Patient Yitzhak Haronian and wife Dalia, to his right, with members of the Mount Sinai Heart Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.
The entire staff at Mount Sinai Heart’s Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) was cheering for patient Yitzhak Haronian on the morning of Monday, July 30, after he underwent heart transplant surgery. The successful surgery was the culmination of his six-month stay in the CICU, during which time Yitzhak faced several medical setbacks and deep disappointments.
Yet even during those lows, Nurse Manager Kimberley Ennis says Yitzhak—an international patient who came from Israel—remained positive, caring, and considerate of everyone around him. “I’ve never met a more positive person,” Kimberley says. “He became like family to the staff. There was never a feeling that caring for him was our job.” As a result, she adds jokingly, “every nurse has found time in their schedule to check in with him, so he has 11 nurses assigned to him in addition to all the patient care associates, administrators, the manager, assistant manager, and medical team!”
Yitzhak’s wife Dalia also grew close to the clinical team. Dalia assisted the staff in decorating the unit for a competition during National Donate Life Month and she helped decorate the unit for the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women initiative. For Dalia’s birthday, the staff celebrated by giving her a fruit platter, balloons, and a Mount Sinai sweater.
Assistant Nurse Manager Shirin Marie Agay says Yitzhak and Dalia were always thoughtful toward the staff. “They understood that our jobs could be stressful and would ask how our day was going. When you hear that it makes your day 100 percent better.”
The couple touched everyone in the unit. On the night of July 29, when the long-awaited call came into the CICU saying a heart was available for Yitzhak, the night staff created a banner to wish him well that contained all of their signatures. They gathered around his bed to present it to him and sang songs, wishing him a safe surgery.