our future is bright.”