Ariel Elyahu, MD
Recently, Ariel Elyahu, MD, a hospitalist at The Mount Sinai Hospital, became aware that a patient who was scheduled to be discharged had been separated from his denim jacket. For the patient, a 94-year-old veteran of the Korean War, this wasn’t any ordinary jacket: on it were the Purple Heart medal given to him personally by the President of the United States and Jump Wings for his service as a parachutist. The patient was crushed that the jacket was mislaid as he moved among rooms and exam spaces. He told Dr. Elyahu that he had worn it every day for the past 50 years.
The lost jacket was reported to Security, but Dr. Elyahu did not want to accept that the jacket was missing and retraced the patient’s travel through the hospital, floor by floor, room by room, even asking a patient if he could look through a dresser in case the jacket had been stored there. Dr. Elyahu’s perseverance was rewarded, and his patient was able to proudly wear his jacket home, medal and all, to continue his recovery.
Dr. Elyahu, who did his residency at Mount Sinai and has been an attending physician for three years, says Hospital Medicine is exactly what he wanted as a medical career. “Helping people, and seeing their improvement after being cared for in our hospital, is so meaningful to me,” he says. “And Mount Sinai is a wonderful place to practice, as I get to address extremely complex and interesting cases.”