Support for Soldiers and Veterans You Gotta Have Heart The Joy of ...

New Standard 

Summer 2012 An employee publication of the North Shore-LIJ Health System 

Support for 

Soldiers and 

Veterans 

You Gotta 

Have Heart 

The Joy of 

[Healthy] 

Cooking

what’s INSIDE 

2 Summer 2012 

9On the Job at 30,000 Feet 

Two North Shore University Hospital nurses flying to 

Florida for some R&R respond to a medical emergency. 

22Zeroing In on Sepsis 

The health system’s new, more stringent criteria for 

diagnosis will save lives. 

34New Discovery in Ovarian Cancer 

MicroRNA, a genetic marker, can help in choosing 

the best course of treatment. 

72 A First in New York State 

Percutaneous mitral valve replacement is performed 

at Lenox Hill Hospital. 

88 Ambulance Tracker Launched at LIJ 

A new wireless system can collect patient data before 

they arrive at the ED. 

94 Remembering Spinney Hill 

A health system employee honors a historic African- 

American community in his documentary film. 

On the Cover 

Forest Hills Hospital chef Dale Lyons clearly loves his work – even 

chopping onions. He and fellow Forest Hills chef Gary DeFreitas, 

pictured in the background in the white chef’s toque, were winners 

of the health system’s Ultimate Chef Healthy Entrée Challenge. 

Summer 2012 

Editor in Chief 

Terry Lynam 

Director of Editorial Services 

Maria Conforti 

Contributors 

Alexandra Brovey 

Allison Bunin 

Lisa D’Ambruoso 

Gerri Ganz 

Marc Greene 

Theresa Jacobellis 

Dana Klosner 

Susan Kreimer 

Kristen Longo 

Stacey Makely 

Erica Manney 

Barbara Mlawer 

Brian Mulligan 

Emily Ng 

Margarita Oksenkrug 

Betty Olt 

Barbara Osborn 

Terri Ann Parnell, RN, DNP 

Michelle Pinto 

Michelle Pipia-Stiles 

Kathleen Rohan 

Neil Rosen 

Arleen Ryback 

Ann Silverman 

Peter Spanos 

Jamie Talan 

Timothy Vassilakos 

Kathleen Waton 

Thea Welch 

Elaine Wohl 

Photography 

North Shore-LIJ Studios, 

except as noted 

Graphic Design 

Gina Reduzzi/Reduzzi Design 

Comments/Suggestions? Contact: 

Public Relations Department 

125 Community Drive 

Great Neck, NY 11021 

(516) 465-2600

a MESSAGE from the PRESIDENT 

See more 

Walk to Paris 

photos on 

page 47. 

Building a Wellness Culture 

Just a few weeks removed from the conclusion of the Walk to Paris, I can say without hesitation 

that it was the most successful employee engagement we’ve ever done. You demonstrated your 

enthusiasm right from the start, with about 15,000 employees (1,493 teams of 10) enrolling in this 

first-ever fitness campaign and 914 teams (comprising 9,000+ employees) successfully completing 

the challenge, each team collectively walking 7.2 million steps – the approximate distance from New 

York to Paris. 

All told, participants walked over five million miles and took more than 10 billion steps. 

You lost an estimated 145,000 pounds – the equivalent of 764 adult males, 73 elephants or 66 

Honda Civics. 

We’re pleased to have recognized your efforts by raffling off free trips to Paris to four 

teams (40 employees) and giving out some great consolation prizes to 10 additional teams (100 

employees), including choices 

of gym memberships, wellness 

retreats and massages. 

But as we all know, the 

Walk to Paris was about more 

than winning a trip to Paris – 

the overriding goal is to change 

our culture and help us make 

wellness part of our lifestyle. It 

has to be part of our DNA if we 

are going to change the health 

of our communities. 

We have already made some 

major progress. Several years 

ago, we became a tobacco-free 

organization, and through 

our free smoking cessation 

program, nearly 1,000 

employees have quit smoking. 

We started our “Weight 

Watchers At Work” program, 

enrolling thousands of 

Rosemarie Ennis celebrates when the team she captained, Twinkle Toes, was 

randomly selected to go to Paris. Other Paris-bound teams were: Walka- 

Walka-Walka of Patient Financial Services in Westbury, Microbiologie Marche 

A’Paris of North Shore-LIJ Laboratories in Lake Success, and Champs-Elysees 

of LIJ Medical Center. 

employees across the health system. We also opened our own fitness facility, Vivo Health Fitness, 

and offer various discounted gym memberships across the New York metro area. 

Perhaps most importantly, as part of our Know Your Numbers Program, more than 8,000 

employees participated in free onsite health screenings and another 5,000 saw their personal 

physicians to learn about their numbers and their risks for serious illness just this past winter. 

Going forward, we’re planning another team-based competition and education program to 

help you and your families incorporate more fruits and vegetables (five servings a day) into your diet. 

Many of our cafeterias also are undergoing food and nutrition makeovers, and will be offering more 

nutritious foods with more fruits and vegetables. We’re also looking to roll out fruit and vegetable 

carts at our hospitals, particularly during night shifts, where healthy eating is most challenging. 

So, welcome to the wellness revolution – and congratulations on an incredible achievement. 

The New Standard 

3

For Craig Washington, 

serving overseas in the 

military meant missing 

family milestones, from the 

birth of his first niece to his 

cousin’s high school graduation. 

It also meant not being around 

for day-to-day chores, like 

helping his then-wife with yard 

work or fixing the television 

when it went out. 

“You feel very helpless 

because you’re over there 

and she’s over here,” said Mr. 

Washington, an Air Force 

veteran who completed two 

tours in Afghanistan. “Coming 

back, you have to overcome that 

— and it’s not always easy.” 

The transition process 

eventually led to the demise 

of his marriage, said Mr. 

Washington, who now works as 

the patient support manager at 

The Zucker Hillside Hospital. 

Hundreds of thousands of 

veterans like Mr. Washington 

have struggled with the 

transition from war back into 

civilian life. Almost 20 percent 

4 Summer 2012 

Partnership Supports 

Veterans and Their Families 

By Stacey Makely 

of veterans who served in Iraq 

and Afghanistan reported 

symptoms of post-traumatic 

stress disorder or major 

depression in a 2008 study by 

the RAND Corporation. 

The Unified Behavioral 

Health Center for Military 

Veterans and Their Families, 

scheduled to open later this 

year as a partnership between 

the US Department of Veterans 

Affairs and Zucker Hillside, 

will help ease the strain of these 

and other issues that so often 

face veterans and their families. 

The 4,000-square-foot Bay 

Shore building will include a 

behavioral health center side 

by side with a VA healthcare 

facility. The pairing is the only 

one of its kind in New York 

State and will allow vets to 

receive medical care on one side 

of the building and behavioral 

healthcare on the other. 

“In a very unique way, 

the center will be able to treat 

veterans and their family 

members,” said Andrew 

Roberts, director of North 

Shore-LIJ’s Office of Military 

and Veterans Liaison Services. 

Mr. Roberts knows firsthand 

just how important this 

kind of treatment can be: He 

served in Iraq from 2003 

to 2004 as an Army battery 

commander and returned with 

post-operational stress. 

But so many other soldiers 

never made it home from the 

war, and Mr. Roberts believes 

that veterans owe it to those 

soldiers to become reintegrated 

into society and live a full life — 

something that can be difficult 

without healing from the 

emotional wounds of war. 

“The stress that can come 

with a deployment to Iraq 

or Afghanistan can have a 

tremendous impact on not just 

the service member but also 

the family,” Mr. Roberts said. 

“Speaking as someone who 

suffered when I came back, it’s 

not always easy to realize or be 

aware that you’re struggling 

with something. Talking to a 

professional who is trained 

in evidence-based therapies 

can really help you feel like 

yourself again.” 

Soldier Ride 

Join us on July 20 for a great ride for the 

Wounded Warrior Project. 

Soldier Ride is an inspiring opportunity 

for the public to participate in a cycling 

event that honors the men and women 

of our military who sacrificed so much. 

Soldier Ride raises awareness for 

our nation’s wounded warriors who 

courageously battle the physical and 

psychological damages of war, 

and offers the public a chance to ride 

alongside as our nation’s wounded 

warriors promote their positive 

message of recovery! 

For further information, call 

Lisa Finnegan at (631) 647-3825.

MANHASSET — Since Operation 

Iraqi Freedom began in 

2003, much has been written 

about the plight of returning 

military personnel. One member 

of the US Army Reserves, 

Michael Kentner, Platoon Sergeant, 

773rd Transportation 

Company, Fort Totten, who is 

also a New York City firefighter 

and a maintenance worker at 

the North Shore-LIJ Stern 

Center for Rehabilitation, 

knows how important it is for 

reservists to have a supportive 

work environment. 

Last year, Sgt. Kentner 

found a Web site maintained 

by Employer Support of the 

Guard and Reserve, a US 

Department of Defense agency 

that sought Patriot Award 

nominations for employers 

that support military-reservist 

obligations. He wrote a letter 

extolling his immediate 

supervisor, Walter Oberman, 

the Stern Center’s assistant 

director of engineering, who 

“continues to support what I’m 

doing with a special sincerity 

that gives you chills. This guy 

embodies a certain intangible 

patriotism that simply cannot 

be articulated in words on 

paper.” 

At the recent ceremony to 

accept the Patriot Award, Mr. 

Oberman was surrounded by 

colleagues, veterans and active 

duty and reserve military 

personnel. He said he was 

The recipient of the Patriot Award, Walter Oberman (third from right), with: (from left) Andrew Roberts, Sergeant Major 

Vincent Mannion, Maureen McClusky, First Sergeant Kilsi Ciprian and Michael Kentner, platoon sergeant and Stern 

Center staff member. 

What It Means to Be 

a Patriotic Employer 

By Michelle Pinto 

both humbled and honored 

to work with his good friend, 

who, he added, “is clearly an 

American hero. How can you 

not want to help someone 

whose only thought is to help 

his country and his city?” 

Andrew Roberts, director 

of North Shore-LIJ’s Office of 

Military and Veterans Liaison 

Services, led the ceremony. 

Mr. Roberts noted that the 

North Shore-LIJ Health System 

has recruited 100 veterans 

for various staff positions 

throughout health system 

facilities in the past year. He 

praised the health’s system 

practice of paying employees 

on military leave the difference 

between military pay and their 

regular salaries, ensuring that 

their service to our country does 

not create economic hardship. 

Also on hand to present 

the award was Sgt. Major 

Vincent Mannion, 301st 

Information Operations 

Battalion, Fort Totten. 

“There are so many people 

who talk the talk but wind 

up complaining about 

the reservists’ military 

obligations,” he said, 

congratulating Maureen 

McClusky, executive director 

of the Stern Center, and staff 

members for providing true 

support and concern. 


5

LAKE SUCCESS — 

Normally, when you hear 

the word “PJs” you think 

of pajamas. But on a 

recent Friday afternoon, 

“PJs” took on an entirely 

different meaning. On this 

particular afternoon, a group 

of Pararescue Jumpers, aka 

PJs, from the 103rd Rescue 

Squadron of the New York Air 

National Guard/US Air Force 

from Westhampton Beach, came 

to the North Shore-LIJ Biokills 

Education Center in Lake 

Success for a special workshop 

on combat medical care. 

The pararescuers, some of 

whom deployed to the Mideast 

within a week of their visit to 

the Bioskills Center, are the 

elite combat force specifically 

organized, trained and equipped 

to conduct both conventional 

and unconventional combat and 

noncombat rescue operations. 

They are the most highly 

trained and versatile personnel 

recovery specialists in the world. 

Because of their training, the 

pararescuers are called on to 

execute the most extreme rescue 

missions across the globe. 

In light of the 

pararescuers’ critical mission, 

the workshop — directed by 

Lieutenant Colonel Stephen 

Rush, MD, a pararescue flight 

surgeon, and Jason D’Amore, 

MD, director of the North 

Shore-LIJ Advanced Airway 

6 Summer 2012 

Special Forces Medics 

Trained at North Shore-LIJ 

By Marc Greene 

Training Center — focused on 

the advanced life-saving skills 

necessary when performing 

in severe environments. 

The operating room for 

pararescuers is frequently in 

the back of a helicopter. 

While training at the 

Bioskills Education Center, 

part of North Shore- 

LIJ’s Center for Learning 

and Innovation (CLI), 

pararescuers learned critical 

techniques in such areas as 

advanced airway intubation, 

chest tube placement and 

deep-wound packing, along 

with multiple suturing for 

skin closure. 

“I can say without 

equivocation that the care that 

we are able to render to our 

military personnel in critical 

rescue situations is truly 

enhanced by our experience 

at the Bioskills Center,” said 

Colonel Rush. “We have 

been fortunate to have Dr. 

D’Amore as an enthusiastic 

and expert teacher.” 

Colonel Rush also 

thanked the North Shore-LIJ 

Health System for opening 

its doors to the military, and 

Bioskills Education Center 

director Joseph Colaccico for 

his logistical help and support. 

Colonel Rush said the 

103rd Rescue Squadron 

currently has three airmen 

deployed in the theater of 

operation. “Not only were 

two lives saved because of 

techniques that we practice and 

honed in the Bioskills Labs, 

but also the patients were kept 

more comfortable,” he said. 

North Shore-LIJ’s 

Biokills Education Center 

brings the latest operative 

techniques to physicians, 

medical students, nurses 

and surgical technologists. 

Coupled with the most 

advanced technologies in 

video and endoscopic surgical 

equipment, the center 

supports surgical training, 

continuing medical education 

and research. 

Watch the pararescuers 

in action at the Bioskills 

Education Center at 

http://bit.ly/zbMwNS. 

Above: Jason D’Amore, MD, center, 

trains pararescuers from the 103rd 

Rescue Squadron of the New York 

Air National Guard/US Air Force 

during a recent visit to the North 

Shore-LIJ Bioskills Education 

Center.

Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine 

Helps Vets With Unique Healthcare Needs 

The Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine has signed 

on with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Joining Forces initiative, 

which is committed to creating a new generation of doctors, 

medical schools and research facilities that will make sure our 

heroes receive the care worthy of their service. Recognizing 

Necessity Spurs Innovation 

When Jason D’Amore, MD, director of the North Shore-LIJ Advanced 

Airway Training Center, began conducting workshops on combat medical care 

with the Air National Guard pararescuers, he was surprised when he took a 

close look at one of the surgical medical kits for cricothyrotomy, commonly 

called a cric kit, used by the military in the field. 

“The kit was clearly designed by people who never went into the field to use 

it. There were basic surgical tools that should’ve been included but weren’t, and 

some of the tools that were needed were just too big to fit in the standard issue kit.” 

Necessity being the mother of invention and innovation, Dr. D’Amore teamed 

with medical device manufacturer Cook Medical to create a new cric kit that would 

not only have the appropriate surgical tools, but would also fit in a pararescuer’s 

fanny pack. “One of the pararescuemen showed me his own kit that he had literally 

taped together with surgical tools from an assortment of scavenged kits. I knew 

that we had a serious need that had to be addressed, but I also knew that we could 

put something together that would fit the bill — and the fanny pack.” 

This is the redesigned kit developed at North Shore-LIJ’s Bioskills Education 

Center with Cook Medical. 

veterans’ and their families’ sacrifice and commitment, Hofstra 

North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine pledged to mobilize its 

integrated missions in education, research, and clinical care 

to train physicians to meet veterans’ and their families’ unique 

healthcare needs, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 

and traumatic brain injury (TBI). 

“We are honored to participate in the White House 

Joining Forces initiative to address the healthcare needs of 

military service members and veterans and their families,” said 

Lawrence Smith, MD, founding dean of the medical school. 

“Since 2006, North Shore-LIJ has served military personnel 

and their families, including young children, through its 

Rosen Family Wellness Center for Law Enforcement and 

Military Personnel and Their Families, as well as other 

veterans-related services. As a result, the health system has 

extensive experience diagnosing and treating military service 

members and their families with behavioral health issues. This 

commitment to veterans carries over to our medical school 

and our curriculum.” 

The School of Medicine joins the Association of 

American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the American 

Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) 

in the commitment to enrich medical education to ensure 

that physicians are aware of the unique clinical challenges and 

best practices associated with caring for this group; to develop 

new research and clinical trials on PTSD and TBI to foster 

better understanding and treatment of these conditions; to 

share their information and best practices with each other 

through a collaborative Web forum created by the AAMC; 

and to grow the body of knowledge leading to improvements 

in healthcare and wellness for our military service members, 

veterans and their families. 

First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden created 

Joining Forces to bring Americans together to recognize, honor 

and take action to support veterans and military families as they 

serve our country and throughout their lives. The initiative 

aims to educate, challenge and spark action from all sectors 

of society to ensure veterans and military families have the 

support they have earned. The initiative focuses on key priority 

areas — employment, education and wellness — while raising 

awareness about the service, sacrifice and needs of America’s 

veterans and military families. More information is available at: 

JoiningForces.gov and NorthShoreLIJ.com/rosen. 


7

in the SPOTLIGHT 

Members of the HealthPort team, 

pictured from left to rignt, are 

Christina Birrer, Devon Kelly, 

Jaclyn Kelly, Ron Sharpe, 

Fabrizio DiFazio, Cathlyn Fagan, 

Kai Chan and Jose Villamar. 

The HealthPort Team 

By Jamie Talan 

Less than a decade ago, an employee wanting to know what was going 

on in the ever-expanding North Shore-LIJ Health System could find a single 

page on the intranet. And it required a person to log in. Today, the virtual 

site for HealthPort is more like a city than a home. The renovation is nothing 

short of, well, BIG. It’s a community that serves the health system’s 43,000 

employees and allows them to navigate the entire landscape of the health 

system’s infrastructure. There are neighborhoods for nurses, doctors and other 

employees. Trustees even have their own key that provides them access to 

information they can use to understand the everyday operations of the system. 

It’s a city that has close to 40,000 unique visitors a month. Imagine a day 

when you had to hunt down a binder filled with hospital policies and procedures. 

If you needed to find a fellow employee, ha! It was virtually impossible. Now, 

it is virtually possible with one keystroke. PeopleFinder tells you where people 

work, how to find them and who they work for. People can sell cars and houses. 

They can download any one of thousands of forms that once had been housed 

across the health system. And every day, HealthPort staff is creating even more 

customized features and is now designing an integrative social networking 

portal. People can now add their events themselves. HealthPort posts over 30 

new events a month. 

Training on the site is also saving time and money for the health system. 

Nurses can train at their desks with online nursing modules that have led to 

8 Summer 2012 

HealthPort has just won a 2012 LISA Award for Top Software Products 

from the Long Island Software & Technology Network (LISTnet). This puts 

North Shore-LIJ in the elite company of winners such as CA Technologies, 

Motorola, Northrop Grumman, PC Richard and Oracle. Congrats to the 

HealthPort team for the high-quality work you do! 

cost savings of almost $1 million, according to HealthPort manager Devon Kelly. 

Managers can now log on to the site and read and analyze financial score cards 

from every hospital in the health system. They have access to daily census reports. 

And now doctors and other health practitioners have the tools at hand to read 

electronic medical records – and have x-rays and other scans uploaded to their 

desktop or phone, a private cyber-medical office. 

The HealthPort business team is powered by three full-time employees 

who work closely with the Web Services team. Last year, they implemented and 

completed over 700 major projects for the site. “We are growing and creating 

a world where employees can find information that will make their jobs easier,” 

said Devon Kelly, HealthPort manager. Employees also have remote access to 

HealthPort. There are newsletters and events pages. Thousands of people click 

in every day to the Employee Bulletin Board, where they can list items for sale 

or purchase them. The team has won 10 awards in the last few years. And they 

continue to talk to department heads about their specific needs so they can 

develop department-specific content for employees. 

“We see this as our home, our community,” said Ms. Kelly. And, “the virtual 

door is always open.” 

Users can contact the Help Desk at (516) 470-7272, 

HealthPortWebmaster@nshs.edu or Devon Kelly at (516) 465-3144.

A DAY in the LIFE 

Joanne Turnier 

Program Manager, Diversity, 

Inclusion and Health Literacy 

Q: What are your responsibilities? 

A: I promote health literacy, cultural diversity and inclusion throughout North 

Shore-LIJ. I also assess and implement strategies to improve the health literacy 

of our staff members, patients and their families. Along with Dr. Terri Parnell, I 

create health literacy programs for healthcare professionals, cultural resources 

for employees and educational content for patient-room TVs across the system. 

I also teach and develop curricula for the Center for Learning and Innovation and 

the Nursing Institute. 

Q: How did your career path lead to this role? 

A: I began my career in neonatal intensive care, and eventually transitioned to 

working with those who’ve experienced the sudden traumatic death of a loved 

one. Meanwhile, I worked as a nurse educator focusing on staff wellness and 

end-of-life care. This experience in program development and exposure to 

diverse populations prepared me for my current position. I believe effective 

communication is essential in healthcare no matter the situation. 

Q: What initiatives are you working on? 

A: I am particularly focused on our Dignity and Respect = Inclusion campaign. 

This program educates employees about various cultures and how to overcome 

biases or lack of knowledge so misinformation does not hinder the healthcare we 

provide. The Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Literacy is introducing the 

program through videos and live presentations. I’m also developing a number of 

educational initiatives and staff resources that we will launch soon. 

Q: What is your #1 tip to those who want to promote diversity, inclusion and 

health literacy? 

A: Approach patients and families with a compassionate heart and cultural 

humility. Be aware of your own biases; don’t be afraid to ask questions about 

your patients’ beliefs, traditions and culture. 

Take the pledge: NorthShoreLIJ.com/inclusionpledge. 

— By Erica Manney 

Duty Calls at 30,000 Feet 

For Two NSUH Nurses 

By Thea Welch 

Debbie Smith, RN, and Connie Kwiatkowski, RN, were on a 

JetBlue flight to West Palm Beach in April, getting away for some 

R&R at Ms. Smith’s condo, when an announcement by the flight 

attendant made them realize that they weren’t on vacation quite yet. 

“She said, ‘Medical to the front, medical to the front,’” Ms. 

Smith recalled, “and then she said, ‘Any nurse or doctor, to the 

front.’ Connie and I looked at each other and she said to me, ‘I 

guess that’s us.’” 

So the nurses made their way to the front of the plane. There 

they found an older woman on the floor, with a younger man 

kneeling beside her and supporting her head. “The first thing I 

said was, ‘Lay her down,’ Ms. Smith said. ‘Her blood needs to be 

flowing to her head.’ He didn’t respond. ‘Lay her down!’ I said, 

more forcefully. Finally he did. ‘I’m a nurse,’ he said. ‘We are, 

too,’ I said. I didn’t tell him that we have more than 50 years of 

nursing experience between us, but I guess he felt the woman was 

in capable hands, because he went back to his seat.” 

continued on page 69 

Connie Kwiatkowski (left) and Debbie Smith, nurses at NSUH, were pressed 

into service on a recent flight to Florida. 


9

LIJ, North Shore University Hospital 

Rank Tops for Heart Care in New York 

By Betty Olt 

NEW HYDE PARK — LIJ 

Medical Center and North 

Shore University Hospital provide 

some of New York State’s 

best outcomes for open-heart 

surgery and percutaneous coronary 

interventions, according 

to reports recently released by 

the state Department of Health. 

In fact, LIJ was the only hospital 

in the state with significantly 

better outcomes for both cardiac 

surgery and percutaneous 

coronary interventions. 

According to the Department 

of Health’s latest report 

on adult cardiac surgery (covering 

2007 to 2009), LIJ was 

one of only four hospitals in 

New York State — and the only 

one on Long Island — whose 

risk-adjusted mortality rates 

were significantly better than 

the statewide average for 676 

patients undergoing surgeries 

to repair or replace heart 

valves and for those in need 

of surgeries for both valve 

and coronary artery bypass 

graft (CABG) surgery. In a 

separate category analyzing 

outcomes for CABG, valve or 

valve/CABG, LIJ and North 

Shore University Hospital were 

among six hospitals in the state 

— and the only ones on Long 

Island — distinguished by low 

risk-adjusted mortality rates. 

Over the three-year period 

analyzed by the Department of 

Health, the combined volume 

of cardiac surgeries at North 

Shore University Hospital and 

LIJ Medical Center was 2,082 

— the most in the state. 

In addition to the 

10 Summer 2012 

hospitals’ top rankings, two 

LIJ heart surgeons, Robert 

Palazzo, MD, and S. Jacob 

Scheinerman, MD, and two 

North Shore University Hospital 

surgeons, Alan Hartman, 

MD, and Robert Kalimi, 

MD, were among 13 surgeons 

statewide to earn the Department 

of Health’s prestigious 

double asterisk for their 

extraordinarily low mortality 

rates — out of a total of about 

190 surgeons at 40 hospitals 

who performed open-heart 

surgeries during that period. 

In fact, Dr. Palazzo performed 

225 CABG surgeries over the 

three-year period covered in 

the Department of Health report 

without a single death. 

In a separate New York 

State Department of Health 

report on percutaneous 

coronary interventions, Lenox 

Hill Hospital had the lowest 

risk-adjusted mortality 

rate in the state in 2009 for 

2,940 patients undergoing 

angioplasty (a procedure that 

clears blocked heart arteries 

to increase blood flow). Over 

the three years covered in the 

report (2007 to 2009), LIJ 

was one of six hospitals statewide 

with statistically superior 

outcomes for angioplasty. In 

addition, North Shore was one 

of only three hospitals in New 

York — and the only one on 

Long Island — with significantly 

better outcomes for 935 

emergency angioplasty patients. 

From an individual 

standpoint, LIJ Medical 

Center’s Barry Kaplan, MD, 

and North Shore University 

Hospital’s Loukas Boutis, MD, 

and Donna Marchant, MD, 

were among only a handful 

of cardiologists in New York 

State — out of more than 300 

statewide — who were outliers 

for superior outcomes. 

Since 2000, the Department 

of Health has released 

eight reports for angioplasty. 

LIJ has received double-asterisk 

rankings for all cases in six of 

those reports, which is more 

than any other hospital in the 

state, according to Dr. Kaplan, 

vice chair of cardiology for the 

North Shore-LIJ Health System. 

In addition to LIJ being 

the only hospital in New York 

to receive a double asterisk 

for both cardiac surgery and 

angioplasty in the current 

Department of Health reports, 

North Shore was the only 

other hospital in the state to 

also have statistically superior 

outcomes in at least one 

category for both open-heart 

surgery and angioplasty. 

“The New York Department 

of Health’s analysis of 

cardiac outcomes in hospitals 

across the state has contributed 

to continuous improvements 

in the care delivered to New 

Yorkers with heart disease,” 

said Stanley Katz, MD, senior 

vice president of cardiovascular 

services for North Shore- 

LIJ and chair of cardiology at 


and LIJ Medical Center. He 

added that heart disease is the 

number one cause of death in 

this state and in this country. 

“The availability of these 

reports provides heart patients 

and their families with valuable 

information for making 

informed decisions about their 

cardiac care.” 

“Teamwork is at the heart 

of everything we do,” said Dr. 

Hartman, chair of cardiothoracic 

surgery at North Shore-LIJ. 

“Fortunately, the same formula 

for success that has enabled us to 

consistently provide exceptional 

open-heart surgery at North 

Shore University Hospital and 

LIJ Medical Center has been 

replicated at Southside Hospital.” 

Since the launch of Southside’s 

cardiothoracic program in 

February 2011, Dr. Hartman’s 

team has performed 359 surgeries, 

ensuring that residents of 

Suffolk County’s South Shore 

get the same access to state-ofthe-art 

heart care as the tens of 

thousands who have entrusted 

their lives to LIJ and North 

Shore University Hospital. 

Adult Cardiac Surgery 

http://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/diseases/cardiovascular/heart_disease/docs/2007-2009_adult_cardiac_surgery.pdf 

Angioplasty 

http://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/diseases/cardiovascular/docs/pci_2007-2009.pdf

Aesthetics, Smarts and Compassion Built into New LIJ Unit 

By Betty Olt 

NEW HYDE PARK — If not for the 

cutting-edge bedside technology, 

you might mistake a patient room 

in LIJ Medical Center’s new 30-bed 

Cardiovascular and Thoracic Unit for 

a sleek hotel room. That’s because, 

when planning the new space, 

designers focused on delivering care 

that is not only state-of-the-art, but 

also compassionate. So each room is 

private and provides ample space for 

loved ones at the bedside and if they 

choose to stay overnight. 

The Cardiovascular and 

Thoracic Unit is dedicated to 

patients undergoing cardiothoracic 

surgery, cardiac catheterization 

and electrophysiology procedures. 

Telemetry technology equips each 

patient room, allowing remote 

monitoring of vital signs; bedside 

computers give clinicians access to 

patients’ electronic health records. 

Amenities of patient rooms 

within the 29,000-square-foot 

medical/surgical unit include a full 

bathroom and shower, a 42-inch flatscreen 

TV, mini-refrigerator, Internet 

access, a desk and a visiting area 

with a pullout loveseat. Rich wood 

floors and nature-inspired motifs and 

artwork provide a warm, welcoming 

setting that accommodates patient 

needs and privacy. Carpeted corridors 

are not only visually appealing, but 

also help reduce noise. Extra-large 

windows in each patient room and 

family lounges provide access to 

natural daylight and views. 

The cardiac suite opened to 

rave reviews from patients and staff 

alike, but the new facility is built 

on the reputation of LIJ’s cardiac 

services. “LIJ has consistently 

excelled in performing angioplasty 

and cardiac surgery, and has 

achieved outstanding outcomes for 

both procedures in New York State,” 

said Barry Kaplan, MD, vice chair of 

cardiology for LIJ and North Shore 

University Hospital. (See related 

story at left.) “Now, with the new 

unit, we can practice in a world-class 

facility and provide the best possible 

care to patients in a beautiful and 

healing environment.” 

By decentralizing nursing 

stations and locating supply closets 

adjacent to every patient room 

entrance, nurses’ spend less time 

walking the floor — and more time 

with patients. A pharmacy on the 

floor ensures timely, accurate 

delivery of medications. And the 

needs of special patient populations 

are addressed via two dedicated 

The hospitality industry inspired the design of the Cardiovascular and Thoracic Unit. The inpatient space is on the eighth 

floor in the Zuckerberg Pavilion, part of a $300 million, 10-story tower that also houses the Katz Women’s Hospital. 

Barry Kaplan, MD, vice chair of 

cardiology for LIJ and North Shore 

University Hospital, and S. Jacob 

Scheinerman, MD, vice chair of 

cardiothoracic surgery at LIJ, 

showcase LIJ’s new Cardiovascular 

and Thoracic Unit. 

isolation rooms with anterooms for 

patient observation and a bariatric 

room equipped with overhead lifts 

for patient and staff safety. 

In addition to beauty and 

efficiency, LIJ’s new Cardiovascular and 

Thoracic Unit is ecologically kind, too. 

As part of the North Shore-LIJ Health 

System’s commitment to sustainable 

and environmentally responsible 

healthcare, the unit is registered 

with the Green Building Certification 

Institute and has been designed to 

achieve a Silver rating from LEED, 

the accepted industry benchmark for 

sustainable design, green building 

materials and energy efficiency. 

Take a tour of the new space at 

http://www.northshorelij.com/NSLIJ/ 

media-portal/homepage-videochannel/lij-cardiac-units. 

The New Standard 11

Ann Pszybylski, 84, is the first patient on Long Island to receive the only FDA-approved nonsurgical heart valve 

replacement device. Members of LIJ’s cardiac team wished her well as she prepared to leave the hospital. Ms. Pszybylski 

is shown above with, from the left, Dr. Scheinerman; Dorothy Veron, RN, nurse manager of the catheterization lab; Dr. 

Jauhar; Annmarie Copertino, RN, nurse manager; and Robert Rodriguez, RN. 

New Nonsurgical Heart Procedure 

Gives Hope to Older Patients 

Ask 84-year-old Ann 

Pszybylski what it was like to 

take just a short walk down 

a hallway, fighting for each 

breath. She was in desperate 

need of a new heart valve, 

but her age and other medical 

problems made open heart 

surgery too risky. 

A new technical 

advance recently approved 

by the US Federal Drug 

Administration (FDA) – the 

Sapien transcatheter aortic 


valve replacement (TAVR) – 

is helping older people like 

Mrs. Pszybylski with severe 

aortic stenosis to breathe and 

move about more easily, and 

providing them with a new 

lease on life. 

“No more huffing and 

puffing,” said Mrs. Pszybylski. 

The Hauppauge resident, 

who was not a candidate for 

the traditional heart valve 

replacement procedure, was 

the first patient at LIJ Medical 

By Betty Olt 

Center to receive the TAVR 

device. She is now on the 

move with her eight grand- 

and great-grandchildren. 

She said she wants to resume 

traveling, but mostly, she 

added, “I’m looking forward 

to living longer.” 

Cardiologists and 

cardiothoracic surgeons at 

LIJ are the first in Queens 

and Long Island to implant 

the new nonsurgical heart 

valve replacement device 

in patients with failing 

heart valves. “TAVR is a 

breakthrough because it offers 

some patients who could not 

withstand the conventional 

surgery due to age or serious 

medical conditions a viable 

treatment option,” said S. 

Jacob Scheinerman, MD, 

vice chair of cardiothoracic 

surgery at LIJ. The TAVR is 

manufactured by Edwards 

Lifesciences in Irvine, CA. 

Similar to a technique 

to implant cardiac stents 

into clogged arteries, the 

TAVR procedure involves the 

physician guiding a catheter, 

or thin tube, attached to the 

Sapien valve through the 

patient’s femoral artery, in 

the thigh. The cardiac team 

uses transesophageal echo 

(TEE) and fluoroscopic 

imaging guidance for proper 

placement. The Sapien valve 

is expanded by a balloon in 

the delivery system (about 

the diameter of a quarter), 

pushing away the calcium to 

enlarge the opening of the 

valve. Once it is placed at 

the opening of the valve it is 

anchored inside the aorta and 

blood flow is restored 

Approximately 250,000 

Americans suffer from 

severe aortic stenosis, often 

developing debilitating 

symptoms that can affect 

normal day-to-day activities 

such as walking short distances 

or climbing stairs. Generally, 

the condition affects people 

over 70. Aortic stenosis

occurs when the aortic valve 

does not properly open and 

close, usually due to a buildup 

of calcium. The calcium 

build-up restricts blood flow 

from the heart to the rest 

of the body. This increases 

pressure within the heart, 

causing heart muscles to 

weaken. All of these events 

increase the risk of heart 

failure. Symptoms of the 

disease can include extreme 

fatigue, dizziness, chest pain 

or pressure, shortness of 

breath during activity, rapid 

or irregular heartbeat and 

fainting. 

“Patients who do not 

receive an aortic valve 

replacement have no effective, 

long-term treatment option 

to prevent or delay the 

progression of severe aortic 

stenosis and eventual death,” 

said Dr. Scheinerman, noting 

that approximately 50 percent 

of patients who are in their 

80s and have symptoms of 

congestive heart failure with 

critical aortic stenosis will die 

in six months to a year without 

treatment. “For patients who 

were previously inoperable, 

the new TAVR gives hope for 

extending and improving the 

quality of their lives.” 

Dr. Scheinerman, Barry 

Kaplan, MD, vice chair of 

cardiology at LIJ and North 

Shore University Hospital 

and an interventional 

cardiologist, Rajiv Jauhar, 

MD, chief of cardiology 

and director of the cardiac 

catheterization laboratory and 

interventional cardiology at 

LIJ, and Robert Palazzo, MD, 

a cardiothoracic surgeon, 

joined the multidisciplinary 

team to perform the procedure 

on Mrs. Pszybylski. The 

procedure was performed in 

the new state-of-the art hybrid 

operating room built at LIJ. 

The $5 million surgical suite 

combines the latest surgical 

and cardiac catheterization, 

robotic technology and 

three-dimensional radiologic 

imaging capabilities with realtime 

patient monitoring. 

“Having all the 

equipment and members of 

the cardiac team in one OR 

saves time and eliminates 

the need for a patient to be 

moved from one room to 

another,” said Dr. Kaplan. 

“Interventional cardiologists 

and cardiac surgeons are able 

to collaborate closely during 

the procedure. Working 

in our new hybrid surgical 

suite allows us to be ready 

for any situation or potential 

emergency.” 

To watch a video featuring the 

cardiac team at LIJ who performed 

the first TAVR procedures visit 

NorthShoreLIJ.com/NSLIJ/vitalityvideos, 

or use your smartphone 

to scan the QR code. 

Hybrid OR: 

Making Many Things Possible 

By Betty Marton 

Two new hybrid operating rooms — the first in Queens and Nassau 

County — are letting previously inoperable patients benefit from cutting- 

edge combination surgical, cardiac and vascular interventions, including 

a life-saving heart valve replacement procedure. Located at LIJ Medical 

Center and North Shore University Hospital, these interdisciplinary, 

multifunctional rooms allow cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons to 

perform a range of open, minimally invasive, image-guided and catheter- 

based procedures in one operating suite. 

“It’s the ideal environment to bring interventional cardiologists and 

cardiac surgeons together in a team approach that is relatively unusual and 

unprecedented,” explained Barry Kaplan, MD, vice chair of cardiology at LIJ 

and North Shore University Hospital. 

The hybrid OR incorporates robotic technology and three-dimen- 

sional radiologic imaging capabilities with real-time patient monitoring 

that, when not needed, can easily be moved out of the way to support 

general surgical procedures. Maximizing room use and efficiency makes it 

possible to perform such procedures as the Sapien® transcatheter aortic 

valve replacement (TAVR) on patients with severe aortic stenosis. TAVR is 

performed via the femoral artery, which is similar to the approach used for 

cardiac catheterization. The cardiac team then uses transesophageal echo 

(TEE) and fluoroscopic imaging guidance for proper placement. 

“TAVR only requires a two- or three-centimeter incision, which 

allows us to treat patients who were previously deemed inoperable due to 

age or serious medical conditions,” said S. Jacob Scheinerman, MD, vice 

chair of cardiothoracic surgery at LIJ. 

According to Robert Blenderman PA, director of cardiovascular and 

thoracic surgery at North Shore University Hospital and LIJ, the $5 million 

hybrid surgical suites, built at a time when healthcare dollars are stretched 

thin, exemplify the North Shore-LIJ Health System’s commitment to 

providing the highest-quality treatment and care for its patients. 

“North Shore-LIJ has gone above and beyond in supporting this 

hybrid OR technology to meet the needs of future procedures,” he said. 

“It’s a beautiful thing to have the ability to offer a quality treatment 

to those patients who previously had no other options. This is a 

groundbreaking development in cardiovascular surgery and shows our 

dedication to growing our discipline in a quality way.” 


HealthGrades Rates LIJ, North Shore 

Among Best for Cardiovascular Care in US 

By Betty Olt 

LIJ Medical Center 

and North Shore University 

Hospital (NSUH) have been 

named among America’s 100 

Best Hospitals for cardiac care, 

cardiac surgery and coronary 

intervention, according to 

a recently released report by 

HealthGrades, an independent 

group that analyzes hospital 

quality outcomes. LIJ was also 

ranked number one in New 

York State for cardiac surgery 

for two consecutive years 

(2011 and 2012); and NSUH 

was ranked number two in 

the state for overall cardiac 

services, cardiology services and 

coronary interventional (heart 

stent) procedures in 2012. 

HealthGrades analyzed 

Medicare patient outcome 

data from 5,000 hospitals 

nationwide from 2008 through 

2010, the most recent years 

for which data was available. 

It published performance 

outcomes for cardiac services in 

its 2011 Healthcare Consumerism and 

Hospital Quality in America report. A 

quality comparison of doctors 

and hospitals in the New York 

area can be found online at 

HealthGrades.com. 

Among the achievements 

noted in the report, NSUH and 

LIJ consistently received fivestar 

ratings, the highest possible 

hospital rating, in multiple 

cardiac service areas, which 

translates to a 73 percent lower 

chance of death compared to 

one-star hospitals, according to 

HealthGrades. 

“The North Shore-LIJ 

Health System is committed 


to providing the highestquality 

care to our patients,” 

said Stanley Katz, MD, 

senior vice president of 

cardiovascular services 

and chair of cardiology at 

North Shore-LIJ. “Our 

cardiac physicians and 

their teams at LIJ Medical 

Center and North Shore 

University Hospital are 

making major treatment 

breakthroughs in the field, 

improving the lives of our 

patients in our community. 

The HealthGrades ratings 

demonstrate our excellent 

outcomes in cardiac care, which 

are accessible to consumers 

online and are extremely useful 

for patients and loved ones 

making the important decision 

of choosing their cardiologists 

and hospitals.” 

LIJ Medical Center 

was also recognized for the 

following clinical achievements: 

LIJ Ranked Nationally 

Among the top 5 percent for 

coronary interventional 

procedures (2008-2012) 


cardiac surgery (2011-2012) 

Among the top 5 percent 

for overall cardiac services 

(2011-2012) 

LIJ Ranked in NY State 

Among the top 10 for coronary 

interventional procedures 

(2008-2012) 

Among the top 10 for cardiac 

surgery (2010-2012) 

Among the top 10 for overall 

cardiac services (2011-2012) 

NSUH received five-star ratings for the following clinical achievements: 

Overall cardiac services for five years in a row (2008-2012) 

Cardiac surgery for five years in a row (2008-2012) 

Cardiology services for two years in a row (2011-2012) 

Coronary bypass surgery in 2012 

Valve surgery for six years in a row (2007-2012) 

Coronary interventional procedures for 10 years in a row (2003-2012) 

Treatment of heart attack for seven years in a row (2006-2012) 

Treatment of heart failure in 2012 

LIJ received five-star recognition for the following clinical achievements: 

Overall cardiac services for two years in a row (2011-2012) 

Coronary interventional procedures for 10 years in a row (2003-2012) 

Cardiac surgery for three years in a row (2010-2012) 

Coronary bypass surgery for four years in a row (2009-2012) 

Valve surgery for two years in a row (2011-2012) 

In addition, North 

Shore University Hospital was 

recognized for the following 

clinical achievements: 

NSUH Ranked Nationally 


coronary interventional 

procedures (2003-2012) 

Among the top 5 percent 

for overall cardiac services 

(2008-2012) 


cardiac surgery in 2012 


cardiology services in 2012 

NSUH Ranked in NY State 

Among the top 5 for coronary 

interventional procedures 

(2003-2012) 

Among the top 5 for cardiology 

services in 2012 

Among the top 10 for overall 

cardiac services (2005-2012) 

Among the top 10 for cardiac 

surgery (2007-2012) 

Key findings of the 

HealthGrades 2011 Healthcare 

Consumerism and Hospital Quality in 

America report include: 

q On average, patients had 

a 73 percent lower risk of 

dying in a five-star-rated 

hospital compared to a 

one-star-rated hospital, 

and a 54 percent lower 

risk of dying in a five-starrated 

hospital compared to 

the national average. 

q If all Medicare patients 

from 2008 through 2010 

had been treated at fivestar 

hospitals, 240,040 

lives could have potentially 

been saved. 

q If all Medicare patients 

from 2008 through 2010 

had gone to five-star 

hospitals for their procedure, 

164,472 in-hospital 

complications could have 

potentially been avoided.

Quick, Collaborative Cardiac Care Saves Patient 

“It felt like there was a dagger in my back,” said 47-year-old Noel Riley. 

The Valley Stream resident awakened with chest pain and intermittent searing 

pain across his back, and when the pain would not go away, he headed to Franklin 

Hospital, where Mollie Williams, MD, made a diagnosis that would save his life. 

Mr. Riley was experiencing an ascending (Type A) aortic dissection which, without 

treatment, kills 90 percent of patients within 48 hours. 

Aortic dissection happens when a tear inside the layered wall of the aorta 

(the largest artery of the body) causes 

bleeding into and along the wall, 

forcing the layers apart. Symptoms 

are varying and similar to those of 

other heart problems — such as a 

severe ripping or tearing pain from the 

shoulder blades or back and extending 

to the chest, loss of consciousness, 

shortness of breath, sweating or 

overall weakness — which can make 

proper diagnosis difficult. Mr. Riley 

“did not have chronic hypertension, 

his EKG [electrocardiography] and 

blood work were normal and he looked 

healthy,” said Dr. Williams, who 

treated him in Franklin’s Emergency 

Department. Considering his symptoms, she ordered a computed tomography 

(CT) scan, a test commonly used to diagnose aortic dissection, and discovered 

the severity of his condition. 

Mr. Riley required emergency surgery to prevent rupture and death — and 

was transferred to LIJ Medical Center’s Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. 

There, a team of clinicians rushed him into surgery where S. Jacob Scheinerman, 

MD, associate chairman of the department, removed the damaged segments of the 

MANHASSET — For the second 

consecutive year, the American 

Heart Association (AHA) has 

awarded North Shore University 

Hospital its Platinum-Level 

Recognition for being a “Fit- 

Friendly” organization. The AHA’s 

Fit-Friendly Company Program 

recognizes employers who 

encourage the health of their 

employees and work to create a 

physically fit and healthy work 

environment. 

“We’re proud to achieve 

the American Heart Association’s 

‘Fit-Friendly’ designation for a 

second straight year,” said Susan 

Somerville, the hospital’s executive 

director. “We believe strongly that 

as members of a healthcare team, 

our employees have a responsibility 

to set a positive example for the 

patients they serve by maintaining a 

healthy lifestyle.” 

The AHA program honors 

companies in several ways. “Gold” 

ascending aorta, replaced the tissue with a graft and, along with Robert Palazzo, 

MD, repaired the damaged aortic valve. “Mr. Riley’s Type A dissection, which 

involves the root of the aorta, is the most dangerous type,” said Dr. Scheinerman. 

“The key to his survival was how quickly Franklin’s team made a diagnosis and got 

him to our operating room. Many people never even make it to the hospital.” 

The risk factors for aortic dissection include a history of uncontrolled 

hypertension, aortic aneurysm, a dilated aorta or congenital connective tissue 

disorders such as Marfan syndrome or Ehlers-Danlos 

syndrome, explained Dr. Scheinerman. Mr. Riley had 

none of these risk factors. 

As an orthotist (a specialist in the design of 

orthopedic appliances), Mr. Riley was familiar with 

the condition, but was shocked by the diagnosis. 

“Dr. Williams’ ability to listen was pivotal to my 

survival,” said Mr. Riley. Her quick actions to explore 

all causes of his pain are the reason he made it 

to surgery in time, and the collaboration of the 

healthcare teams at Franklin Hospital and LIJ Medical 

Center saved his life. 

“Mr Riley’s case highlights the benefits 

patients receive from the collaboration of North 

Shore-LIJ hospitals,” said John Rohe, MD, director 

of emergency medicine at Franklin. “Our facilities 

truly work together to save lives.” Mr. Riley’s survival is also a testament to the 

health system’s cardiac care and each hospital’s access to that care, wellevidenced 

by Dr. Williams calling in the expertise of LIJ’s cardiac Emergency 

Medical Services transfer team and Aortic Surgery Center physicians. 

Mr. Riley has nothing but praise for the care he received at both Franklin 

Hospital and LIJ Medical Center. “It was nothing short of excellent,” he said. “They 

saved my life.” 

American Heart Association Recognizes 

North Shore University Hospital as “Fit-Friendly” 

is the first tier of recognition and 

“Platinum” is the advanced tier. 

Recognition is valid for one year 

and companies must renew annually 

by completing a renewal form. The 

AHA offers employers numerous 

recommendations that enable them 

to achieve Fit-Friendly recognition, 

including: providing walking routes, 

promoting walking programs and 

allowing staff to wear athletic shoes 

in the workplace on designated 

“sneaker days.” 

In addition to the Walk 

to Paris (see p. 3, p. 47), NSUH 

offers on-site wellness programs 

such as Zumba and yoga fitness 

classes, individualized nutrition 

counseling and classes and wellattended 

multidisciplinary health 

and wellness fairs. The hospital 

is also making strides in helping 

employees select healthier food 

options, by programming vending 

machines to display selections’ 

nutritional content. 


around the system 

HUNTINGTON — Neither 

Peter Morley nor Tom O’Reilly 

works at Huntington Hospital 

or even in the healthcare field. 

But they serve side by side 

with hospital staff and board 

members on the hospital’s new 

Patient/Family Centered Care 

Partnership Council. Chaired by 

Amy Loeb, RN, nurse manager 

of 2SouthWest, the Council’s 

mission is “to create dynamic 

patient, family and caregiver 

partnerships that enhance 

the healthcare experience at 

Huntington Hospital.” 

The group aims to enhance 

the patient experience by encouraging open, twoway 

communication, articulating patients’ and family 

members’ needs and ensuring those needs are met. 

“We want community members to have a real 

partnership with the hospital to help enhance the 

patient experience,” Ms. Loeb said. “We want the 

patient and family perspective so we don’t have to 

assume we know what they want and need.” 

Huntington board member Carmela Anglim brings 

decades of experience to the partnership, including 

service as a hospital trustee, a hospital volunteer and 

administrator of volunteer services for another Long Island hospital. 

“The hospital is the great equalizer,” she said. “Sooner or later 

we all get here. Patients can feel frightened and isolated and families 

may be reluctant to be involved. Our goal is to empower patients and 

families and bring them into the circle of care.” 

The council will do more than enhance patient comfort. 

“This is a safety initiative too,” said Ms. Loeb. “By facilitating 

communication, when patients leave the hospital they will 

understand why they were here and what they need to do to stay 

well in the future.” 

Ms. Loeb pointed to existing hospital programs that support the 

goals of the council. Weekly patient safety rounds bring department 

heads onto patient care units where direct care providers can discuss 

emerging concerns and issues. The Palliative Medicine Program is 

another avenue for patients and caregivers to set mutual goals. 

This collaborative approach is beginning to take root at hospitals 


Patient/Family/Caregiver 

Partnerships Include 

Community Members 

By Theresa Jacobellis 

around the country. It began at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore following 

the tragic death of a child whose mother’s concerns were not taken 

seriously by her healthcare team. The Institute for Healthcare 

Improvement, the World Health Organization and other national and 

international groups focused on healthcare quality endorse healthcare 

teams formally including patient and family input. 

“Patients and their loved ones are our eyes and ears,” said Ms. 

Loeb. “We want to invite them to be our partners in caring because 

it benefits all of us.” 

“For me, this is not just another clinical initiative but a pathway 

to truly having a transparent organization,” said Deborah Feehan, 

RN, clinical nursing supervisor. “Through community input we can 

improve the care and experience our patients receive.” 

Pictured above are members of the new Patient/Family Centered Care 

Partnership Council.

Weight-Loss Surgery Study 

Combines Two Approaches 

By Kristen Longo 

SYOSSET — For patients considering weight-loss surgery, Syosset 

Hospital’s Center for Bariatric Surgical Specialties is participating 

in a national research study designed to evaluate the weight-loss 

results of banded gastric plication, an investigational procedure 

combining two common bariatric surgical methods under the 

hypothesis of earlier and more rapid weight loss with fewer 

risks. The research study has been reviewed and approved by an 

Institutional Review Board (IRB). 

Banded gastric plication combines two minimally invasive 

procedures — adjustable gastric banding, which entails placing 

an adjustable silicone band around the upper stomach, and 

plication, a technique that uses sutures to fold the external wall of 

the stomach, creating a sleeve-like contour to the lower part of the 

stomach below the band. Both methods promote weight loss and 

control hunger by reducing stomach size, limiting food intake and 

increasing gastric emptying. 

Potential benefits of the procedure include reduced surgical 

risk, fewer gastric band adjustments and significant short- and longterm 

weight loss. The process does not cut the stomach or reroute the 

intestines and, as a result, patients experience lower infection and 

complication risks, faster recovery times and minimal post-operative 

pain and scarring as compared to more invasive bariatric methods 

like gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy. Potential risks are considered 

infrequent and are similar to those for medical or laparoscopic 

revision surgery. These risks generally include gastric outlet 

obstruction (inability of food to pass from the stomach to the small 

intestine), bleeding from the stitched line, dilation (enlargement) 

of the plicated tissue over time and ischemic (restricted blood flow) 

complication at the surgery site. 

“Early studies have shown that banded gastric plication, 

compared to the gastric band alone, may be a more durable 

surgical weight loss solution,” said Alan Geiss, MD, director of 

the Center for Bariatric Surgical Specialties. “The early results are 

very encouraging.” As with any study, long-term data is still being 

compiled to support the long-term effectiveness of the procedure. 

Preliminary results showed evidence of a marked increase in the 

percent of excess weight loss over seven months’ to one-year followup. 

The procedure requires one and a half hours and patients stay in 

the hospital for one day. 

For more information call (516) 496-2752. 

CCMC Diabetes Program Recognized for Superior-Quality Care 

NEW HYDE PARK — The Diabetes 

Program in the Division of Pediatric 

Endocrinology at the Steven and 

Alexandra Cohen Children’s Center 

of New York (CCMC) was recently 

certified by the National Commission 

for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a 

private, nonprofit organization 

that is a widely recognized symbol 

of healthcare quality. The CCMC 

program had previously been 

recognized by the American Diabetes 

Association as a certified Pediatric 

Diabetes Education Center. 

NCQA’s Diabetes Recognition 

Program (DRP) is designed to 

recognize physicians and other 

clinicians who provide excellent care 

to their patients with diabetes using 

10 evidence-based measures, such 

as LDL (low-density lipoprotein) and 

blood pressure control. Achieving 

DRP recognition means that the 

CCMC program is part of an elite 

group that provides the very highest 

level of diabetes care. 

Phyllis Speiser, MD, chief of 

pediatric endocrinology at CCMC, 

along with Margaret Pellizzari, RN, 

assistant nurse manager, and their 

team of nurses, nutritionists, social 

workers and physicians cares for 

about 800 children with diabetes 

every year. From the day they are 

diagnosed until they “graduate” from 

pediatric care, the staff is dedicated 

to helping them maintain good 

glycemic control aimed at prolonging 

life and preventing complications, 

and educating their parents so they 

can be their children’s advocates. Dr. 

Speiser’s group worked closely with 

Pranav Mehta, MD, vice president 

for ambulatory performance 

improvement for the North Shore-LIJ 

Health System, and his staff to 

achieve this prestigious recognition. 

“Future healthcare delivery and 

reimbursement models rely heavily 

on documenting efficiency, cost 

savings and superior-quality care,” 

said Dr. Speiser. “We are proud to 

be in the forefront of these changes 

sweeping the medical landscape, 

Phyllis Speiser, MD 

and honored to display this newest 

evidence of our successful efforts to 

deliver the best care to our children 

affected with diabetes.” 



Enhancing Safety in 

Behavioral Health Settings 

SYOSSET — A new protocol implemented on the Behavioral Health Unit at 

Syosset Hospital has dramatically reduced episodes of patient aggression. 

The plan includes: 

• a violence assessment screening during patient admission, after which 

patients at risk are identified and communicated about at daily briefs for 

every shift; 

• personal alarms provided to each staff member; 

• crisis prevention training for all nurses and security staff; 

• an additional nurse practitioner staff position during off-hours; and 

• additional mental wellness programs for patients including activities 

during evenings and weekends, increased snacks and dietician 

evaluations, fresh air walks, family support groups, nicotine withdrawal 

assessments and games and exercise materials 


Plainview Hospital 

Serves Up Tastier, 

Healthier Meals 

Syosset Collaborative Care Council members Mercy Jaiswal, RN, 

left,and Debra Dyckoff, RN, nurse manager of the hospital’s 

Behavioral Health Unit, were invited to present their project, 

Prevention of Violence in Inpatient Behavioral Health, at the Eighth 

Annual Maryland Patient Safety Conference this spring. 

PLAINVIEW — While showing a patient the newly revised 

Plainview Hospital menu (below), nutrition coordinator Nina Eng 

discusses the importance of nutritional information to recovering 

and maintaining health. The latest Plainview menus feature 

nutritional information, including amounts of calories, fat, 

sodium and carbohydrates, next to every item offered. Patients can 

call ahead and substitute alternative hot or cold items, including 

treats like bacon, sausage and cheese pizza, 

in serving sizes that provide nutritional 

value without risky calory, fat and salt 

counts. “We’re giving patients the tools 

that they need to make informed decisions 

about what they eat,” said Ms. Eng. 

There are also modifications available 

for each type of diet, including calculated, 

diabetic, no concentrated sweets, cardiac, 

low sodium, no added salt and renal. 

“Being able to provide food that patients 

crave and enjoy is key to promoting 

recovery and health,” said Eric Sieden, 

director of food and nutritional services at 

Plainview. “To create the meals that people 

want to eat, we use only fresh, highquality 

ingredients from local vendors and 

farmers in the community. We make sure 

that the items ordered arrive the way they 

are requested, so there’s always something 

they want to eat.”

National Recognition 

For Spine Program 

GLEN COVE — The Center for Spine Services at Glen Cove 

Hospital was recently recognized as an Aetna Institute of Quality 

for Spine Surgery, a designation that highlights the center’s 

expertise, excellent surgical outcomes and patient-focused care. 

“This accreditation is another layer of credibility. It tells the 

community that we not only perform a large number of spinal 

procedures, but also, more importantly, we do them very well,” 

said Vincent Leone, MD, director of orthopedic spine surgery at 

Glen Cove Hospital. 

To qualify for the designation, Glen Cove underwent a 

rigorous review process, meeting strict criteria regarding the 

center’s use of evidence-based protocols, follow-up support of 

patients, program breadth, education and training of the medical 

and nonmedical community and quality improvement. 

History Exhibit Honors 

Fallen Firefighter 

STATEN ISLAND — To wrap up the anniversary of its 150-year history, Staten 

Island University Hospital (SIUH) recently opened a history exhibit in honor 

of Fire Department of New York (FDNY) Assistant Chief Gerard Barbara, who 

gave his life on 9/11. 

“Part of his timeline is the timeline of the hospital,” said Monsignor 

John Delendick, FDNY chaplain. “He served his community and city well; he 

therefore served this hospital with the same passion.” 

The exhibit features a plaque honoring Mr. Barbara and a timeline of 

the hospital’s history, augmented by antiques from the hospital’s past. Mr. 

Barbara’s wife, Joanne, unveiled the exhibit as her family and about 200 firefighters, 

hospital employees and others looked on at the Regina M. McGinn, 

MD, Education Center. 

“My inspiration for getting involved in a project at Staten Island 

University Hospital is because Jerry was an advocate for continuing education 

– especially in fire safety. This center is an education center, and that’s what 

we wanted to promote,” Ms. Barbara said. 

“The wall unites the hospital’s detailed history while honoring one of our 

community’s biggest role models,” said Anthony Ferreri, president and CEO of 

SIUH. “Jerry was a leader, and he deserves to be remembered as a hero in our 

area for eternity.” 

See the exhibit in the Regina M. McGinn, MD, Education Center at SIUH’s 

north campus, 475 Seaview Ave. in Staten Island. 

The recently opened history exhibit at Staten Island University Hospital’s Regina M.McGinn, MD, Education Center, dedicated to the memory of firefighter 

Gerard Barbara. who died on 9/11. 



Lenox Hill Hospital volunteer Vincent Foster 

and Auxilian Ellen Starr were honored at the 

United Hospital Fund’s 19th Annual Hospital 

Auxilian and Volunteer Achievement Awards 

ceremony, held this spring at the Waldorf-Astoria. Mr. 

Foster and Ms. Starr were part of an elite group of 89 

volunteers who were honored for providing exceptional 

service to hospitals throughout the five boroughs of New 

York City. Janice Huff, chief meteorologist of NBC4 New 

York, was the special guest at the event, which drew nearly 

800 attendees to the hotel’s Grand Ballroom. 

Mr. Foster has been a volunteer at Lenox Hill 

Hospital for over eight years. He has volunteered 

in the Pharmacy Department and most recently as a 

receptionist in the Human Resources Department. 

Glenn Courounis, vice president of human resources, 

lauds Mr. Foster as a thorough and detail-oriented 

worker who is always punctual and reliable, someone who 

takes his responsibilities very seriously. Mr. Foster is a 

retired social studies teacher in the NYC Public School 

System and an accomplished trumpet player. He is also a 

minister at the Christadelphian Ecclesia Church. 

Ms. Starr has been a member of Lenox Hill 

Hospital’s Auxiliary for over 15 years. She has chaired 

several fundraising events, including the Auxiliary’s annual 

theater benefit, which raises funds to support programs 

and enhancements at the hospital, and has served on the 

Auxiliary’s Executive Committee. Ms. Starr has done 

a great deal for the morale of the Auxiliary by putting 

together various outings, such as museum tours and 

benefits. Auxilian Colleen Pizzitola says that with these 

events that encourage a sense of camaraderie she is the 

“glue that holds us together.” Ms. Starr is a principal in an 

interior design firm and has brought her creative eye to 

many hospital events including the annual Autumn Ball. 

Mr. Foster and Ms. Starr were chosen from among 

50,000 New York City healthcare volunteers who give of 

their time willingly and selflessly to improve healthcare 

in our city. 

The United Hospital Fund’s Hospital Auxilian and 

Volunteer Achievement Awards are part of the United 

Hospital Fund’s efforts to mobilize the energies of 

volunteers, recognize volunteer achievements and open 

new avenues for volunteer involvement in healthcare. 


Two Lenox Hill Hospital 

Volunteers Honored 

By Barbara Osborn 

Above: Honoree Vincent Foster, center, with, from left: Susan E. Brown, Carol Braverman, 

volunteer coordinator at the hospital, Elaine Rosenblum, senior associate executive director, 

and Evelyn Foster, his mother. Below: Honoree Ellen Starr, center, with her husband, Michael 

Starr, MD, chief of corneal/external disease in the Department of Ophthalmology at Lenox 

Hill, and her daughter, Olivia, who works at the hospital in HR.

Nassau County Attorney 

Survives Sepsis 


VALLEY STREAM — Nassau 

County Attorney John 

Ciampoli showed up at 

Franklin Hospital mainly to 

ease the minds of family and 

friends. He hadn’t been feeling 

well for over a week, and the 

antibiotics he was taking did 

not seem to be knocking out 

an infection. Yet he continued 

to put in long hours. When he 

arrived at the hospital, he was 

in a hurry to get back to work 

— but five hours later, he was 

on a ventilator. 

“Anywhere from two to 

four hours longer getting to 

the hospital, it would have 

been a one-way trip,” said Mr. 

Ciampoli. “When they asked, 

‘Did they take your temperature? 

What was it?’ I said, 

`Sure, they took my temperature, 

it was 250 degrees,’ and 

my friend who was there with 

me said, ‘Listen, I know this 

guy, he has a sense of humor — 

that wasn’t his sense of humor. 

He’s losing it.’” That was 

Mr. Ciampoli’s last memory 

until he woke up a week later. 

Thanks to the expertise of 

Southside Establishes Surgical Program 

for Complex Liver, Pancreas Diseases 

BAY SHORE — Patients with complex problems of the liver, bile 

ducts and pancreas can now find state-of-the-art surgical care at 

Southside Hospital’s new Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery 

Program. It is led by Juan Madariaga, MD, PhD, who was trained 

and practiced as a liver surgeon at the prestigious University of 

Pittsburgh’s Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute and subsequently 

at the University of Miami Transplant Center. 

Dr. Madariaga said patients with complex liver or biliary 

problems are often referred to the North Shore-LIJ Health System 

because of its “expertise and good patient outcomes.” 

No Need to Travel for Care 

“It’s great news for patients and their families that they don’t 

have to travel outside of their local community to find the highly 

specialized care they need,” said Christopher Nelson, assistant vice 

president of surgery. “The expansion of our hepatobiliary surgery 

program allows patients to stay in the community where they 

reside, closer to family and friends who play a crucial role in the 

recovery process.” 

clinicians at Franklin Hospital, 

he is alive to share his story. 

Mr. Ciampoli was suffering 

from sepsis, an overblown 

immune response that causes 

blood pressure to drop and 

major organs to fail. “In the 

emergency departments across 

North Shore-LIJ, we have a 

very heightened awareness 

of sepsis,” said John Rohe, 

MD, director of emergency 

medicine at Franklin.“We 

have an evidence-based sepsis 

protocol, which has helped us 

reduce the number of deaths.” 

“The quicker we can 

recognize sepsis, the better 

patients respond clinically,” said 

Scott Horowitz, MD, acting 

chief of infectious disease at 

Franklin. Mr. Ciampoli is 

grateful that he went to Franklin 

for treatment. “The people 

there knew how to react, knew 

what to do, and they pulled me 

through,” he said. 

To see a video of Mr. 

Ciampoli’s story, visit http:// 

bit.ly/nslijsurvivingsepsis 

Common conditions that hepatobiliary surgeons treat include 

liver, gallbladder or bile duct cancer; noncancerous liver tumors; 

narrowing or blockages of the bile ducts; and injury to the liver or 

bile ducts. 

The program employs a multidisciplinary team, including 

a hepatobiliary surgeon and a variety of specialists, who meet to 

review and discuss patients’ test results and develop individualized 

treatment plans. 

Minimally Invasive Procedures Available 

The surgeons in the program are skilled in open, laparoscopic 

and robotic methods of surgical treatment of disease. Because 

minimally invasive, cutting-edge surgery of the liver can mean 

faster patient recovery and less pain, surgeons opt for it whenever 

possible, Dr. Madariaga said. Patients also receive high-quality 

postoperative care from a highly skilled and experienced team to 

ensure a safe and speedy recovery. “With such a comprehensive 

and experienced team,” Dr. Madariaga said, “our patients can be 

assured of receiving the highest level of care.” 


Shown conducting a “Code Sepsis” drill in the ED of Glen Cove Hospital, applying new, more stringent criteria for sepsis diagnosis, from left, are Patricia Davis, RN, 

John D’Angelo, MD, director of the ED, Lorraine Lehmann, PCA, Alfredo Benito, RN, and Evelyn Mulvaney, nurse manager. 

An elderly man presents 

at the Emergency 

Department (ED) of 

a North Shore-LIJ hospital. 

He has a dry cough, a fever 

of 101 degrees and his heart 

rate is slightly elevated at 97. 

He doesn’t feel well, but his 

blood pressure is normal. He is 

undergoing chemotherapy for 

colon cancer and his last chemo 

session was three weeks ago. 

A few years ago, that 

patient may have been triaged 

and treated as nonemergent, 

which means he may have 

taken his place in line behind 

cases that more clearly 

required emergent attention. 

All that has changed, however, 

thanks to the health system’s 

Surviving Sepsis Program that 

began in 2008. 

Sepsis is a lifethreatening 

condition 

that arises when a systemic 


Sepsis-Related Mortality 

Reduced by 35 Percent 

But the Work Is Just Beginning 


inflammatory response to 

infection or injury attacks 

the body’s own tissues 

and organs. Without 

diagnosis and treatment, 

it can proceed rapidly and 

irrevocably to severe sepsis 

(sepsis complicated by organ 

dysfunction) and then septic 

shock (acute circulatory 

failure). In 2008, it was 

the single greatest cause 

of in-hospital mortality in 

the health system; further, 

North Shore-LIJ’s mortality 

rates were statistically higher 

than predicted, according to 

HealthGrades. 

As part of his no-tolerance 

approach to preventable death, 

North Shore-LIJ President 

and Chief Executive Officer 

Michael Dowling targeted sepsis 

as a major problem to address. 

That’s why, today, as soon 

as the patient hits the door 

to the ED, he is recognized 

as a possible sepsis patient, 

and everything speeds up. An 

established sepsis treatment 

algorithm is followed 

immediately, including 

drawing blood and ordering 

tests, such as serum lactate 

level (elevated serum lactate 

is associated with increased 

mortality in severe sepsis 

patients). The staff begins 

administering intravenous (IV)

fluids and antibiotics if there 

is any evidence of infection, 

and the patient’s vital signs 

are monitored continuously. 

Everyone in the ED is aware 

that with sepsis, as with trauma, 

a heart attack or a stroke, 

there is a “golden hour” — a 

critical period during which the 

progression of the illness must 

be halted. 

Since 2008, the lives of 

hundreds of patients like our 

hypothetical patient have been 

saved. The health system’s 

mortality rate for severe sepsis 

and septic shock has declined to 

35 percent (as of August 2011) 

— a significant accomplishment, 

certainly. But the real work 

is just beginning, according 

to Martin Doerfler, MD, the 

health system’s vice president of 

evidence-based clinical practice 

and co-chair of the North 

Shore-LIJ Sepsis Task Force, 

with John D’Angelo, MD, 

director of emergency medicine 

at Glen Cove Hospital, and 

Darlene Parmentier, RN, 

manager for critical care at Glen 

Cove Hospital. 

“Over the last three years, 

we’ve laid the foundation 

for fighting sepsis,” said Dr. 

Doerfler. “There is no question 

that we have made progress. 

But now, in collaboration with 

the Institute for Healthcare 

Improvement [IHI], we are 

rolling it out on a grand 

scale.” In addition to the sepsis 

initiative, the partnership 

with IHI has three other 

phases: improving the quality 

and accessibility of palliative 

care, preparing students and 

professionals to be outstanding 

“improvers,” and improving 

the health system’s capacity to 

improve. The kick-off event 

for the work phase of the 

sepsis initiative was a two-day 

workshop held the last week 

of February at the Swan Club 

in Roslyn, and attended by 

clinicians and administrators 

from the health system and 

every hospital. 

“In the past we focused on 

the intensive care units. More 

recently we have focused on 

the EDs, where patients are 

often at the sicker end of the 

sepsis spectrum — low-hanging 

fruit,” said Dr. Doerfler. 

“Next, we want to move the 

focus upstream — to catch 

them on the floors and treat 

them before they progress 

to severe sepsis.” Over the 

next four years of the IHI 

partnership, Mr. Dowling has 

challenged the task force to cut 

the health system’s 35 percent 

mortality rate in half, which 

will put North Shore-LIJ in 

the company of the top 10 

percent of its peers for severe 

sepsis/septic shock mortality. 

“I commend emergency 

services personnel and 

nursing leadership at the 

health system and hospital 

level for stepping up to the 

plate in an exemplary way,” 

said Dr. Doerfler. “So far, the 

work has fallen on them and 

they have embraced it. They 

have helped us take many steps 

forward. In this next phase, 

many additional people in the 

health system will be involved, 

working with IHI teams on 

a weekly basis, at a much 

deeper level of engagement 

and understanding. We 

have some distance yet to 

cover, but I believe we have a 

reachable goal.” 

Jumping for 

Good Health 

Over the past year, Cohen Children’s 

Medical Center (CCMC) and Kohl’s Cares 

for Kids have conducted an educational 

program with students at Jackson Main 

Elementary School in Hempstead. The 

program was a health and wellness 

initiative aimed at educating students 

on proper nutrition, the importance of 

exercise and how to stay fit at home. 

Teachers worked with a program called 

“Activity Works,” which urges youngsters 

to perform 12 minutes a day of exercise 

in the classroom, and to report what 

they’ve learned to their parents and 

siblings. Students worked so hard to 

meet their exercise goals that CCMC and 

Kohl’s decided to surprise them with a 

visit and performance from the nationally 

recognized jump rope team, Lucie B. 

Jump N Fun Rocket Ropers. Afterwards, 

students joined in the fun. 


nursing mission 

A Legacy of Nursing Excellence: 

Three Who Left Their Mark 

HUNTINGTON — Phyllis 

Barlow, RN, began working at 

Huntington Hospital in 1958. 

Lola Goldman, RN, joined in 

1968. Myrna Myers-Laque, 

RN, who recently retired as 

vice president of nursing and 

chief nursing officer, came 

in 1974. These three nursing 

professionals have witnessed 

tremendous progress in the 

field of medicine and the 

practice of nursing over the 

decades, and they have made 

enormous contributions to 

the high standard of nursing 

excellence that Huntington 

Hospital is known for today. 

“In 1958, the typical 

nurse was young. She wore a 

starched white uniform, white 

shoes, white hose and a cap 

that indicated the school she 

graduated from,” recalled Ms. 

Barlow. Beyond the uniform, 

1950s-era nurses adopted an 

attitude of subservience to 

physicians. “We stood when a 

doctor entered the room, and 

we moved to the rear of the 

elevators when one got on.” 

In those days, licensed 

practical nurses (LPNs) 

worked alongside registered 

nurses. Eventually, LPNs were 

phased out, and registered 

nurses were encouraged to 

pursue advanced degrees as 

an increasing emphasis was 

placed on education. 

As director of nursing 


Phyllis Barlow 

and eventually vice president 

before retiring from the 

hospital in 1991, Ms. Barlow 

encouraged nurses to 

continue their education, as 

did Ms. Myers-Laque. 

One result was a shift 

in the relationship between 

nurses and physicians. 

“Relationships became more 

collaborative as a result of the 

increased professionalism 

that came with additional 

education,” said Ms. Goldman. 

Today’s patients tend 

to be sicker than those 30 

years ago, Ms. Goldman 

noted. Thanks to advances in 

minimally invasive surgical 

techniques, patients require 

less time in the hospital and 

spend more time recovering 

at home. Changing 

demographics have caused 

another shift in the patient 

profile. Today’s hospital 

patients are often older and 

frailer than their counterparts 

a generation or two ago. 


Myrna Myers-Laque, left, and 

Lola Goldman 

“In this country, those 

over 85 are the fastest growing 

segment of the population,” 

said Ms. Myers-Laque. 

“Taking care of an 85-yearold 

is very different from 

taking care of a 45-year-old.” 

To help ensure that 

the needs of this expanding 

geriatric population are met, 

Ms. Myers-Laque challenged 

Huntington Hospital’s 

nursing staff to become 

certified in gerontological 

nursing, and more than 100 

nurses accepted. 

As with every aspect of 

life, computerization has 

radically altered the practice 

of nursing. Before, “we did 

everything by hand,” Ms. 

Goldman said. Today, one 

glance at a central monitor in 

the Nursing Administration 

Department reveals the 

number and location of 

available beds, and clinical 

information can be accessed 

from any computer. 

As she steps away from her 

role as VP of nursing and takes 

on a new challenge as a nursing 

consultant, Ms. Myers-Laque 

looks toward the future. 

“The real issue in 

nursing is the need to 

transform the environment 

so nurses can spend more 

time at the bedside,” she said, 

citing a recent Robert Wood 

Johnson Foundation study 

that found that up to 60 

percent of a nurse’s time is 

spent on handling paperwork, 

hunting for supplies or 

transporting patients. 

Improved technology and 

a redesign of patient care 

units will help with that 

transformation. 

One of the highlights 

of Ms. Myers-Laque’s 38year 

career at Huntington 

was the receipt of Magnet 

designation, conferred 

by the American Nurses 

Credentialing Center 

(ANCC). The program 

recognizes hospitals for 

high standards of patient 

care, nursing excellence 

and innovations in nursing 

practice. 

According to the 

ANCC, Magnet hospitals 

report increased retention 

of nursing staff, a decreased 

nursing turnover rate and 

higher job satisfaction among 

nurses. Additionally, Magnet 

facilities are associated with 

increased patient satisfaction, 

decreased mortality rates 

and improved patient 

safety. Ms. Myers-Laque 

is currently charged with 

helping Huntington prepare 

for its Magnet recertification 

scheduled for later this year.

WOODBURY — Amy Resnick, 

RN, pictured here, primary 

nurse in the Hospice Care 

Network, makes a difference in 

her patients’ and families’ lives 

— in large and small ways. 

In addition to her clinical 

duties, she’s gone the extra 

mile to babysit a terminally ill 

baby and her sibling so their 

exhausted mother could nap. 

She’s encouraged a teenage 

mother, distracted by her ill 

son’s care, to remember to 

eat. Ms. Resnick has gained 

the trust and affection of a 

man with pancreatic cancer 

who said that his greatest wish 

before dying was to find her 

a husband (preferably his 

“handsome son”). 

The connections and 

impressions Ms. Resnick makes 

are lasting. She was the first to 

learn that the teenage mother 

(now 20) is having another 

baby and among the first to be 

invited to her wedding this year. 

“This is what I was put 

on this earth to do,” Ms. 

Resnick said. “It’s a very 

vulnerable time for [patients 

and families] and they trust 

me to help.” In addition to 

clinical assessments, symptom 

management and patient/ 

Being Present as 

Time Winds Down 

By Kathleen Waton 

family education related to 

end-of-life care, it’s “being 

kind and present,” she said. 

The role of caring for 

patients at the end of life comes 

naturally to Ms. Resnick. 

“[Death] is going to happen to 

everyone and I just want to do 

for others what I would want 

NPs Facilitate Care at Forest Hills 


FOREST HILLS — Forest Hills Hospital, like other facilities across the North Shore- 

LIJ Health System, is employing more nurse practitioners (NPs) in various areas 

to make a difference in patient care. Advanced practice nurses facilitate care by 

“functioning to the limit of their licensure” as “we face a shortage of practitioners 

in the future,” said Rita Mercieca, RN, executive director. 

Last fall, NPs entered two areas in particular that demand more effort: 

heart failure and pain management. “One of our major causes of readmission to 

the hospital within 30 days after discharge is heart failure,” Ms. Mercieca said. 

Hallie Bleau, NP, coordinates the care of heart failure patients in the 

community to prevent readmission. “We’re not going to be able to keep all 

of them out of the hospital,” she said, “because heart failure is a progressive 

disease and patients continue to get sicker.” But following up with patients 

after discharge and teaching simple steps like daily weighings to manage water 

retention and encouraging patients to visit their physicians within three to 

seven days after discharge help reduce readmission. Ms. Bleau’s role as NP also 

done for me,” she said. 

The work undoubtedly 

is very sad at times, she 

admitted, yet there are many 

happy moments. “Unless 

you do this work, it’s hard to 

understand how much fun it 

can be. Patients’ guards are 

down and they welcome you 

into their family. It’s such an 

easy relationship.” 

When Ms. Resnick first 

meets patients and families, 

however, “they think it’s going 

to be gloom and doom, but it’s 

really talking about living until 

you are no longer living.” 

Ms. Resnick’s dedication 

to her patients makes an 

impression. “She is the ultimate 

in dedicated, bright and 

compassionate staff,” said Nan 

Toelstedt, RN, executive vice 

president of the Hospice Care 

Network. “We are lucky to have 

her — and so are her patients.” 

involves nursing education, including making sure bedside nurses are attentive to 

weight gain and check low-sodium diets for heart failure patients. 

Jamina John, NP, manages patients’ pain and ensures patients with 

patient-controlled analgesia know how to use the PCA effectively. “It’s great 

that ordering medication is within my scope of practice,” Ms. John said, “so 

I can make changes to the order, transition from IV medication to pills or order 

changes to the device so patients get proper relief.” For major surgery like knee 

or hip replacements, new morphine epidurals provide continuous medication 

management for 48 hours after surgery, and allow Ms. John to tweak the dosage to 

manage pain. 

“Just having the time to sit in the room and talk makes the patient feel so 

much more comfortable,” she said. “I’m so happy Forest Hills Hospital started 

this role and excited for the future. We’ve had so much positive feedback — from 

patients and staff.” 

The New Standard 25 

Jeanne Morrison, LMSW


NEW HYDE PARK — The 

unique pro-education 

environment at the North 

Shore-LIJ Health System and 

its nurses’ commitment to 

further their education were 

the focus of an article in the 

March issue of The Journal of 

Continuing Education in Nursing. The 

article, entitled “Continuing 

Nursing Education: A 

Partnership Between Learner 

and Teacher,” by Lena 

Garafalo, RN, North Shore- 

LIJ’s nursing education 

coordinator, highlights how 

health system nurses are 


Partnering for 

Education 


encouraged to continue their 

professional development 

and provide input to improve 

programs. 

To be effective, Ms. 

Garafalo wrote, education 

should be interactive. Taking 

needs assessment/evaluation 

seriously guides the educator 

in ensuring timely, relevant 

educational activity and meets 

the “participants’ learning needs 

and career goals,” she said. 

Nursing feedback has led 

to more interactive breakout 

sessions and hands-on 

experience with insulin pumps 

& 

and pens at a popular diabetes 

conference, and top certified 

wound and ostomy continence 

nurses leading a workshop 

on practical foot care for 

nurses to apply in everyday 

practice. And a pediatric 

conference expanded into two 

separate learning tracks — one 

for critical care nurses and 

another for med/surg nurses — 

based on input from nurses. 

To “share a common 

vision” for education, North 

Shore-LIJ executive nursing 

leadership and nursing educators 

meet monthly to roll up 

nursing input and share strategies 

for improvement, said 

Elaine Smith, RN, EdD, vice 

president for nursing education 

for the health system. “This is a 

wonderful benefit in an organization 

of this size,” she said. 

This ongoing 

communication has led to 

an all-day diabetes program 

Nursing Conferences 

Continuing Education Programs 

Enhance skills or build new ones with help from the North Shore-LIJ Institute for Nursing. 

July 

26 

Pediatric Conference 

Swan Club, Glenwood Landing 

September 

12 

Critical Care/Emergency Conference 


18 

Nursing Education Conference 


27-28 

Oncology Nursing Society Chemo/ 

Biotherapy Course 

Southside Hospital, Bay Shore 

The North Shore-LIJ Health System is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the New York State Nurses 

Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. Conferences 

and programs are added regularly. For more information, please call the Institute for Nursing at (718) 470-3890 or register at 

NorthShoreLIJ.com/NSLIJ/nurses. 

becoming an annual event; the 

addition of a full-day program 

for emergency department 

nurses and technicians; 

and the rebirth of a critical 

care conference for nurses. 

In 2012, new conferences 

are coming in nursing 

informatics, urology and one 

just for nurse practitioners. 

Dr. Smith said Ms. 

Garafalo demonstrates 

“developing the professional 

dimensions of her own role” 

by writing peer-reviewed 

articles and developing the 

“large number of programs 

to enhance professional 

competence.” 

About 100 continuing 

education programs benefit 

more than 6,000 system 

nurses a year. “That’s above and 

beyond the general education 

taking place at other local 

hospitals,” Dr. Smith said. 

Bedside or not, nurses 

must be accountable for 

learning, Ms. Garafalo 

added: “That’s what makes 

our health system and our 

nursing profession so strong 

— and why we can provide 

such a high level of care to our 

patients and their families.”

SYOSSET — Jeanine Norton, 

RN, had just finished her daily 

early-morning workout when 

she saved the life of a 44-yearold 

man. 

The Post-Anesthesia Care 

Unit nurse at Syosset Hospital 

was preparing to leave the gym 

at 6 a.m. when staff asked if 

she could help a man having 

“seizures.” With 13 years of 

critical care experience, Ms. 

Norton ran to help. She 

recognized the man who had 

recently started exercising 

regularly at the gym and saw 

he had no pulse and wasn’t 

breathing. 

Ms. Norton made sure 

that 911 had been called 

and then performed chest 

compressions on the man 

for almost half an hour, 

while two physicians at the 

gym helped “get breath into 

him.” She continued applying 

chest compressions after the 

ambulance arrived so the 

emergency medical technicians 

(EMTs) could intubate the 

man. After attempting an 

intravenous line and resorting 

to an interoscular device in the 

leg, the EMTs administered 

epinephrine and atropine for 

cardiac arrest. 

The ambulance rushed 

him to nearby Syosset 

Hospital, where he was 

stabilized and later transferred 

to North Shore University 

Hospital. In their cardiac cath 

lab, North Shore University 

Hospital staff discovered the 

main vessel in his heart was 

blocked. “It’s also known as the 

‘widow maker,’” Ms. Norton 

said, “because most people 

don’t survive that.” 

Recovery 

Nurse 

Saves 

Life at 

Gym 


The man lived and after 

2.5 weeks in the hospital, was 

discharged with a pacemaker 

defibrillator. 

After responding 

immediately to the emergency, 

Ms. Norton continues to be 

affected by the event. “I wasn’t 

sure if he was going to be brain 

dead and would be on life 

support for the rest of his life 

because he had been without 

oxygen for so long. His doctor 

says he doesn’t know how he 

survived, without a heartbeat 

for 30 minutes. When I see 

him at the gym now, tears 

come to my eyes, the rescue 

was so amazing.” 

Ms. Norton encourages 

others to overcome their fears 

and act in an emergency. 

“Reach out and try to help,” she 

said. “Even if you can’t do CPR, 

get help, do something. Don’t 

just walk by. Give someone a 

second chance at life.” 

Above: Jeanine Norton, RN 

Zuckerberg Awards 

Nurses from throughout the North Shore-LIJ System recently received 

the 2012 Zuckerberg Family Awards for Nursing Service Excellence. The 

honorees were recognized for meeting or exceeding expectations in all criteria 

on performance evaluations, and exceeding expectations in quality of work, 

attitude, interpersonal relationships and attendance. Winners each received 

a certificate and $1,000. The awards program is supported by Roy Zuckerberg, 

former chairman of the health system’s Board of Trustees. 

Award recipients were: 

Mavis Barriteau, RN, BSN 

Franklin Hospital 

Pat Loccisano, RN 

Forest Hills Hospital 

Megan Burt, RN 

Glen Cove Hospital 

Camille Hertzel, RN 

Huntington Hospital 

Jennifer Thys-Rose, RN 

Lenox Hill Hospital 

Marybeth Grieser, RN 

Long Island Jewish Hospital 

Lisa Flick, RN 

Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat 

Hospital 

Cindy Gomez, RN 


Carol Carlson, RN 


Frances McCarthy, RN 

Staten Island University 

Hospital North 

Frederick Cappetta, RN 

Staten Island University 

Hospital South 

Charla Doherty, RN 

Steven and Alexandra Cohen 

Children’s Medical Center of 

New York 

Charlotte Maloney, RN 

Southside Hospital 

Stella Bacus, RN 

Syosset Hospital 

Elise Bailey, RN 

The Zucker Hillside Hospital 



Psychiatric Nursing 

Research Fills In the Gaps 

GLEN OAKS — Nurses at 

The Zucker Hillside Hospital 

(ZHH) are breaking new 

ground in psychiatric care 

research. 

At the beginning of the 

year, the nursing leadership 

team launched a pilot study to 

determine patient outcomes 

after a rapid response team 

(RRT) call in a psychiatric 

setting. An RRT is called when 

a patient’s clinical condition 

meets criteria requiring a team 

of providers to respond, assess 

and treat immediately. 

“We are conducting a 

collaborative Institutional 

Review Board [IRB]- 


approved research study 

between nursing and internal 

medicine to look at nurseinitiated 

RRT calls in a 

behavioral health setting,” 

said Marybeth McManus, RN, 

associate executive director of 

patient care services. “There 

is currently a lack of literature 

on medical rapid response 

teams in freestanding 

psychiatric hospitals.” 

The nurses will review 

100 cases in the pilot study 

phase to collect data on such 

variables as the reason for 

activating the call, shift/day 

of week distribution, staffing, 

location, psychiatric diagnoses 


and follow-up care. 

“We’ll review patient 

outcomes,” Ms. McManus 

said, “such as whether patients 

require evaluation in an 

emergency department or are 

admitted to a medical unit. 

The goal is to ensure the 

provision of the appropriate 

level of medical care in an acute 

behavioral health hospital.” 

Once the pilot is completed, 

the data will be 

submitted to the IRB for acceptance 

as a formal research 

study with Ms. McManus and 

Peter Manu, MD, director of 

medical services, as principal 

coinvestigators. 

Another study in the planning 

stages involves helping 

patients stop smoking on a 

long-term basis. 

Since ZHH is a smokefree 

environment, patients do 

not smoke for the two or three 

weeks they usually remain 

there. Nurses hope to capitalize 

on that smoke-free time 

to help patients stop smoking 

long term after discharge. 

The nurses will study the 

effectiveness of a technique 

called motivational interviewing, 

which involves at least 

three one-to-one nurse-andpatient 

sessions that educate 

and encourage patients to 

remain smoke-free. Patients 

will be interviewed by phone at 

set intervals after discharge to 

assess their smoke-free status. 

“Nursing research is one 

of the best ways to study and 

document organizational 

processes that improve patient 

outcomes and quality,” Ms. 

McManus said. 

Maureen White to Be Inducted into 

the American Academy of Nursing 

The American Academy of Nursing recently announced its 2012 Class of 

Fellows, and in this group of 176 esteemed nurse leaders from all over the 

country is North Shore-LIJ Health System Chief Nurse Executive Maureen 

White, RN, MBA, NEA-BC. At the health system’s nursing retreat in May at 

the Swan Club in Roslyn, Ms. White was recognized for this honor, one of 

the most prestigious in the field of nursing, by Michael Dowling, the health 

system’s president and chief executive officer, right, and Mark Solazzo, 

executive vice president and chief operating officer. Selection criteria include 

evidence of significant contributions to nursing and healthcare and the 

shaping of health policies. When she is inducted in October at the Academy’s 

39th Annual Meeting and Conference in Washington, DC, she will be in the 

elite company of about 1,800 nurse leaders in education, management, 

practice, policy and research, and she will be able to add FAAN (Fellowship of 

the American Academy of Nursing) to her credentials.

Collaborative Care Councils 

Get Results 


Theodore J. (“T.J.”) 

Vlavianos, LMHC, and his 

fellow collaborative care council 

members streamlined the 

admissions process last year at 

The Zucker Hillside Hospital, 

improving orienting patients 

to the 33-bed adult acute care 

psychiatric unit, introducing 

treatment team members and 

discharging patients. They 

introduced addressing patient 

concerns twice a day. Their 

success was reflected in higher 

continued on page 75 

Zucker Hillside Enhances Calming Environment 


GLEN OAKS — A comprehensive 

program to reduce impulsive behavior 

in patients at The Zucker Hillside 

Hospital is moving the hospital closer 

to becoming restraint-free. 

The workhorse of the program 

is DASA (Dynamic Appraisal 

of Situational Aggression), a 

computerized assessment tool that 

predicts patients who are most likely 

to exhibit seven high-risk symptoms: 

negative attitudes, impulsivity, 

irritability, verbal threats, sensitivity 

to perceived provocation, being 

easily angered when requests are 

made and unwillingness to follow 

directions. 

Nurses and other clinicians 

score each patient on the criteria 

over a 24-hour period. “Anyone on 

the multidisciplinary team can check 

off the seven points,” said Marybeth 

McManus, RN, associate executive 

director of patient care services. 

The night nurse enters the 

scores into the electronic health 

record. Each patient scoring three 

or more on the DASA is listed on a 

computerized report automatically 

sent each morning to nursing 

leaders and others who use it to 

guide staffing, admissions, care 

plans and other decisions. 

To ward off high-risk episodes 

before they occur, patient engagement 

specialists (PES) — team members 

specially trained in deescalation 

and communication skills — are 

dispatched to the appropriate units. 

The PES team is the latest addition to 

the initiative. Under RN supervision, 

they engage patients in diversionary 

activities, such as talking and 

walking with them, playing chess or 

listening to music to calm patients 

and redirect behavior. 

The user-friendly DASA has 

been in use approximately a year. 

It was piloted on a 20-bed adult 

inpatient unit for two months in 

the autumn of 2010, and then 

implemented on five other adult units 

and the hospital’s adolescent pavilion. 

The program has been very 

successful in keeping patients and 

staff safe and creating a calmer 

atmosphere at Zucker Hillside. In 

2011, the hospital “decreased the use 

of restraints by almost 90 percent 

without increasing our seclusion 

rate,” Ms. McManus said. “That 

puts us well on our way to meeting 

our overarching goal of providing a 

therapeutic healing environment that 

is serene and calming.” 

Making a Vision 

Reality 

A decade ago, Maureen 

White, RN, senior vice president 

and chief nurse executive, 

pondered how to involve frontline 

staff more in decisionmaking, 

to meet patient needs 

and to help make the North 

Shore-LIJ Health System more 

agile in responding to change. “An 

empowering environment” was 

essential, Ms. White said, “one 

in which people feel comfortable 

saying, ‘This doesn’t work,’ and 

proposing solutions.” 

To support Ms. White’s 

vision, in 2007, Plainview 

Hospital piloted collaborative 

care councils, the same 

year Lily Thomas, PhD, RN, 

vice president, system 

nursing research, introduced 

TeamSTEPPS, an evidence-based 

communication tool. 

Devised by the Agency 

for Healthcare Research and 

Quality (AHRQ), the tool fosters 

teamwork, “because teamwork is 

correlated with patient safety,” Dr. 

Thomas said. “It allows everyone 

to speak up in a way that puts the 

patient first.” 

Today, more than 30,000 

staff members are trained in 

TeamSTEPPS, and more than 300 

councils are active throughout 

the health system. They are 

“still in early development,” 

according to Ms. White. “People 

are still getting used to the 

power of the councils and the 

differences they can make. But I 

feel the networking has improved 

communication and is bringing 

us closer to a workforce that can 

turn on a dime. Healthcare is not 

known for rapid cycle change 

[but] in our fifth year we’re 

seeing dramatic changes.” 


Evaluation of and 

treatment for a rare 

birth defect that affects 

the brain are available right 

in your own backyard at the 

Hypothalamic Hamartoma 

Center (HHC), part of 

North Shore-LIJ’s Cushing 

Neuroscience Institute (CNI). 

A hypothalamic 

hamartoma is a benign 

brain lesion found in the 

hypothalamus, a small 

but critical area located 

deep within the brain that 

is responsible for many 

automatic functions, 

including hunger, thirst, body 

temperature and hormone 

regulation. A hypothalamic 

hamartoma can cause seizures, 

premature puberty and 

progressive deterioration 

of behavioral and cognitive 

function. 


New Center Takes On 

Rare Birth Defect 

By Michelle Pipia-Stiles 

“Hypothalamic 

hamartomas are debilitating, 

but the good news is that 

surgical removal of this birth 

defect can result in a normal 

or much improved life for the 

patient,” said neurosurgeon 

Harold Rekate, MD, director 

of CNI’s Hypothalamic 

Hamartoma Center. “Although 

several treatment options are 

available, the plan of clinical 

care must be strategically 

individualized because what 

may be appropriate for 

one patient may not be for 

another, depending on the 

anatomy of the lesion.” 

In addition to Dr. Rekate, 

the HHC is staffed with a 

multidisciplinary team of 

experts. “Since our physicians 

and specialists are involved in all 

treatment plans and therapies, 

the Hypothalamic Hamartoma 

Center is a prime destination 

for those suffering from this 

rare condition,” said Dr. Rekate. 

Surgical removal of 

hypothalamic hamartoma 

involves working within the 

center of the brain, while 

protecting the many vital 

structures that surround 

the mass, including all the 

arteries that supply the brain. 

In most cases, the hamartoma 

can be removed using an 

endoscope, through a very 

small hole in the skull, but 

some patients require more 

than one approach to remove 

the mass completely. 

Above: Two-year-old Mathewas 

Ephrem, who was successfully 

treated by Dr. Harold Rekate at the 

Cushing Neuroscience Institute’s 

Hypothalamic Hamartoma Center, is 

pictured with his grateful parents.

Staying 

Quit 

By Betty Marton 

Anthony DeGeorge and Geraldine 

Cruz-DeGeorge, both pack-a-day 

smokers, tried several times to quit. 

But it never stuck, so when they 

decided to marry, they realized they 

needed a different approach. 

“My main concern was that I’d be 

craving a cigarette during the wedding 

and the reception,” said Ms. Cruz- 

DeGeorge, a nurse on 6Monti at North 

Shore University Hospital. “I didn’t 

want that.” 

More than a year before their 2007 

wedding, the couple reached out to the 

North Shore-LIJ Center for Tobacco 

Control (CTC) for help withdrawing 

from cigarettes — the leading 

preventable cause of death and disease 

in the world. Based on guidelines from 

the Centers for Disease Control, the 

center’s quit-smoking program offers 

employees and community members 

quitting and maintenance strategies 

plus individual and group support. 

Open 24/7, the CTC also educates 

healthcare providers throughout the 

metro New York region about how to help 

their patients. 

Approximately 4,000 people — 

including 630 employees — have taken 

advantage of the program’s counseling, 

nicotine replacement products and 

medications between 1999 and 2010. And 

since the health system implemented a 

smoking ban on all properties in 2010, 

an additional 185 people have taken the 

challenge. According to Pat Folan, RN, 

director of the center, the numbers include 

repeat clients, because many people try many 

times before they’re successful. 

“We can get almost everyone to quit,” 

she explained. “It’s staying quit that’s 

difficult, so if one approach doesn’t work, 

we try different strategies.” 

The six-week program focuses on 

keeping people comfortable while they break 

the habit. The DeGeorges first contacted 

the CTC in January 2006 and set a stopsmoking 

date of February 1. Whenever they 

felt their commitment waver, they met with 

or emailed Ms. Folan and other CTC staff 

members for support. 

“They made sure they were always 

available for whatever we needed,” 

said Mr. DeGeorge, communications 

supervisor at Center for Emergency 

Medical Services. 

As an added incentive, as part of its 

health benefits program, North Shore-LIJ 

awards employees a $10 per paycheck credit 

to lower their health insurance premiums 

for those who pledge to be tobacco-free. 

And the DeGeorges have an additional 

incentive: plans to begin a family. 

“It’s good to look forward to having 

children and not to have to worry about 

smoking,” Ms. Cruz-DeGeorge said. 

Get help kicking the habit at 

NorthShoreLIJ.com/stopsmoking or 

(516) 466-1980. 

Above: With their wedding on the horizon, the 

couple decided to get healthier beginning in 2006. 


under the microscope 

MANHASSET — Adaptive radiotherapy (ART) can be beneficial 

with only one or two applications within a six-week treatment period, 

according to findings by researchers led by a senior investigator 

at the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine and The Feinstein 

Institute for Medical Research. The National Cancer Institute 

sponsored the first-of-its-kind clinical trial, which focused on ART 

for head and neck cancer. 

Trial Examines Role 

of Radiotherapy in 

Head/Neck Cancer 

Physicians often use radiotherapy to treat head and neck cancer. 

A type of radiotherapy that is commonly used is intensity-modulated 

radiotherapy, or IMRT. IMRT allows physicians to “sculpt” radiation 

and have it bend around healthy tissue and target the tumor so the 

radiation adapts to the anatomy of each patient. Although IMRT 

is a preferred mode of cancer treatment, its Achilles heel is that 

it is based entirely on computed tomography (CT) or magnetic 

resonance imaging (MRI) performed before a treatment period 

begins. Since typical radiation treatment periods for head and neck 

cancer take six to seven weeks, standard IMRT cannot compensate 

for common changes that occur in a patient’s body during treatment. 

Such changes could include weight loss, tumor shrinkage or gradual 

movement of normal tissues. By not compensating for these 

changes, there is increased risk of 

toxicity or even missing the tumor. 

For the new trial, investigators 

started patients on standard IMRT. 

Then, they took CT scans while 

patients were lying in the radiation 

treatment room each day so they could 

monitor changes in tumor and normal 

tissues during the course of treatment 

(six weeks). Through computerized 

techniques, the investigators “adapted” David Schwartz, MD 


By Emily Ng 

(thus the name “adaptive radiotherapy”) according to significant 

tumor or body changes. 

“ART keeps radiation treatment tightly fitted to a patient’s body, 

almost as if it were being shrink-wrapped,” noted David Schwartz, 

MD, vice chair of radiation medicine at the North Shore-LIJ 

Health System and a senior investigator at the Feinstein. “It is as 

individualized as our current treatment can realistically be.” 

“What was most encouraging about the trial findings was that 

ART appears effective with only one or two additional replans. This 

means that ART does not have to be overly burdensome or expensive 

to make a difference. This is something that is feasible, and could 

eventually make a real-world difference in many clinics.” 

The findings of this trial were recently released online in 

advance of publication in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology 

*Biology* Physics. 

Above: Intensity-modulated radiotherapy, or IMRT, allows physicians to 

“sculpt” radiation and have it bend around healthy tissues and target a tumor.

MANHASSET — Two 

researchers at The Feinstein 

Institute for Medical Research 

have received novel research 

grants from the Lupus 

Research Institute (LRI) to 

study potential diagnostic and 

therapeutic options for lupus 

and why the disease turns the 

body’s immune system against 

itself. A total of $3.6 million 

was committed to the novel 

research program by LRI. 

Meggan Mackay, MD, and 

Thomas Rothstein, MD, PhD, 

received the grants. 

Dr. Mackay and her 

Feinstein colleagues will use 

brain imaging to investigate 

the relationship between 

certain autoantibodies 

(proteins made by the immune 

system that are directed against 

one or more of the individual’s 

own proteins) and brain 

dysfunction in lupus patients. 

Previous research in mice has 

shown that antibodies directed 

against the NMDA receptor in 

the brain alter the function of 

brain cells, causing memory 

and behavioral problems. 

They will use a new 

radiochemical tracer that 

binds to NMDA receptors in 

the brain so they can visualize 

receptor activity of lupus 

patients with and without the 

autoantibodies. If successful, 

the technology will be 

developed as a new method to 

evaluate brain involvement in 

lupus. The technology might 

also help monitor a patient’s 

response to treatment for 

brain disease. 

Dr. Rothstein will study 

B1 cells. B1 cells are a small 

subpopulation of B cells, 

which are responsible for 

producing natural antibodies 

that protect against infection 

and help dispose of cellular 

debris. Dr. Rothstein and his 

team were the first to identify 

B1 cells in humans, and they 

will continue to study whether 

B1 cells produce harmful 

autoantibodies in lupus. If 

B1 cells do produce harmful 

autoantibodies, Dr. Rothstein 

will explore if therapies could 

be developed that target B1 

cells without damaging healthy 

B cells, which are needed to 

respond to vaccination and 

defend against many microbial 

pathogens (various species of 

bacteria, viruses and protozoa). 

Meggan Mackay, MD, and Thomas Rothstein, MD, PhD 

Lupus Grant for 

Feinstein Researchers 

By Emily Ng 

An Invitation to Participate in Discovery 

The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research’s new Recruitment Registry matches people who want to 

participate in clinical research with North Shore-LIJ researchers. Volunteers of any age, race, ethnicity or health 

status (including North Shore-LIJ staff) are invited. Participation ranges from 

a survey that you can do at home to a clinical trial that may 

involve a treatment on-site. 

One example of a current clinical trial is 

the Genotype and Phenotype (GaP) Research 

Registry Program. The GaP Registry allows 

scientists to study healthy individuals and 

learn about the role of genes (or DNA) in 

many different illnesses. More than 4,000 

volunteers have enrolled; the long-term goal 

is to enroll 20,000 volunteers. 

Learn about promoting a healthier future by 

calling 1-877-GO-NSLIJ (1-877-466-7545) or visiting 

FeinsteinInstitute.org/Feinstein/Recruitment+Registry. 


under the microscope 

Ovarian cancer patients’ blood samples can help 

determine their best treatment plan, according to a 

new discovery by researchers and physicians from the 

North Shore-LIJ Health System and The Feinstein 

Institute for Medical Research. More specifically, a genetic marker 

embedded in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), called microRNA, 

indicates whether an ovarian tumor is benign or malignant, and 

whether the patient will benefit from chemotherapy after surgical 

removal of the tumor. 

There will be approximately 22,280 new cases and 15,500 

deaths from ovarian cancer in the United States this year. Due to 

lack of adequate screening, the majority of patients with ovarian 

cancer are diagnosed at Stage III (the second-to-last and most 

devastating stage of cancer), when 70 percent of these patients will 

die within 5 years. 

“The discovery that microRNAs can help assess the best 

treatment plan for women with ovarian cancer — who are most 

likely at Stage III of the disease — offers them enormous hope,” said 

Iuliana Shapira, MD, director of the Cancer Genetics Program at 

the Monter Cancer Center. “We can now inform Stage III patients 

whether they will have success with chemotherapy following 

surgery, similar to patients who are at Stage I. This information 

gives them hope that the disease is curable, despite being diagnosed 

at an ‘advanced stage.’ It also gives them the strength necessary to 

undergo chemotherapy.” 

Several microRNAs have been found to have links with various 

types of cancer. Researchers at the North Shore-LIJ Health System 

and The Feinstein Institute for Medical 

Research found that microRNA-195 

increased 40-fold during chemotherapy 

and microRNA-16 increased 80-fold 

during chemotherapy. These changes may 

explain why some women experience side 

effects from ovarian cancer chemotherapy, 

others are cured by chemotherapy and 

others need ongoing chemotherapy to 

continue living with the cancer. 


Discovery 

Helps Assess 

Best Treatment 

for Ovarian Cancer 

Patients 

By Emily Ng 

Iuliana Shapira, MD Annette Lee, PhD 

“Understanding the changes in microRNA throughout 

chemotherapy helps us better understand ovarian cancer and 

how best to treat patients with this disease,” said Annette Lee, 

PhD, associate investigator at the Feinstein. “The genetic markers 

we identified allow patients to individualize their own therapy 

in order to get maximum benefit and minimal side effects. In 

addition, this knowledge will help 

researchers develop new ovarian 

cancer treatments.” 

Dr. Shapira added, “We 

applied for a government grant and 

hope to receive the funds needed to 

validate these markers that result in 

women receiving therapies that are 

more personalized and match their 

genetic makeup.” 

Thinkstock

Morbid Obesity Deters Potential Kidney Donors 

Morbidly obese patients 

are generally excluded as organ 

donors given their increased 

risk for complications during 

surgery and the development 

of chronic conditions linked 

to obesity (e.g., type 2 

diabetes, heart disease, etc.). 

Researchers at the Hofstra 

North Shore-LIJ School of 

Medicine and The Feinstein 

Institute for Medical Research 

conducted a retrospective 

analysis that found that of 104 

potential living kidney donors, 

Cushing 

Neuroscience 

Institute 

Microsite News 

The Cushing Neuroscience 

Institute (CNI) recently launched 

their new microsite, neurocni. 

com. The comprehensive site 

showcases the breadth of services 

offered at CNI and features expert 

physicians and state-of-the-art 

technology. The new Web site 

has been designed to be more 

user friendly and interactive, 

and will grow and thrive with 

fresh, updated content, rotating 

banners and active links. Users 

have access to information they 

need to make finding the right 

service, physician and location 

easier. They will also be able to 

check out the latest news and 

patient success stories, which will 

continually be updated. 

Visit neurocni.com today! 

23 (22 percent) were classified 

as morbidly obese, only three 

(13 percent) of whom were 

able to successfully lose weight 

and donate their kidney. 

According to Mala Sachdeva, 

MD, assistant professor of 

medicine at the Hofstra North 

Shore-LIJ School of Medicine 

and the lead investigator, “As 

a next step, we must conduct 

larger studies that assess how 

vast a problem this is on a 

national level and how best to 

expand our living donor pool 

for kidney transplantation. 

Perhaps potential donors who 

are excluded from donation 

due to their high BMI should 

participate in more stringent 

weight loss programs, check 

in much more regularly at 

their transplant center for 

follow-ups and even join social 

support groups as a means of 

motivation.” Dr. Sachdeva 

presented this data at the 

National Kidney Foundation 

(NKF) 2012 Spring Clinical 

Meetings. 

Mala Sachdeva, MD 

Science Camp Discounted 20 Percent 

LAKE SUCCESS — Children of North Shore-LIJ employees can get a 20 percent discount on summer science camp at the 

DNA Learning Center (DNALC) West. Kids entering sixth through 12th grades are eligible for the week-long camps at 5 

Delaware Drive, Suite 5, in the Lake Success Quadrangle. 

Camps include Fun with DNA (entering grade 6 or 7); World of Enzymes (entering grade 8 or Fun with DNA alumni 

entering grade 7); Forensic Detectives (entering grade 9 or World of Enzymes alumni entering grade 8); Green Genes 

(entering grade 9 or World of Enzymes alumni entering grade 8); Barcoding Biodiversity (Green Genes alumni); DNA 

Science (entering grades 10–12); Silencing Genomes (DNA Science alumni entering grades 10-12); Human Genomics 

(DNA Science alumni entering grade 11 or 12); and Plant Genomics (DNA Science alumni entering grade 11 or 12). 

Over the last decade, more than 28,000 students have attended DNALC West, with participants taking lab field 

trips including a tour of North Shore-LIJ’s Core Laboratory. The Core Lab/DNA Learning Center West partnership 

is designed to spark an early interest in 

medicine, expose students to healthcare 

careers, offer career guidance, allow students 

to experience a laboratory environment and 

learn from healthcare professionals, according 

to Bob Stallone, vice president of laboratories 

for North Shore-LIJ. 

Hands-on experiences at DNALC West are 

supplemented by online resources at dnalc. 

org and the Gene Screen app, while a DNALC 

West internship gives students experience in 

molecular biology techniques by assisting in lab 

routines. Learn more at summercamps.dnalc. 

org; details about the staff discount at DNALC 

West appear under FAQ. 


physician’s rounds 

Dolan Center Trains Residents 

from Glen Cove Family Practice 


HUNTINGTON — Pediatricians at 

Huntington Hospital’s Dolan Family 

Health Center are passing the flame 

of knowledge on to future physicians 

through a unique collaboration with Glen 

Cove Hospital’s Family Practice Program. 

Under the arrangement, second- and 

third-year family practice residents, 

physicians who are undergoing 

post-graduate training, will spend 

two years rotating through the 

Dolan Center to gain experience 

in pediatric medicine. 

Family practitioners take care 

of patients of all ages, from infancy 

through geriatrics. While residents 

in Glen Cove’s Family Practice 

Program get first-hand experience 

in caring for adults, the number of 

children treated there has declined 

over the years. 

“At Dolan, we take care of a 

large and diverse group of pediatric 

patients,” said William Gehrhardt, 

MD, pediatrician and medical 

director of the Dolan Center. 

“We are partnering with the 

Dolan Family Health Center because 

it is an exceptional outpatient 

facility with very capable staff and 

physicians and a wonderfully diverse 

demographic mix of patients,” said 

William Bennett, MD, director 

of Glen Cove Hospital’s Family 

Practice Program. “This partnership 

is a tribute to the excellence of the 

Dolan facility.” 

Under the arrangement, a 

group of 10 to 12 residents spends 

half a day at the Dolan Center, 

working side-by-side with either 

Dr. Gehrhardt or pediatrician 


Roberto Blando, MD. Residents 

participate in taking patient histories, 

checking vital signs and making diagnoses 

as well as treatment recommendations. 

Eventually, they will learn to use the Dolan 

Center’s electronic medical record (EMR). 

The relatively new arrangement 

already shows signs of success, according 

What’s Up, Doc? 

Doctoring is North Shore-LIJ’s new physician-centric 

communications piece. Available for free as a print publication, 

monthly e-newsletter and interactive app, it furnishes intriguing 

content about the science and art of practicing medicine. 

Visit DoctoringMag.com to learn more. 

to Dr. Gehrhardt. “We have observed the 

residents to be a highly qualified, diligent, 

really good group of people,” he said. 

In the past, the center has been 

involved with training pediatric residents 

and nurse practitioners. Hofstra North 

Shore-LIJ School of Medicine students 

will also participate in educational 

experiences at Dolan. 

Dr. Gehrhardt is 

proud of the contributions 

that the Dolan Center is 

making, ensuring that future 

generations of physicians are 

well-trained and prepared. 

“It is an honor to be asked to 

do this,” he said. “Teaching 

others is an indication of 

excellence, and the presence 

of these residents enhances 

the care and education that 

we are able to provide to our 

patients.” 

Right: Glen Cove Hospital family 

practice resident Kapeel Kumar, 

MD, left, and Dolan Family Health 

Center pediatrician Roberto 

Blando, MD, examine six-monthold 

Stephenie Rivera Ochoa. 

Correction 

In the spring issue of The New 

Standard, Ron Israeli, MD, was 

shown in a photo with his wife, 

Nancy Lippman-Israeli, MD, who 

was incorrectly identified as a 

patient.


37


NASA Advisory Board Taps Harold Rekate, MD 

By Michelle Pipia-Stiles 

When the National Aeronautics 

and Space Administration 

(NASA) sought medical 

insight on how to protect astronauts’ 

vision, they knew where to turn. 

Harold Rekate, MD, director of 

the Chiari Institute at North Shore 

University Hospital, world-renowned 

for his research over the past 30 years 

relating to the causes and treatment 

of raised intracranial pressure, 

recently joined the agency’s advisory 

board for the Visual Impairment 

Intracranial Pressure (VIIP) Program. 

The program analyzes the 

physiological and anatomical changes 

in astronauts who participate in 

long-duration space missions, where 

intracranial pressure may cause 

long-term visual impairment. A study 

sponsored by NASA found that space 

flights lasting six months or more 

can cause a spectrum of changes in 

astronauts’ visual systems, including 

blurry vision and excess fluid around 

the optic nerve. 

CME Conferences 

The North Shore-LIJ Office of Continuing Medical Education has a full slate of continuing medical education (CME) conferences on tap this year. 

Sept 

Oct 

Nov 


“Before astronauts 

embark on space missions, 

we need to determine who 

is at risk of developing 

intracranial hypertension. 

When they return, we need 

to determine who has 

suffered visual impairment 

as a result of ICP and 

decide how to best treat 

astronauts to prevent these 

problems,” said Dr. Rekate. 

“Intracranial hypertension 

can be measured with a 

spinal tap where a needle is 

inserted into the spinal canal 

in the lower part of the back 

to measure cerebrospinal 

fluid surrounding the brain 

and spinal cord. The advisory 

board is looking into other kinds 

of treatment that are less invasive, 

such as an ultrasound. The advisory 

board will first need to determine if 

the raised intracranial pressure is a 

result of an eye or brain problem.” 

21 Melanoma Conference Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine 

24 Current Topics in Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology North Shore University Hospital 

2 Urology and Urogynecology Conference Feinstein Institute for Medical Research 

3 Wound Care Conference Long Island Marriott 

Infection-control training is available online any time at NorthShoreLIJ.edu/ict. 

In coming months, the VIIP 

advisory board will meet to enact 

protocols so astronauts can be 

screened before a space mission; to 

determine what astronauts can do to 

relieve ICP while in space; and upon 

their return, to measure ICP levels 

immediately and treat those with 

elevated levels. 

Above: Dr. Rekate exits the space 

shuttle astronaut training facility at 

NASA’s Johnson Space Center. 

Conference information is updated weekly. To learn more, visit NorthShoreLIJ.edu/cme or call 516-465-3CME (516-465-3263). The North Shore-LIJ Health System 

is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. 

NASA

It’s in His Bones: 

Orthopedic Surgeon 

Pays It Forward 

By Margarita Oksenkrug 

Leon E. Popovitz, MD, orthopedic surgeon and sports 

medicine specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital, recently created the 

Efim and Mila Popovitz Scholarship for Exceptional Character at 

the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, his alma mater. 

The scholarship, named in honor of Dr. Popovitz’s parents, will 

be offered to one deserving student annually over the next five 

years. Each winner, who will be chosen based on exemplary moral 

character, will receive a $20,000 gift toward his or her medical 

education. “I stress the importance of ‘exceptional character’ in 

the scholarship because when it comes down to it, no matter our 

intelligence or accomplishments, it is our character that is the 

measure of what kind of people we are,” explained Dr. Popovitz. 

“That is particularly true of doctors.” 

Founded at City College in 1973, the Sophie Davis School of 

Biomedical Education is far from a typical medical university. Its 

socially, economically and ethnically diverse base of students is 

recruited right out of high school; the students are committed to 

Residents and Fellows Plan 

More Community Involvement 

A relatively 

new initiative 

by the North 

Shore-LIJ Residents 

and Fellows Forum strives to 

increase staff involvement in 

volunteer and community 

services activities. 

The original mission of the 

Residents and Fellows Forum 

was to serve as a liaison with administration 

and hospital staff 

to address and resolve matters 

within North Shore-LIJ. But 

over the past several years, the 

mission has evolved to include 

a more patient-centered focus 

both within hospitals and now, 

the community. 

Since the North Shore- 

LIJ Health System already 

had strong community 

service involvement, several 

residents and fellows seized 

the opportunity to spearhead a 

program at CitiField. During 

the 2012 baseball season, 

members are spending time at 

the Health Information Team 

pursuing a career in medicine from a very young age. One of the 

school’s core principles, according to Dr. Popovitz, is ensuring 

that its alumni give back to communities that are underprivileged 

and underserved, similar to the ones they themselves have come 

from. That concept struck a resonant chord with the doctor, 

who immigrated to the US from the Soviet Union as a young 

boy and recalls that the first few years here were “arduous and 

impoverished times,” as his parents struggled to create a better 

life for him and his brother. 

Inspired by the unwavering support, confidence and 

encouragement from his parents to pursue his American dream, 

Dr. Popovitz created the scholarship to help a new generation 

of aspiring physicians turn their own fantasies into real 

success stories. “I established this scholarship because it is my 

responsibility as an alumnus 

to give support to those special 

people who are devoted to 

making somebody’s life better,” 

remarked Dr. Popovitz in the 

speech he made at the school’s 

recent white coat ceremony 

in which he announced the 

inception of the scholarship. 

The first recipient of the Efim 

and Mila Popovitz Scholarship 

for Exceptional Character will 

be selected this summer. 

Leon Popovitz, MD 

(HIT) booth sponsored by 

the North Shore-LIJ Health 

System and the Katz Institute 

for Women’s Health. Residents 

and fellows educate fans about 

health and wellness issues and 

solutions before and during 

the game. 

What does the future 

hold for the health system’s 

residents and fellows? During 

the next year, the plan is to 

focus on undergraduate and 

medical student mentorship 

programs, health literacy 

seminars in the community 

and child safety initiatives. 

Through these opportunities, 

the leadership of the Residents 

and Fellows Forum believes 

that together, the residents, 

fellows and the healthcare 

system can have a measurable 

impact on the community for 

many years to come. 



North Shore University Hospital’s Palliative Care Program 

Receives Advanced Certification Status from the Joint Commission 

MANHASSET — The Palliative Care Program at North Shore University Hospital 

(NSUH) was recently awarded advanced certification status by the Joint 

Commission, which accredits and certifies more than 19,000 healthcare 

organizations and programs in the United States. NSUH is one of only six 

hospitals in the country to receive this honor from the Joint Commission, which 

signifies that NSUH has achieved a national level of excellence in patient- and 

family-centered care. 

Palliative care is defined as specialized medical care for people with 

advanced illness. This type of care is focused on providing patients with relief 

from the symptoms, pain and stress of their disease. North Shore University 

Hospital has a dedicated 10-bed Palliative Care Unit, where care is provided by a 

team of doctors, nurses and other specialists who work with the patient’s team of 

healthcare providers to produce an extra layer of support. 

“This national distinction was achieved through the visionary leadership of 

Michael Dowling, the support of our hospital leaders and the specialized palliative 

Charles Schleien, MD, Appointed 

Chair of Pediatrics at CCMC 

Charles Schleien, MD, MBA, is the 

new chair of pediatrics at the Steven and 

Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical 

Center of New York. 

Dr. Schleien was executive 

vice chairman in the 

Department of Pediatrics at the 

Columbia University College 

of Physicians & Surgeons, 

and professor of pediatrics 

and anesthesiology at New York 

Presbyterian Hospital. He is past 

director of the Division of Pediatric 

Critical Care Medicine, which he founded 

upon his arrival at Columbia in 1999, and 

served as medical director of the Pediatric 

Intensive Care Unit at the Morgan 

Stanley Children’s Hospital of Columbia 

University. 

Dr. Schleien previously served 

as director and fellowship director— 


pediatric critical care medicine in the 

Department of Pediatrics at the University 

of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical 

Center; and professor of pediatrics 

and anesthesiology at the 

University of Miami School of 

Medicine. 

Dr. Schleien received 

a bachelor’s degree from 

the City University of New 

York’s (CUNY) Queens 

College and his medical degree 

from the Mount Sinai School of 

Medicine. He completed a pediatric 

residency at Texas Children’s Hospital, 

Baylor University Affiliated Hospitals, 

Houston; an anesthesia residency at the 

Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore; and 

a fellowship in pediatric critical care 

medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. 

care team who are committed to improving care for patients with serious illness 

and their families,” said Dana Lustbader, MD, section head of palliative medicine. 

“Our primary goal is to align treatments with patient preferences while relieving 

suffering. Research shows that patients with advanced illness who get palliative 

care live longer. Palliative care is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a 

serious illness, and can be provided together with curative treatment.” 

Jeremy Boal, MD, North Shore-LIJ’s chief medical officer, said education 

and improved communication are critical components in successful palliative 

care programs. “We need to understand our patients’ preferences for care so that 

we can build the best approach to meeting those preferences and goals,” said 

Dr. Boal. “Many patients with advanced illness would choose care focused on 

maintaining comfort and dignity over more aggressive forms of care if they were 

well informed of the benefits and burdens of such care. Others would choose more 

aggressive care. In either case, our responsibility is to understand their needs 

and goals and to meet them.” 

2011-2012 

Feinstein Report 

The recently published 2011-2012 

Annual Report of the North Shore-LIJ Health 

System’s Feinstein Institute for Medical 

Research provides an overview of how the 

Feinstein Institute succeeds at creating and 

disseminating new knowledge, achieving 

medical advances, providing service to our 

community and beyond and constantly 

striving to cure disease by studying disease. 

See it at http://www.northshorelij.com/ 

NSLIJ/NSLIJ+Annual+Reports.

New York Head and Neck Institute 

Names Ian Storper, MD, Director of Otology 

Ian S. Storper, MD, has been 

appointed director of the Otology Program 

for the New York Head and Neck Institute 

at Lenox Hill Hospital. He comes to Lenox 

Hill from Columbia University College 

of Physicians and Surgeons where he was 

director of neurotology. Dr. Storper, 

an internationally recognized otologist/ 

neurotologist who specializes in the 

medical and surgical treatment of ear 

disease, has a special interest in hearing 

restoration surgery, including cochlear 

implant, stapedectomy and ossicular 

reconstruction. He has contributed 

innovative surgical techniques to the 

field in the areas of laser stapes surgery, 

implantable hearing aids and surgery 

for Meniere’s disease, cholesteatoma, 

tympanoplasty and mastoidectomy. Dr. 

Storper received his medical degree in 

1988 from the University of Pennsylvania. 

The North Shore-LIJ Department of 

Medicine, in conjunction with the Krasnoff 

Quality Management Institute of the North 

Shore-LIJ Health System, has appointed 

Maria Torroella Carney, MD, 

to the position of director of 

community-based geriatrics 

for the North Shore-LIJ 

Health System. 

Dr. Carney is also 

an assistant professor of 

medicine at the Hofstra 

North Shore-LIJ School of 

Medicine. Her primary role 

in the Department of Medicine is 

He completed both an internship in 

general surgery in 1990 and a residency 

in head and neck surgery in 1994 at 

UCLA Medical Center and fellowships 

in neuroscience in 1992 at UCLA School 

of Medicine and in otology/neurotology 

in 1995 at the Otology Group/The EAR 

Foundation in Nashville, TN. Dr. Storper 

received the Maxwell Abramson Teaching 

Award from Columbia University and the 

Malcolm Schvey Teaching Award from 

its Department of Otolaryngology/ Head 

and Neck Surgery and has instructed 

CME-accredited courses. He is the 

author of numerous book chapters and 

publications in peer-reviewed journals, 

lectures frequently and is a fellow in the 

American Academy of Otolaryngology, 

the American College of Surgeons and the 

American Neurotology Society. He was 

senior investigator in studies on the use 

Maria Carney, MD, Former Nassau County 

Commissioner of Health, Joins North Shore-LIJ 

to work in partnership with the Krasnoff 

Quality Management Institute to utilize, 

assess and evaluate health system data to 

effect program change. She will assist in 

expansion of academics, research and 

clinical outcome studies to improve 

education opportunities for medical 

students, residents and fellows in 

medical training. 

Dr. Carney received her MD 

at New York Medical College, and 

carried out her residency training 

in internal medicine at New York 

Presbyterian Hospital - Weill/Cornell 

Medical Center. She went on to complete 

Ian Storper, MD 

of steroids and antivirals in the treatment 

of sudden hearing loss and in the use 

of glycopyrrolate in the treatment of 

Meniere’s disease. 

a two-year clinical- and research-oriented 

fellowship in geriatric medicine at the 

Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New 

York City. 

Dr. Carney had been commissioner 

for the Nassau County Department of 

Health, where she effectively addressed 

major challenges including the 2010 

H1N1 influenza response, for which 

she received the BOCES (Board of 

Cooperative Education Services) Nassau 

County Council of Superintendents’ 

Award, and New York State Association 

of County Health Officials’ Public Health 

Professional of the Year Award. 


hearts and hands 

One afternoon, Susie Wong left quite 

an impression on a woman in the Stroke 

Unit at North Shore University Hospital. 

The patient’s family watched as Ms. Wong 

and her pet therapy dogs entered the room. 

“My very loving dog, Orion, gently 

laid his head on her chest and looked 

deep into her eyes,” Ms. Wong said of her 

Great Pyrenees, a large and fluffy breed 

with a gentle and caring nature. “It was at 

that moment, while Orion’s breath tickled 

her cheek, that I picked up her hand and 

helped her stroke his head.” 


Pet Therapy Gives 

the Warm Fuzzies 

By Susan Kreimer 

The patient, in her 40s, had been 

paralyzed by the stroke, which struck during 

a family vacation. But soon, Ms. Wong 

recalls, “the attention of everyone in the 

room was captivated when she started to 

twitch her fingers in the hand stroking 

Orion. She regained eye movement and 

smiled. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room.” 

Research has shown that animals’ 

unconditional love and acceptance provide 

medical and emotional benefits to people 

both young and old. That’s the rationale 

behind the work of pet therapy volunteers 

like Ms. Wong within the North Shore-LIJ 

Health System. 

“Our pet therapy visits take place at 

bedside or in the playroom, depending 

on patients’ needs. The dogs are there to 

help brighten the patients’ day, to help 

them take their minds off their situations, 

if only for a moment,” said Maura Tully, 

pet therapy coordinator in the Child Life 

Department at Cohen Children’s Medical 

Center (CCMC) of New York. 

“Patients who were feeling down have 

smiled for the first time during a visit from 

a pet therapy dog,” Ms. Tully added. “I 

have had patients say that they forgot about 

their pain while they were visiting with one 

of the dogs. The dogs also help motivate 

the patients. Those who wouldn’t get out of 

bed or go to the playroom will do so for a 

pet therapy visit.” 

There are currently six pet therapy dogs

Concierge Smooths Patients’ ED Experience 


VALLEY STREAM — At the end of Arlene Veltri’s fourhour 

shift, the staff is sad to see her leave. 

“When I say I have to go home now, they say, 

‘No, not now.’ It’s a very helpful job,” the 81-yearold 

volunteer said. The time goes by fast. “I’m busy, 

but that’s a good thing.” 

Ms. Veltri, a retired special education aide, 

volunteers in Franklin Hospital’s Emergency Department 

Concierge Program, launched in the spring of 

2009. She greets patients and directs them where 

to sign in. 

Concierge volunteers also bring wheelchairs to 

patients, help them on and off with their coats, call a 

taxi afterward and give some TLC, said Myra Cohen, 

director of volunteer services at Franklin Hospital. 

“The concierges speak with patients and provide 

needed company,” Ms. Cohen said. “They help 

take the anxiety out of the emergency room visit.” 

in the program at CCMC. Most visit patients 

twice a month with their owners, who are 

volunteers. The participants are a black 

Labrador retriever, yellow Lab, Maltese, 

Papillon, golden retriever and greyhound. 

All of them were certified by a therapy dog 

organization before consideration for the 

hospital. Certified dogs also participate in 

onsite behavioral screening. 

“They must go through a series of 

tests to see how they would react in the 

hospital environment,” said Ms. Tully, 

who evaluates each candidate. She has also 

placed volunteers with pet therapy dogs at 

The Zucker Hillside Hospital. LIJ Medical 

Center offers pet therapy too. 

“We test to see how they react to 

walkers, wheelchairs, crutches and IV 

poles,” she said. “We test to see how they 

would react to loud noises and strange 

behavior. We also test to see how they 

engage with our pediatric patients.” 

If a dog passes the behavioral 

screening, Ms. Tully asks to review its 

veterinary records. The handler must be a 

volunteer at the health system. 

“It is quite a commitment, and it takes 

Sometimes a patient who comes in later is 

treated before another who arrived earlier. “If 

anybody feels somebody went ahead,” Ms. Veltri 

explains, “you can assure them that the person is 

quite ill and has to be seen.” 

From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursday, her volunteering 

helps reduce waiting times, and to patients, 

the process appears to proceed more quickly, even 

when it seems slow. 

“We try to appease them in whatever way that 

we can,” she said of the concierges’ duties. “Some 

patients are friendly and want to talk. And if they 

don’t, you don’t intrude on them at all.” 

Ms. Veltri escorts patients to the fast-track 

area if they have a minor ailment, such as a sore 

throat, and are likely to go home. If they have 

an illness or injury that may require hospitalization, 

she takes them to a different section of the 

a very dedicated handler to get through the 

whole process,” she said. “We only accept 

the best-trained dogs into our program.” 

Ms. Wong has volunteered with her 

dogs at North Shore University Hospital 

since June 2006. All of them are Great 

Pyrenees with champion status. 

“I bring at least two at a time,” said 

Ms. Wong, who has accumulated more 

than 500 volunteer hours. She takes as 

many as six or eight to the Stroke Club, 

with the help of her youngest child of 

three, 15-year-old Michelle, who also has 

pet therapy licenses for each dog. Together 

they comfort and cheer up stroke survivors 

and their caretakers. 

In addition, her pooches interact with 

patients on various floors of the hospital, 

including the Child Life Program and the 

Palliative Care Unit. They also visit the Stern 

Family Center for Rehabilitation. Wherever 

the dogs go, they wear custom-made outfits. 

Ms. Wong is one of eight volunteers 

who bring their dogs to North Shore 

University Hospital for pet therapy, said Lisa 

Breiman, director of volunteer services. “I 

see first-hand what a tremendous positive 

Emergency Department. This relieves the nurse of 

that responsibility and speeds up registration for 

other patients. 

“Arlene is a friendly, outgoing woman who is 

wonderfully helpful to patients, visitors and staff,” 

Ms. Cohen says. “She is perfect for this program.” 

A resident of Lawrence, Ms. Veltri began 

volunteering at Franklin Hospital in May 2009. She 

started in the Medical Records Department, assisting 

with filing and other requests. After taking some 

time off due to health issues, Ms. Veltri became a 

concierge in last spring. 

Franklin Hospital staff members, including 

the nurses, registrars and security guards, are 

delightful, she said. “They make you feel that you’re 

wanted and that you’re useful.” 

impact pet therapy has on our patients, their 

family members and also our staff, who look 

forward to their visits,” Ms. Breiman says. 

Aside from volunteering, Ms. Wong 

works five overnight shifts per week as a 

technician’s and doctor’s assistant, as well 

as a receptionist, at Central Veterinary 

Associates’ 24-hour emergency hospital in 

Valley Stream. Henry Wong, her husband 

of 26 years, is a pharmacist at North Shore 

University Hospital. 

Ms. Wong, who lives in Woodmere and 

also has two cats, lectures about pet therapy 

at various schools and colleges. Instead of 

accepting compensation, she encourages 

her listeners to donate to North Shore 

University Hospital. 

“This is a passion,” she said, adding 

that it takes two hours to groom each dog 

the day prior to pet therapy visits, which 

she does one to three times per week. “It’s 

not something that I get paid for. But the 

reward is so much more than money.” 

Opposite: Ms. Wong with Delilah, left, and Orion. 

Custom outfits for her therapy dogs add even more 

cheer to patient visits. 



A Big-League Volunteer for Generations of Kids 


NEW HYDE PARK — Mike Oshinsky attends 

religious services every morning. His Jewish faith 

has taught him the importance of visiting and 

comforting the sick. 

With that in mind, he started volunteering 

nearly 29 years ago at what’s now known as the 

Cohen Children’s Medical Center (CCMC). For full 

days on Tuesday and Thursday, he volunteers in the 

Hematology/Oncology Unit. 

“I had retired and I was looking for something 

to do,” said Mr. Oshinsky, 83, who lives in North 

Woodmere and is still involved in commercial 

real estate. “Friends of mine recommended that I 

volunteer at the hospital.” 

Believing that “young people keep you young,” 

he quickly aligned himself with helping pediatric 

patients. “Obviously, it went well. I’m still there.” 

A Child Life Program didn’t exist at the 

time. “It was up to the volunteers to do whatever 

they thought they should do to keep the children 

occupied and busy,” Mr. Oshinsky recalled. “And 

that’s what we did.” 

He supplied the playroom with a lot of fun 

stuff. Friends from various businesses donated 

baseball hats and sticker books. He obtained the 

stickers at wholesale prices. “What I couldn’t get 

donated,” Mr. Oshinsky said, “I bought.” 

CCMC’s Child Life Department now manages 

special events and donations for patients, said 

Maxine Legall, coordinator of volunteer services. 

Mr. Oshinsky also made contacts with the New 

York Islanders — a top hockey team in those days, 

having won four Stanley Cups. In September 1984, 

he brought one of the team’s core players, Bryan 

Trottier, for a visit. 

“The Islanders have been coming to the 

hospital ever since,” said Mr. Oshinsky, a sports 

enthusiast who plays racquetball and tennis. “It’s an 

Islander tradition to visit the hospital every year.” 

The New York Jets and the Mets have also comforted 

children in the hospital. 

The benefits of aging well and giving back to 

the community complement each other. Marilyn 

Oshinsky, his wife of 62 years, volunteered in the 

hospital’s gift shop in the mid- to late 1980s. 

“You have to keep your mind active,” Mr. 


Oshinsky says. “You have to keep your body active. 

You have to keep your soul active. You do all three.” 

Danielle Davis, a certified Child Life specialist 

in hematology/oncology, is in awe of Mr. Oshinsky’s 

knack for connecting with youngsters. 

“Mike has this amazing ability to form a 

relationship with a child of any age, gender or 

cultural background. He truly makes a lasting 

impression,” Ms. Davis says. “It’s clear how 

much of a difference he makes in the lives of our 

patients and families, when they continue to talk 

about him and remember him long after their 

treatment is finished.” 

Above: Volunteer Mike Oshinsky and a young 

patient are clearly connecting at the CCMC.

Huntington Auxiliary Giving Nears $200,000 

Kevin Lawlor, Huntington Hospital president and CEO, right, recently thanked Auxiliary members for their $198,465 

donation. From left: Thomas Rizzo, treasurer; Anita Rizzo, vice president/advocacy; and Edna Fetkowitz, president. The 

gift represented proceeds of the Auxiliary’s 2011 fundraising efforts, which included lobby sales, telephone and TV rentals 

and special events. 

NEW HYDE PARK — For 

Barbara Raber, volunteering 

is a natural extension of her 

life’s calling. First a teacher, 

then a principal at Lakeville 

Elementary School in Great 

Neck for 26 years, she chose 

the North Shore-LIJ Health 

System for her community 

service endeavor. 

The summer before officially 

retiring on Sept. 1, 

2010, she trained with Denice 

Romero, director of volunteer 

services at LIJ Medical Center. 

This way, she would be ready 

to begin as soon as possible. 

“I adore children,” said 

Ms. Raber, 76. She started volunteering 

at Cohen Children’s 

Medical Center (CCMC), 

“supporting in whatever 

capacity I could. I would help 

a number of the older patients 

with homework.” 

At the hospital, she also 

played games and read books 

to the youngsters. She brought 

Former Educator 

Serves as LIJ 

Ambassador 


arts and crafts to them. And 

when they couldn’t come to the 

playroom, she went to their 

rooms and engaged them in 

activities. 

Ms. Raber represents the 

new face of volunteers who 

want meaningful involvement 

in their golden chapters, after 

long and accomplished careers. 

“Years ago, the gift shop 

was a prime assignment,” Ms. 

Romero says. It was often run 

by stay-at-home moms, the 

wives of hospital physicians. 

“Now, our retirees want a con- 

tinuance of their professional 

status.” She has trained a 

retired flight attendant, editor, 

teachers and administrators to 

serve as dedicated volunteers. 

Many doctors and other 

hospital staff members know 

Ms. Raber because she taught 

or supervised their children in 

school. Now, they’re surprised 

to see her in their workplace. 

“What are you doing here, 

Barbara?” is a common question 

they pose. 

“Barbara is able to engage 

people and provide all the 

needed information effectively,” 

Ms. Romero says. “Her winning 

smile and overt caring are evident 

in each interaction.” 

In late January, upon 

the opening of LIJ Medical 

Center’s Katz Women’s Hospital 

and Zuckerberg Pavilion, she 

changed volunteering roles. 

“Denice asked whether I would 

consider switching to an ambassadorship,” 

Ms. Raber recalls. 

“And I said to her, ‘As long as I 

don’t have to leave the country, I 

would be happy to try it.’ ” 

Once a week, she assists at 

the new main entrance. With a 

friendly face, she guides visitors 

to where they need to go 

and helps melt away their anxiety 

over coming to a hospital, 

whether it’s to have surgery, 

give birth or undergo tests. 

Sometimes she escorts them 

personally in a wheelchair or 

on foot. 

“I really run for four 

hours bringing people all over 

the complex,” Ms. Raber says 

of her 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. shift on 

Tuesday. “It’s very active and 

very busy.” 

Ms. Raber is multitalented. 

Aside from her hospital 

volunteer duties, she plays 

tennis in a women’s league. 

And as a young woman, she 

trained as a concert pianist. 

Rewards from volunteering 

come in the form of smiles and 

hugs. “We are helping people 

who, at the time of their illness, 

need some additional support,” 

Ms. Raber says. “Whatever little 

words of comfort you can offer 

are so appreciated.” 



HUNTINGTON — On the calendar, Bill 

Segal is 79 years old, but “in my heart, 

I’ll always be 39,” he jokingly said. It’s no 

wonder he brings boundless energy to 

volunteering at Huntington Hospital. 

Mr. Segal, who turns 80 in August, 

has poured tons of passion into helping 

others. After retiring at age 66, “I decided 

I was too young to sit in a rocking chair,” 

said the former advertising and marketing 

executive. Seeking a rewarding outlet for 

his spare time led him to Huntington 

Hospital. By the end of 2011, Mr. Segal 

had clocked 4,500 volunteer hours; 

this February, he celebrated his 12th 

anniversary. 

“Over the years, I’ve done everything 

from volunteering in the Post-Anesthesia 

Care Unit to the admissions desk,” he said. 

On Friday afternoons, he’s assigned to 

the pharmacy and delivers medications to 

nursing units. And on Monday afternoons, 

he discharges patients while escorting 

newcomers to the Emergency Department. 

He also delivers flowers and supervises the 

junior volunteers on that day. 

The juniors are high school students 

from the Huntington area. “There are 

some kids who put in their hours and 

then they disappear,” says Mr. Segal, 

who lives in Huntington Village and has 

likely supervised more than a thousand 

junior volunteers over the years. “And 

then there are others who will put in 

several hundred hours because they get 


enthusiastic about the program.” 

That’s the kind of attitude Mr. Segal 

hopes to encourage in the youngsters 

he mentors. At least 75 hours per year 

are required to be considered a junior 

Huntington Volunteer 

Touts the Rewards of 

Community Service 


volunteer in good standing and at 

least 100 hours are needed to receive a 

recommendation letter from the hospital 

in applying to college. 

“A lot of them become involved 

because it looks good on a college 

application,” Mr. Segal says. “And I try 

to convince them that they will feel good 

about themselves for volunteering.” 

While it can be challenging, Mr. 

Segal enjoys showing teenagers the value 

of community service. On Christmas 

morning, he and a group of junior 

volunteers tour the hospital, singing 

carols to patients while Santa distributes 

presents provided by the Huntington 

Hospital Auxiliary. 

“I have to remind them every now 

and then that they’re volunteering in a 

hospital, and I want them to find this to be 

a rewarding experience,” Mr. Segal says. 

“Everything they do helps the nursing staff.” 

Gina Torchon, director of volunteer 

services at Huntington Hospital, admires 

his unwavering dedication. “Bill is a oneof-a-kind 

volunteer,” she says. “He is very 

generous with his time and wisdom, and he 

is a role model for our junior volunteers.” 

Between 175 and 200 junior 

volunteers usually serve at the hospital 

during the same calendar year. They stay 

anywhere from one to four years. 

Mr. Segal also takes on various 

other roles at hospital functions, from 

assisting with registration at public health 

screenings to attending retirement parties 

and Cancer Survivors’ Day. 

“He gets along with so many people 

and is so well-liked that he doesn’t want to 

miss anything,” Ms. Torchon says. “He is 

very involved.” 

NSUH Auxiliary Golf 

Classic To Honor 

Susan Somerville 

This is the 34th year that North 

Shore University Hospital has held a 

golf outing, and it is the first year that 

the event has had an honoree. Susan 

Somerville, RN, MA, has been chosen 

for this distinction; she is the hospital’s 

executive director. The 34th Annual Golf 

Classic will be held on Monday, July 

16, at the North Shore Country Club in 

Glen Head. Proceeds will benefit the 

development of the West Wing at NSUH. 

For further information, please call the 

Volunteer-Auxiliary Office at 

(516) 562-4947.

Walk to Paris Winners Announced 

On Valentine’s Day, North Shore-LIJ announced a challenge for all 

employees: In teams of 10, walk the 7.2 million steps it would take to reach 

Paris from New York, in exchange for better health and the chance to win a 

free trip to Paris. An unprecedented 15,000 employees participated in the 

Walk to Paris – forming teams, walking at least 8,000 steps every day and 

having a great time doing it. 

The challenge ended in late June with a closing ceremony and 

winners’drawing held at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury. North 

Shore-LIJ President and CEO Michael Dowling surprised everyone by drawing 

four grand prize winners. Congratulations to the 

grand-prize winning teams: Walka Walka Walka, 

Microbiologie Marche A’ Paris, Champs-Elysees 

and Twinkle Toes. 

In addition to the 40 employees now 

going to Paris, Mr. Dowling drew the names of 

11 more teams to win the second-place prize: 

a wellness package, valued at $1,000, for each 

team member. 

“Walk to Paris is part of a much larger 

commitment that North Shore-LIJ is making to its 

employees,” Mr. Dowling said. “Our careers are 

based on helping others achieve wellness, and 

we know that we have a tremendous opportunity 

to help our employee community reach their own 

personal wellness goals.” 

Mr. Dowling noted that wellness is part of 

the health reform movement. “This is part of the 

whole effort that the Supreme Court dealt with,” 

Mr. Dowling said. “Wellness is not going away 

and we are proud to be supporting our employees 

and leading the way for others.” 

Top Right: The Walk to Paris team wearing pink 

is Sistaz with Blistaz – one of the first five teams 

to cross the finish line. Bottom Right: The team in 

white is Lab Rats on the Run from North Shore-LIJ 

Laboratories. 


mission possible 

While vacationing in Oaxaca, Mexico, last year, Matthew 

Kaufman, MD, walked into the local hospital and began 

introducing himself to the doctors. Still in vacation 

mode, the chief resident in LIJ Medical Center’s Emergency 

Department told them that he worked for an American healthcare 

system that helped other medical centers and asked where they 

needed support. 

Recounting the story of a recent mudslide, the Mexican 

physicians voiced their concerns about being unprepared in a 

major crisis or natural disaster. 

Impromptu Discussion 

Spurs Emergency 

Training Conference 

“It’s a very interesting thing to go into a different culture with 

different resources and see how they would handle this,” he said. Dr. 

Kaufman immediately wanted to get involved. He had never gone on 

medical mission before, but envied his colleagues’ medical missions. 

When he returned home, Dr. Kaufman continued talking with 

doctors and the Red Cross in Oaxaca, and 

began building a North Shore-LIJ team 

that could help the Mexican hospital better 

prepare for a major crisis. Luckily for all, 

LIJ is the site of an international emergency 

medicine fellowship and Dario Gonzalez, 

MD, the medical director for New York 

City’s Office for Emergency Management 

and associate medical director of the FDNY, 

is a faculty member. Led by Dr. Gonzalez’s 

expertise in disaster management, the 

team included Gino Farina, MD; Herberth 

Balsells, DO; and Kathryn Bailey, AB. 

This January, the group traveled to 

Oaxaca to conduct a needs assessment of 

the hospitals that would be most vulnerable 

in a disaster. The team also presented 

an emergency management conference 

that attracted nearly 400 participants, 

including doctors, firefighters, emergency 

medical technicians, Red Cross workers, 

epidemiologists and military officials. 


“The conference itself was really an amazing event,” Dr. 

Kaufman said. “I think it allowed attendees to evaluate their 

own system in a critical way. I also see an opportunity for us to 

continue this process and help to facilitate these changes.” Most 

importantly, the event began a dialogue between agencies that had 

not previously convened. 

Emergency medicine specialists from North Shore-LIJ have 

worked with hospitals in India, Haiti and other underdeveloped 

countries that face such problems as poorly constructed facilities 

or lack of formal training programs for doctors, said Mae Ward, 

RN, senior research director of emergency medicine at North 

Shore University Hospital. Sassan Naderi, MD, director of the 

international emergency medicine fellowship at LIJ, had previously 

arranged a three-year emergency medicine training program in 

Durgapur, India. 

This trip, however, was different because Oaxaca has the facilities 

and the doctors, but needed the communication tools and 

organizational structure to respond to a crisis. The response in 

Oaxaca has been tremendous, Dr. Kaufman said, adding that medical 

officials there have already started making changes. The initial 

trip to Oaxaca was funded largely through a grant from Goldman 

Sachs Gives, a donor-advised fund that gives grants to nonprofits. 

As the project continues, there will be more trips to Oaxaca with 

additional training exercises run by Dr. Kaufman and his team. 

“I certainly intend to make this kind of project an ongoing 

part of my career,” he said. “These projects are really exciting and 

meaningful, especially because you can make systematic changes.” 

North Shore-LIJ volunteers convened an emergency management conference in Oaxaca, Mexico.


49

PLAINVIEW — Veterans of 

World War II, the Korean 

War and Vietnam who live in 

the Plainview-Old Bethpage 

neighborhood naturally occurring 

retirement community 

(NNORC) recently gave 

history lessons that Mepham 

High School in Bellmore 

students won’t soon forget. 

Their videotaped interviews 

have been archived with the 

Library of Congress Veterans 

History Project. 

“I listened to the story 

of one man’s journey from a 

young boy in Brooklyn to a 


Nurse Helps Plainview 

Veterans Give Real-Life 

History Lesson 

prisoner of war in Germany, 

and realized that I’d stumbled 

upon a reservoir of history on 

the verge of being lost,” said 

Kelly Soel, RN, a North Shore- 

LIJ community health nurse 

who works with a number of 

veterans through the Plainview- 

Old Bethpage NNORC. 

Ms. Soel established a 

group among the NNORC 

members in which veterans 

could gather to share their 

experiences while promoting 

well-being and a deeper sense 

of community. In researching 

discussion topics, she found the 


Library of Congress Veterans 

History Project and arranged 

for the veterans to share their 

war stories with a group of 

Mepham High School students 

and answer their questions. 

Paul Zadoff, 90, told 

students about his World War 

II experience of serving on Iwo 

Jima. “You learn about the war 

through textbooks, but it was 

nothing like being there,” he 

said. “We went directly into 

combat and many of us expected 

to die — but I made it back and 

have the real story to tell so it’s 

not forgotten.” Melvin Breshin, 

67, who served as an Army 

captain in South Korea during 

the Vietnam War, also emphasized 

to students the importance 

of learning what happened and 

passing that knowledge to future 

generations. 

The veterans were more 

than happy to share their 

past. “Their legacy will live on 

through the bright young minds 

of tomorrow,” said Ms. Soel. 

She feels a deep connection to 

the project through her work 

with the NNORC and hopes 

that some day her son, a second-class 

petty officer with the 

US Navy, will be able to teach 

the next generation first-hand 

about the sacrifices and bravery 

of those serve our country. 

Above: Paul Zadoff shared maps and 

photos with his first-hand account 

of his experience on the front lines 

on Iwo Jima with Kelly Soel, RN, 

community health nurse for the health 

system, and a group of Mepham High 

School students—who are the age that 

he was when he left for war.

Taking Steps to Protect 

Young Athletes From 

Sexual Assault 

With the London 

Summer Olympics 

approaching and 

young people across the 

country taking part in team 

sports, North Shore-LIJ, 

Nassau County Executive 

Ed Mangano and the Nassau 

County Sports Commission 

have joined together to 

identify ways of recognizing 

and preventing sexual abuse in 

youth sports. 

At a news conference 

held recently in Mineola, 

the keynote speaker was 

Katherine Starr, a member 

of the 1984 and 1988 Great 

Britain Olympic swim team, 

who had her athletic career 

destroyed after being sexually 

assaulted by her coach. Now 

the founder and president 

of a nonprofit organization 

she named Safe4Athletes, 

Ms. Starr says, “Every athlete 

should be provided a safe and 

positive environment free of 

sexual abuse, bullying and 

harassment.” 

“We are very proud to 

work with Nassau County and 

the Sports Commission to 

find new ways to help young 

people who fall victim to 

these predators,” said Jamie 

Hoffman-Rosenfeld, MD, 

chief of child advocacy and 

protection services at Cohen 

Children’s Medical Center. “It 

is our responsibility to alert 

parents, teachers, educators 

and young people that we are 

here to listen to them.” 

County Executive 

Mangano said Nassau County 

supports this ongoing work. 

“We must do whatever we 

can to keep our children 

safe,” he said, “and eradicate 

predators from young 

people’s sporting activities.” 

The most heartfelt words 

came from Ms. Starr, who 

spoke about the devastation 

and loss associated with her 

personal tragedy. “When this 

happened to me, it destroyed 

my dreams,” she said. “There 

was no one I could talk to, 

because I felt that I had no 

power. It’s my goal that no 

young athlete should ever have 

to be in this position again.” 

FOR your BENEFIT 

Planning for the Future 

Just Got Easier 

It’s never too early to plan and save for your future, but sometimes it can 

seem overwhelming or confusing. But a new Web site — NSLIJRetirementPlans. 

com — gives North Shore-LIJ Health System employees easy-to-understand tools 

to maximize their retirement benefits and start saving. 

“We provide not only exceptional retirement benefits including retirement 

savings plans, but also resources to help employees become more proactive 

about financial planning,” said Joseph Cabral, Chief Human Resources Officer. “No 

one is born an expert at retirement planning, so North Shore-LIJ offers these free 

services. We encourage employees to take full advantage of them.” 

In partnership with MetLife, North Shore-LIJ offers many ways for 

employees to get the information they need — either through in-person 

classes held around the system, one-on-one planning sessions with a 

financial services representative or online videos and presentations. Log on to 

NSLIJRetirementPlans.com for information about 403(b) and 401(k) retirement 

savings accounts, retirement calculators, registration for on-site seminars or to 

arrange for one-on-one sessions with a MetLife financial services representative. 

Shown at a recent news conference, from the left, are Brian Revello, executive director of the Nassau County Sports 

Commission, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, Dr. Jamie Hoffman-Rosenfeld and Katherine Starr, former 

Olympian and founder of Safe4Athletes. 


Story-telling is not something that is usually 

part of a hospital visit. But LIJ Medical 

Center and Hospice Care Network have 

partnered with StoryCorps Legacy, a pilot 

program that provides people with life-threatening 

conditions and their families the opportunity to 

record, preserve and share their stories. And our 

patients are sharing stories that will be handed 

down to their families and the community at large. 

StoryCorps works with a variety of 

organizations including hospitals, palliative care 

departments and hospices to help them incorporate 

the reminiscence interview experience into their 

existing services. Legacy staff train and prepare 

partners to conduct and record interviews using 

professional broadcast equipment on loan from 

StoryCorps. Participants receive a CD of the interview 

to share with friends and family, and another copy 

is archived at the American Folklife Center at the 

Library of Congress in Washington, DC. 

At the health system, StoryCorps Legacy is 

collaborating with LIJ’s Departments of Geriatric and 

Palliative Medicine and Patient and Family Centered 

Care and the Hospice Care Network’s Complementary 

Therapy Program. The project runs through July and 

both organizations expect to conduct a total of 60 

interviews. The program is funded by a grant from 

the Jordan Family Foundation. 

“The StoryCorps project is a natural extension 

of the conversations we share on a daily basis in 

caring for older patients with serious illnesses and 

supporting their loved ones,” said Tanveer Mir, MD, 

associate chief of geriatric and palliative medicine at 

LIJ. “This project allows us to explore and celebrate 

people’s lives and document their stories for 

generations to come.” 

Christina Lightbourne, a volunteer at LIJ 

for the last couple of years, became involved 

in the StoryCorps project because she said she 

enjoyed connecting and talking with older patients 

and it seemed like a “natural segue” given her 

activities at the hospital. In her first interview, Ms. 

Lightbourne arranged a conversation between her 

84-year-old aunt, Ruth Robinson, who has been 

treated at LIJ for cancer and other conditions, and 

her husband, Paul Lightbourne. “I was surprised 

at how much detail my aunt remembered about 

her childhood teacher Miss Green, who taught her 

how to read and write. My aunt was also excited 

to talk about her family, in more depth than at our 

reunions every two years.” 

“The StoryCorps program helps us capture the 

voices of patients and family members and helps 

us to look at the patient as a complete person,” said 


Partnership Gives Voices to Patients 

with Life-Threatening Illnesses 

By Betty Olt 

Kirby Veevers, coordinator of patient- and family- 

centered care at LIJ. “People have a big life before 

they become patients at the hospital and we want 

to honor that.” 

Eva Pendleton, LMT, director of complementary 

therapy at Hospice Care Network, said the StoryCorps 

program is “striking a chord” with volunteers and 

staff members and there has been an overwhelming 

response to the project. “There is a fundamental 

need for people to be heard. People love to tell a 

story and everyone has a story to tell,” she said. 

“In hospice care, life review and the 

conversations we have with patients are done in 

the spirit of the work we do every day,” explained 

Ms. Pendleton. “StoryCorps is important because it 

leaves a legacy for loved ones.” 

Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and 

archived more than 35,000 interviews from more than 

70,000 people. Some stories are shared during weekly 

National Public Radio broadcasts of the show Morning 

Edition. For more information, visit StoryCorps.org 

Above: Volunteer Christina Lightbourne with 

her 84-year-old aunt, Ruth Robinson, who had 

stories to tell.

allied NATION 

In the past, general practitioners were expected to manage 

the majority of medical issues, from arthritis to high blood 

pressure, pneumonia to appendicitis. Today’s healthcare, 

however, trends toward exceptionally individualized and 

specialized patient care cases, requiring the specialist — like the 

rheumatologist, internist, pulmonologist, and laparoscopic surgeon 

— to provide more expertise on each specific concern. While this 

trend builds, community hospitals must find ways to continue to 

meet all general healthcare needs and to provide a wide variety 

of services and care to keep up with every 

patient. At Forest Hills Hospital, physician 

assistants (PAs) help to achieve the level of 

care necessary to provide all services for all 

patients. They are the hospital staff who step 

in to coordinate timely, safe and efficient 

care for every patient. They are the new 

generalists. 

PAs are highly trained healthcare 

professionals who are licensed and 

credentialed to practice medicine in 

physician-led teams. They conduct physical 

exams and histories, diagnose and treat 

illnesses, order and interpret tests, counsel 

patients, make rounds, assist in surgery and 

write prescriptions. They are involved in 

day-to-day care and make medical-related 

decisions, turning to their supervising 

physicians when complicated cases require 

further medical expertise. PAs also handle 

patient complaints and follow-up visits 

while providing a broad range of diagnostic, 

therapeutic, administrative, educational and 

research services. According to the Bureau of 

Labor Statistics, the PA profession is among 

the fastest growing in the country. 

“Given the challenges ahead — such 

as regulatory compliance, pay-forperformance 

and the increasing number 

of Baby Boomers entering the health 

system for care — the physician/PA team 

will help to keep waiting times low and 

patient satisfaction high while filling in 

the gaps wherever there is a shortage of 

physicians and residents,” said Martin Morales, corporate director 

of physician assistant services. 

At Forest Hills Hospital, PAs work closely with specialist 

surgeons in all departments —including general, vascular, thoracic, 

plastic, urological and bariatric surgeries — and coordinate the care 

of patients requiring any of these services. The plan of care for any 

patient is determined by his or her physician, but helping to develop 

that plan and ensuring it is properly followed and assigned the proper 

specialists is the role of the PA. They also respond to emergencies, 

codes and rapid responses, are a resource for the nurses, manage 

patients in the Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit and 

provide expert surgical assistance in the Operating Room. 

On average, the PAs at Forest Hills have 11 years of experience 

in the medical field, more than twice the period of time it takes to 

train a board-eligible surgeon. They practice in the Orthopedic, 

Radiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Surgery Departments — 

in fact, the 10-member surgery team assisted in almost 3,000 

The New Generalists 

Physician Assistants at Forest Hills Hospital 

Physician assistants Rupert Evans, left, Diane Marchiafava and Khaim Babayev are on the Forest Hills 

Hospital team that coordinates timely, safe and effective medical care. 

operative procedures during the last year alone. Their competence 

in and understanding of each surgeon’s practice lead to enormous 

satisfaction among the surgeons, as well as the rest of the hospital 

staff and patients, which in turn motivates this proud North 

Shore-LIJ Health System team. Lead PA Diane Marchiafava, 

RPA-C, says, “The best part of our PA team is, we get to use all of 

our skills and everyone benefits.” 


GREEN solutions 

New Structure Meets 

Sustainability Benchmark 

By Neil Rosen 

The Katz Women’s Hospital 

at North Shore 

University Hospital 

recently was the first New 

York hospital to receive LEED 

platinum certification. The 

Katz Women’s Hospital uses 

about 18.6 percent less energy 

and 51 percent less water. Furthermore, 

all of the electricity 

consumed in its first two years 

of operation will come from 

renewable energy generated by 

wind power in Texas. 

The recognized standard 

of the sustainable building 


movement, LEED stands 

for Leadership in Energy 

and Environmental Design, 

a rating system for green 

buildings that was developed 

by the United States Green 

Building Council. Designed 

to encourage, standardize, 

and award sustainable building 

efforts, LEED provides a 

framework for identifying and 

implementing practical and 

quantifiable green building 

solutions. 

The LEED system outlines 

a number of credits and as- 

North Shore University Hospital Wins 

National Award for Eco-Friendly Practices 

Practice Greenhealth, a 

national organization for healthcare 

facilities committed to environmentally 

responsible operations, 

recently presented NSUH with the 

2012 Partner for Change Award. The 

award is one of the organization’s 

Environmental Excellence Awards 

given each year to honor outstanding 

environmental achievements in the 

healthcare sector. 

The Partner for Change Award 

recognizes healthcare facilities that 

continuously improve and expand 

upon their mercury elimination, 

waste reduction and source reduction 

programs. At a minimum, facilities 

applying for this award must be 

recycling 15 percent of their total 

waste, be well on the way to mercury 

elimination and have developed 

other successful pollution prevention 

programs in many different areas. 

“This award demonstrates 

North Shore University Hospital’s and 

the North Shore-LIJ Health System’s 

commitment to our patients, staff 

members and the community to 

protect public health and preserve 

the environment,” said Maurice 

LaBonne, senior vice president of 

facilities services at North Shore-LIJ. 

“North Shore-LIJ is truly demonstrating 

leadership for the future of health 

care and sustainability.” 

NSUH received the Partner for 

Change Award for environmental 

performance in the following areas: 

recycling and waste reduction, 

participation in the health system’s 

green cleaning program, measures 

to reduce mercury in all medi- 

signs points to a project based 

on how many credits the 

project fulfills. Based on the 

number of points earned, a 

project can earn titles ranging 

from certified to silver, gold 

and platinum. Only the most 

sustainable projects achieve the 

platinum rating. 

There are six major LEED 

categories: sustainable sites, 

water efficiency, energy and 

atmosphere, materials and 

resources, indoor environmental 

quality and innovation 

in design. 

cal procedures and nontoxic paint 

products. In addition, in February, 

the Katz Women’s Hospital third-floor 

renovation project achieved a LEED 

platinum certification, the industry’s 

highest rating for sustainable design, 

green building materials and energyefficient 

systems. The facility is the 

third hospital project worldwide to 

receive this distinction. 

“We are pleased to be 

recognized for this significant 

achievement,” said Neil Rosen, 

director of sustainable development 

at North Shore-LIJ. “We are proud 

to be a model of how hospitals can 

develop and implement eco-friendly 

programs and sustainable buildings 

to improve the health of people and 

our planet.” 

North Shore- 

LIJ Launches 

Interactive TV 

Programming 

GREAT NECK — North 

Shore-LIJ Health TV, 

an interactive television 

service, recently premiered 

on iO TV channel 616. 

Presented by the North 

Shore-LIJ Health System 

and Cablevision, the videoon-demand 

channel offers 

health and wellness information 

to Cablevision’s 

nearly three million digital 

cable customers on Long 

Island and in the Bronx, 

Brooklyn, Westchester, 

Lower Hudson Valley, New 

Jersey and Connecticut. 

“The launch of North 

Shore-LIJ Health TV with 

Cablevision provides a 

groundbreaking experience 

that utilizes the strengths 

of both organizations to 

deliver health and wellness 

information via video-ondemand 

content from New 

York’s very best physicians 

and clinicians into living 

rooms,” said Michael 

Dowling, president and 

CEO of the health system. 

The health system 

is the first New Yorkarea 

healthcare provider 

to establish its own TV 

channel. North Shore- 

LIJ Health TV provides 

access to a video library 

of health and wellness 

topics and information on 

North Shore LIJ hospitals, 

and viewers can request 

additional information on 

the health system’s services.

Over 2,400 Celebrate at 

NSUH-LIJ’s Sixth Combined 

Cancer Survivors’ Day 

More than 2,400 cancer 

survivors and their guests 

attended the invitation-only 

Cancer Survivors’ Day celebration, 

held at the North Shore-LIJ Health 

system’s Monter Cancer Center on 

June 2. The keynote speaker was 

Shannon Miller, Olympic gold medalwinning 

gymnast and US Olympic Hall 

of Famer, whose greatest win of all 

was against ovarian cancer. 

The large gathering watched 

monitors positioned throughout the 

340-foot-by-100-foot tent, where 

a brief video brought back memories 

of the determined little blonde girl’s 

performance on the balance beam at 

the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. 

The audience listened attentively as 

she recounted her thoughts on that 

stellar day 16 years ago; then she 

described how she felt in December 

2010, when at age 33 she received 

word from her doctors that she had 

a rare from of ovarian cancer: a 

baseball-size germ cell tumor. 

The malignant cyst was 

removed from her ovary and she went 

through nine weeks of chemotherapy. 

“On my last day of chemo I was so 

excited that it was over, but at the 

same time it hit me – is it going 

to come back? When will it come 

back?” Ms. Miller told the people in 

her audience, many of whom have 

felt the same uncertainty and fear. 

She decided to focus on “helping 

people, encouraging them to get 

regular screenings, because early 

detection does save lives. That has 

become a mantra for me.” 

The American Cancer 

Society estimates that there 

will be nearly 22,000 new cases 

of ovarian cancer this year and 

more than 15,000 related deaths, 

making it the deadliest (in terms 

of percentages) gynecologic 

cancer. Ms. Miller is now 

dedicated to raising women’s 

awareness of this disease. 

At the end of her 

presentation, North Shore- 

LIJ Board Chairman Richard 

Goldstein and President and 

Chief Executive Officer Michael 

Dowling presented Ms. Miller 

with a special white lab coat, 

embroidered with her name, 

making her an honorary member 

of the North Shore-LIJ faculty. Mr. 

Dowling also presented a special 

award of recognition to Ruthee- 

Lu Bayer, MD, director of the Don 

Monti Adult Hematopoietic Stem 

Cell Transplant Program at North 

Shore University Hospital, for her 

contributions to the care of her 

healthcare LITERACY 

Health Literacy 

Seminar Updates 

North Shore-LIJ’s health literacy and clear communication 

course, Can We Talk? features new components based on employee 

feedback. The program is available more frequently (six times this 

year) at the Center for Learning and Innovation and has been 

customized according to the participants’ scope of practice; new 

simulated scenarios add interactivity into the mix. 

To learn how to enhance written and oral communication, 

and how to create or choose patient-friendly written education 

materials, register for Can We Talk? at NorthShoreLIJ.com/cli. 

The Remaining 2012 course dates are: 

q Licensed/clinical professionals — September 12 

q Ancillary/support staff members — July 18, November 14 

Call the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Literacy at 

(516) 396-6373 for more information. 

patients and to the unique research 

she is conducting to treat cancer. 

Earlier in the program, two 

local Long Island cancer survivors 

spoke eloquently about their 

personal battles and how they 

overcame the disease. They were 

Judith Dowd, of Floral Park, an 

ovarian cancer survivor, and Lee 

Ielpi of Great Neck, a survivor of 

Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia. 

From left are: Vincent Vinciguerra, 

MD, Judith Dowd, Lee Ielpi, 

Shannon Miller, Richard Goldstein 

and Michael Dowling. 


NEW HYDE PARK — Samuel 

Kenan, MD, was always 

interested in fixing things, so 

it was no surprise that by his 

last year of medical school he 

decided to take a residency in 

orthopedics. But the chairman 

of the department at Hadassah 

University Medical Center, 

Mayer Makin, MD, had other 

things in mind for the young 

man. He recommended that he 

train in orthopedic oncology 

and spend a year working in 

bone pathology to understand 

everything he could about 

bone cancer. 

That was 1977 when 

fixing bone tumors meant 

amputation. But the chairman 

had hopes that Dr. Kenan 

would move the field into new 

directions that included limbsparing, 

life-saving surgeries. 

His mentor was right. 

Dr. Kenan finished his 

year-long stint at Hadassah’s 

pathology laboratory and completed 

six years of residency 

in orthopedic surgery at the 

Israeli health system before 

coming to New York for a fellowship 

with Michael Lewis, 

MD, at the Hospital for Joint 

Diseases. Dr. Lewis was doing 

precisely what the Hadassah 

chairman of orthopedics had 

envisioned: he was creating 

joint prosthetics made of metal 

and bone, and enabling pediatric 

cancer patients to walk 

out of surgery with their leg. 

The bone prosthetics 

were a major advance but the 

pediatric population brought 

new problems. Children 

grow, and Drs. Kenan, Lewis 

and others knew they had to 

figure out a way to get both 

legs to match. They developed 

bone prosthetics that could 


Saving Lives and Limbs 

By Jamie Talan 

be expanded as their patients 

grew. It changed the field, and 

Dr. Kenan became a fixer with 

a mission. “It’s hard enough 

that children have bone cancer, 

but then to tell them that they 

might lose a leg was just too 

much,” Dr. Kenan said. 

He began working on sparing 

the growth plate, even when 

tumors were precariously close 

to the plate. Saving the growth 

plate meant that the child’s limb 

would grow naturally to match 

the other leg. 

Dr. Kenan went on 

to head several orthopedic 

oncology programs, from the 

Hospital for Joint Diseases to 

Mount Sinai Medical Center 

and Hadassah. He was recently 

recruited by the North Shore- 

LIJ Health System to head 

an initiative in orthopedic 

oncology that offers young 

patients access to a team of 

health professionals, starting 

from the initial suspicion that 

there may be something wrong, 

to chemotherapy, surgery and 

lifelong care. 

In addition to his 

technical skill in the surgical 

suite cutting out diseased 

bone, crafting an implant and 

setting the stage for healing, 

Dr. Kenan connects with his 

young patients in indelible 

ways. When 18-year-old 

Mariela Calderon of Port 

Washington showed up last 

October with osteosarcoma, 

Dr. Kenan called Nicole 

Lubin of Hempstead, a 

teenager who recently 

underwent surgery for bone 

cancer, and brought the girls 

together. While Mariela was 

in Cohen Children’s Medical 

Center (CCMC), Nicole 

came to visit. Watching Nicole 

walk effortlessly gave Mariela 

hope that someday soon her 

crutches would be a thing 

of the past, and her leg, like 

Mariela’s, would be spared. 

“Dr. Kenan is technically 

exceptional,” and it is the 

whole package of what he 

brings to the surgical table, 

said Jeffrey Lipton, MD, PhD, 

chief of pediatric hematology/ 

oncology and stem cell 

transplantation at CCMC. 

“These patients are complex, 

and we have teams of professionals 

working with patients.” 

Dr. Kenan has performed 

nearly 250 of these surgical 

cases in his career. And he 

keeps in touch with many of 

the children, some of whom 

are now grown. He saves 

videos and photos of his young 

patients during all stages of the 

process. He pulls up a digital 

picture of John Browndorf, 

who is now 28 and taller than 

his doctor. Mr. Browndorf was 

six years old when he was diagnosed 

with Ewing Sarcoma. 

It was located in the proximal 

tibia. The first thought was 

that there would be no way 

to spare the growth plate; the 

tumor was too close. But his 

father, a golfer, wanted his son 

to walk – with both feet planted 

on the green – in his footsteps. 

“Do what you can to save 

the growth plate,” his father 

said. And Dr. Kenan listened, 

carrying off the complicated 

surgery. Now, more than two 

decades later, Mr. Browndorf 

stands tall. And plays golf. 

Mariela said that she wants 

to be a medical assistant when 

she grows up. And she looks 

forward to the day when she 

can replace her crutches with a 

fancy pair of high heels. 

Above: Dr. Kenan with Mariela 

Calderon, left, and Nicole Lubin.

Parenting, Baby Care &CPR 

Classes 

Stay safe and healthy with 

the help of programs offered 

by North Shore-LIJ’s Department 

of Public Health Education. 

To learn more, go to 

NorthShoreLIJ.com. Click on 

“Classes,” then “Community 

Wellness, Parenting or CPR,” 

or call 516-465-2500 for a 

brochure. Sorry, no phone 

registrations. 

LAMAZE CHILDBIRTH 

For expectant mothers and 

their partners. 

Instruction in stages of labor, 

role of labor partner, relaxation 

and pushing techniques, 

hospital admission procedures, 

anesthesia/analgesic 

options, cesarean and vaginal 

birth after cesarean and postpartum 

expectations. 

Class includes a tour of postpartum 

and nursery units. 

Lamaze instruction must be 

completed two weeks prior to 

expected delivery date. 

$175 per couple 

Weekends: Saturday or Sunday 

(one session) 

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Weekends: Saturday and 

Sunday (two sessions) 

9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. 

Weekdays (three sessions) 

7 to 10 p.m. 

BREAST-FEEDING I: 

THE BASICS 

Expectant mothers and their 

partners can learn about 

breast-feeding techniques, 

facts and myths. Bring a baby 

doll or stuffed animal. 

7 to 9:30 p.m.; 

$40 per person/$65 per couple 

BREAST-FEEDING II: 

BEYOND THE BASICS 

For expectant and new mothers 

and their partners. Covers 

bottle use, returning to work 

and breast pumping. 

7 to 9:30 p.m.; $40 per 

person/$65 per couple 

BABY CARE BASICS 

Expectant parents, grandparents 

and childcare providers 

can learn about characteristics 

of the newborn, feeding, 

bathing, diapering, cord and 

circumcision care, temperature 

taking, baby equipment, 

safety, sleep and immunization. 

Bring a baby doll. 

7 to 9:30 p.m.; 

$50 per person/$75 per 

couple 

BABY SAFE 

Topics include creating a safe 

home environment for baby, 

home emergencies and basic 

first aid for bleeding, burns, 

fractures, shock and poisoning. 

7 to 9 p.m.; 


CARDIOPULMONARY 

RESUSCITATION (CPR) 

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation 

(CPR ) is a technique that 

revives victims of cardiovascular 

emergencies by helping to 

maintain blood flow to the 

victim’s heart and brain. 

The North Shore-LIJ Health 

System’s awardwinning 

Department of Professional and 

Public Health Education offers 

CPR courses tailored for babies, 

children and adults. 

Courses include instruction 

in CPR and foreign-body 

airway obstruction clearance 

techniques. 

Mets’ Murphy Visits Cohen 

INFANT CPR 

CPR for newborn to 1-yearold 

children. 


INFANT/CHILD CPR 

CPR for newborn to 8-yearold 

children. 


ADULT CPR 

Adult course includes a 

take-home kit with inflatable 

mannequin, practice DVD, 

American Heart Association 

booklet and accessories. 

$55 per person 

The Katz Womens’ Hospital 

in New Hyde Park offers 

childbirth preparation classes, 

breast-feeding education, baby 

care programs and orientation 

tours of the Maternity Unit. 

For more information, call the 

Parents’ Education Office at 

(718) 470-5134. 

New York Mets’ first baseman Daniel Murphy recently paid a visit to Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New 

York, putting a smile on the faces of children and family members as he signed baseballs and hats for Joseph 

Lacasse, left, and his father Joseph of Syosset, and Lucas Shannon of Williston, being held by his grandmother. 

The 26-year-old Murphy hit .320 last year for the Mets, the second-highest batting average on the team. 


kudos 

Mauricio Alarçon, analyst in the North Shore-LIJ Health 

System’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, was a member of 

one of the winning teams, Team greatOne, which placed third in 

the popHealth Tool Development Challenge. The competition was 

launched in the fall of 2011 as part of the Office of the National 

Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s Investing in 

Innovation (i2) initiative. 

The title of Master of the American College of Physicians 

was bestowed on Jack Ansel, MD, chairman of the Department of 

Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, in recognition of his outstanding 

and extraordinary career accomplishments. He received the title at 

a convocation ceremony during the American College of Physicians’ 

Annual Meeting, Internal Medicine 2012, held in New Orleans. 

Michael S. Aronoff, MD, a long-standing voluntary attending 

in the Department of Psychiatry at Lenox Hill Hospital and host 

of a two-hour interview and call-in program, The Psychiatry Show, on 

SiriusXM Doctor Radio, presented a paper titled “Terrorism: The 

Ecstasy of Hatred” at the Annual Tristate American Academy of 

Psychiatry and the Law (SSPL) Forensic Psychiatry Conference in 

San Juan, Puerto Rico, in December 2011. 

Louis-Jean Auguste, MD, a surgeon with privileges at North 

Shore University Hospital (NSUH) and LIJ, co-authored two 

abstracts accepted for publication at the Society of Surgical 

Oncology meeting in Orlando, FL, this spring: “Gastric Cancer 

Surgery in a Low Volume Center – Are Long Term Outcomes 

Comparable?” and “Have Outcomes in Gastric Adenocarcinoma 

Improved over the Last Decade? A 20-Year Retrospective Review.” 

Patrick Basu, MD, chief of gastroenterology and gastrointestinal 

endoscopy at Forest Hills Hospital, and Sakina Farhat, MD, thirdyear 

medical resident, recently lectured on “Effect of Vitamin E 

and Alfa Lipoic Acid (ALA) in Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: 

A Randomized, Placebo Controlled Open Label Prospective 

Clinical Trial — VAIN Trial” at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the 

American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) in Washington, DC, 

and received the ACG Auxiliary Award for the best scientific paper 

by physicians in training or by a fellow/member of the ACG. They 

also received the ACG 2011 Presidential Poster Award for “Single 

Use of Romilopostim Thrombopoietin Analogue (TPO) in Severe 

Thrombocytopenia for Outpatient Percutaneous Liver Biopsy in 

Patients with Chronic Liver 

Disease (CLD).” 

Catherine Blotiau, 

coordinator of the health system’s 

Department of Public Health 

Education and Nassau County’s 


Safe Kids coordinator, was one of the leaders of a “Train the 

Trainers” session held in Levittown in February. The trainees were 

16 Circle Kers, members of Circle K International, a Kiwanis 

service organization that is open to college and university students. 

The lessons included bike and helmet safety, fire safety, water safety, 

pedestrian safety and how to call 9-1-1. 

Leigh Briscoe-Dwyer, PharmD, RPh, chief pharmacy and 

medical safety officer for the North Shore-LIJ Health System, has 

been named to the Executive Committee of the New York State 

Board of Pharmacy, which regulates the practice of pharmacy in 

the state. She is in line to chair the board in 2015. 

Alan Cooper, PhD, vice president of learning and innovation 

for the North Shore-LIJ Health System, associate dean for 

knowledge management and associate professor of science education 

and population health at the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of 

Medicine, has been named associate editor for the Leadership 

and Organizational Development (LOD) collection of the MedEd 

PORTAL of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). 

The LOD collection is an online repository of innovative materials 

pertaining to leadership development and its relationship to 

improved organizational performance. 

Nick Fitterman, MD, FACP, FHM, has been elected governor 

of the American College of Physicians (ACP) for the Long Island 

Region. Dr. Fitterman, medical director of the newly established 

Group Health Management and former director of hospitalist 

services and chief of staff at Huntington Hospital, began a oneyear 

term as governor-elect in April, to be followed by a four-year 

term as governor. 

Steven Fishbane, MD, director of research in the Department 

of Medicine, North Shore University Hospital and LIJ Medical 

Center, and vice president of network dialysis services, North 

Shore-LIJ Health System, was elected to the Board of Directors 

of the Renal Physicians Association (RPA), an association of 

5,000 nephrologists. He also serves on their Government Affairs, 

Anemia and Quality, Safety and Accountability Committees. 

Sajith Foustin, MD, and Lynn Ang, MD, medical residents 

at Forest Hills Hospital, presented three posters at the Annual 

Scientific Meeting of the ACG in Washington, DC. The posters 

were: “Effect of Interferon Alpha on Parathyroid Gland in Chronic 

Hepatitis B and C”; “Serum Retinol 

Binding Protein 4 (RBP) Is a 

Unique Surrogate Marker of End 

Stage Liver Disease” and “Irritable 

Bladder Syndrome (IBS) Is a Part of 

Functional Bowel Syndrome (FBS).”

Marianne Frieri, MD, PhD, attending physician in medicine 

and pediatrics for the North Shore-LIJ Health System, presented a 

symposium entitled “Update on Asthma Pathogenesis, Treatment 

and Airway Remodeling” at the 2012 Eastern Regional Meeting of 

the American Federation for Medical Research in Washington, DC. 

Christine Ginocchio, PhD, chief of microbiology at the North 

Shore-LIJ Health System Core Laboratory, is pictured on the cover 

of the April 2012 issue of CAP Today, a publication of the College of 

American Pathologists, and was interviewed for a feature article. She 

called this “an excellent time to be working in infectious diseases.” 

Ariel T. Goldman, MD, orthopedic traumatologist at NSUH 

and LIJ, was recently inducted as a fellow of the American Academy 

of Orthopaedic Surgeons. 

Gady Har-El, MD, chairman of the Department of 

Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital, 

was elected secretary of the American Laryngological Association 

(ALA), one of the oldest subspecialty organizations in the 

world. Dr. Har-El, who also served in the past as president of 

the ALA’s sister society, the American Broncho-Esophagological 

Association, was elected during the recent ALA Annual Meeting 

in San Diego. He will serve a four-year term. 

Cynthia Harden, MD, chief of epilepsy and 

electroencephalography at the Cushing Neuroscience Institute, has 

coauthored an article published in a recent issue of Neurology, the 

prestigious medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology 

(AAN). The article issues an updated guideline that recommends 

monitoring the spinal cord during spinal surgery and certain 

chest surgeries to help prevent paralysis or loss of muscle function 

related to the surgeries. 

Clarita Herrera, MD, received the 2012 Bertha Van Hoosen 

Award at the 97th annual meeting of the American Medical Women’s 

Association (AMWA) in Miami. The annual award honors a woman 

physician who has been an active member of the association for at 

least five years and who has demonstrated exceptional leadership 

and service to AMWA. The award is named in honor of Bertha Van 

Hoosen, MD, who founded AMWA in 1915. 

Warren Huberman, PhD, affiliate clinical psychologist 

in the Department of Psychiatry at Lenox Hill Hospital, has 

written a book titled Through Thick & Thin: The Emotional Journey of 

Weight Loss Surgery. 

Employee Development Efforts Get Some Bling 


System’s investment in staff 

development recently received 

high praise from the Brandon Hall 

Group. The research and analysis 

organization recognized Corporate 

Human Resources’ High Potential 

Program with the Gold Award for 

Excellence in Talent Management for 

Leadership Training. 

In addition, the health system 

was designated a member of the 

program’s Elite 8 for superior 

demonstration of organizational 

leadership. It is the program’s highest 

recognition – and North Shore-LIJ 

was the only healthcare organization 

selected for it. The North Shore-LIJ 

High Potential Program began in 2008 

to identify, develop and fast-track the 

organization’s top performers. To date, 

the program has had 444 participants 

with a retention rate of 90 percent. 

Furthermore, North Shore-LIJ 

was recently named one of the 50 

Most Engaged Workplaces in the US 

by Achievers, a national organization 

dedicated to developing solutions 

to reward workforce performance. 

The award recognizes employers that 

demonstrate superior leadership 

and innovation toward engaging 

employees and commitment to 

creating thriving work environments. 

Joseph Cabral, center, senior vice president and chief human resources (HR) 

officer for the health system, accepted the award at the 50 Most Engaged 

Workplaces Gala. Accompanying him were Lisa D’Ambruoso, left, senior specialist 

of HR project content; and Claudine Cangiano, senior director of HR. 


kudos 

Andrew Jacono, MD, section head of facial plastic and 

reconstructive surgery at NSUH, presented lectures at several 

national meetings, including “Minimal Access Deep Plane 

Extended Face Lift” and “Utilizing a New Classification of 

Midfacial Aging to Direct Treatments in Midfacial Rejuvenation” at 

the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 

Nation Rejuvenation of the Aging Face Course in San Diego. 

Ramtin Kassir, MD, FACS, otolaryngologist and facial 

plastic and reconstructive surgeon at Lenox Hill Hospital, was 

the primary investigator for the original research report “Intense 

Pulsed Light for the Treatment of Rosacea and Telangiectasias,” 

which was recently published in the Journal of Cosmetic and Laser 

Therapy, as well as for “Extensive Necrosis After Injection 

of Hyaluronic Acid Filler: Case Report and Review of the 

Literature,” recently published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. 

In addition, in January 2012, Dr. Kassir received his third board 

certification, this one in sleep medicine. 

Seymour Katz, MD, an attending gastroenterologist at North 

Shore University Hospital and LIJ Medical Center, recently 

received the 2011 Distinguished Physician Lifetime Achievement 

Award from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America for 

his contributions to the management of patients with inflamma- 

Elaine Smith Is National Finalist 

In Nursing Spectrum Competition 

At the Nursing Spectrum gala in Teaneck, NJ, in 

June, it was announced that Elaine Smith, RN, MSN, 

North Shore-LIJ’s vice president for nursing education, 

is a regional winner and has moved on to the national 

level in the 2012 Nursing Spectrum Nursing Excellence 

competition. The national winners will be announced in 

the fall. Ms. Smith was a regional finalist in the Education & 

Mentoring category; three other regional finalists representing the North 

Shore-LIJ Nursing Leadership team were Lily Thomas, RN, the health system’s 

vice president for nursing research and evidence-based practice, and Cari 

Quinn, RN, MSN, associate executive director for patient care services at 

Cohen Children’s Medical Center (CCMC), both in the Advancing & Leading 

the Profession category, and Lory Tortelli, BSN, RN, director of patient 

care services at North Shore-LIJ’s Goldman Diagnostic Imaging Center, in 

Community & Ambulatory Care. 

60 Spring 2012 

tory bowel disease and the education of physicians on the subject. 

He also delivered the keynote address at the annual meeting of the 

American College of Gastroenterology and received the Edward J. 

Berk Distinguished Lecturer Award. 

Andrew Roberts, director of the North Shore-LIJ Health 

System’s Office of Military and Veterans Liaison Services, 

administrator of the Rosen Family Wellness Center and project 

director for the soon-to-be-opened Unified Family Behavioral 

Health Center, a joint endeavor with the US Department of 

Veterans Affairs, has been appointed to the New York State 

Council on Returning Veterans and Their Families. The Rosen 

Center has been providing no-cost behavioral healthcare to law 

enforcement, military, veterans and their families since 2006 

and the Unified Family Behavioral Health Center will provide 

collaborative services to veterans and their families. He has also 

been appointed to the New York Community Trust Veterans Fund 

Advisory Committee, comprising representatives from public 

agencies, nonprofit organizations and veterans’ advocates, which 

assesses the status of veterans’ services, determines where private 

dollars can be most useful and develops grant strategies. 

José A. Rodriguez, MD, orthopedic surgeon and section chief of 

adult reconstruction at Lenox Hill Hospital, recently cowrote “Long- 

Term Results of Arthroscopic Labral Debridement: Predictors of 

Outcomes” for Orthopedics. He was also a podium co-presenter at the 

Eastern Orthopedic Association 2011 Annual Meeting in Kingsmill, 

VA. The topics included: “Fixation of Unstable Intertrochanteric 

Fractures in Internal Rotation: An Important Predictor of Fracture 

Union,” “Metaphyseal Sleeves in Revision TKA with Bone Loss – 

Does Cementation Have a Role?” and “Sexual Function Before and 

After Primary Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty.” 

Elise M. Ross, the Hospice Care Network’s vice president 

for human resources, received the Joseph C. Duffy Lifetime 

Achievement Award from the Society of Human Resource 

Management’s Long Island Chapter. 

Jesse Roth, MD, diabetes researcher at The Feinstein Institute 

for Medical Research, was presented with an honorary doctoral 

degree by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev at the 42nd Board 

of Governors Meeting held recently in Beer-Sheva, Israel. Dr. 

Roth is professor of medicine at the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ 

School of Medicine. He is also a professor at the Elmezzi Graduate 

School of Molecular Medicine, and an investigator at the Laboratory 

of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders, both of which operate in 

collaboration with the Feinstein.

Carlos E. Ruiz, MD, PhD, director of the structural 

and congenital heart disease program of the Department of 

Interventional Cardiology at Lenox Hill Hospital, recently wrote 

“Optimizing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Sizing and Minimizing 

Vascular Complications,” and cowrote “Percutaneous Closure 

of Periprosthetic Paravalvular Leaks,” “Clinical Outcomes in 

Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Closure of Periprosthetic 

Paravalvular Leaks” and “Clinical Experience with Percutaneous 

Left Ventricular Transapical Access for Interventions in Structural 

Heart Defects: A Safe Access and Secure Exit” for the Journal of the 

American College of Cardiology. In addition, he coauthored “Vacuum 

Thrombectomy of Large Right Atrial Thrombus” for Catheterization 

Cardiovascular Interventions, “Percutaneous Mitral Valve Treatment” for 

Minerva Cardiologica, and “Use of Multi-Modality Imaging in a Patient 

with a Persistent Left Superior Vena Cava, Partial Anomalous 

Pulmonary Venous Connection, and Sinus Venosus-Type Atrial 

Septal Defect” for the European Heart Journal. 

Neil Sanghvi, MD, cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist 

at Lenox Hill Hospital, recently wrote “Mechanisms and Application 

of Cardiac Cryoablation” for EP Lab Digest. 

Giles R. Scuderi, MD, vice president of orthopedic services 

for the North Shore-LIJ Health System, coauthored several 

chapters of the 2012 edition of the textbook Surgery of the Knee. 

These include “Surgical Approaches in Total Knee Arthroplasty,” 

“Posterior Cruciate Ligament Substituting Total Knee Arthroplasty,” 

“Complications of Total Knee Arthroplasty” and “Revision of 

Aseptic Failed Total Knee Arthroplasty.” Dr. Scuderi and 

Nicholas A. Sgaglione, MD, chair of orthopedic surgery at 

NSUH and LIJ, were recently named to the “125 Outstanding 

Knee Surgeons” list published by Becker’s Orthopedic, Spine & Pain 

Management Review. 

Michael Setzen, MD, FACS, FAAP, chief of rhinology at NSUH, 

recently served as program organizer and scientific chairman for 

the December 2011 meeting of the American College of Surgeons, 

co-sponsored by the Nassau Surgical Society and the Brooklyn 

Long Island Chapter. The keynote speaker was Mike Francesa of 

WFAN’s “Mike and the Mad Dog” and “Miked Up” programs. This 

year’s attendance set a record of 

510 surgeons, many from the 

North Shore-LIJ Health System. 

Terence Smith, administrator 

of Huntington Hospital’s 

Dolan Family Health Center, was 

Kanti Rai, MD, 

Receives ASCO Award 

Kanti R. Rai, MD, BS, one of the Special Awards 

Honorees of the American Society for Clinical Oncology, is the 

recipient of the 2012 David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award and 

Lecture for his outstanding achievements in 

cancer research and for his influence on the 

treatment of patients with cancer. Dr. Rai is 

chief of the North Shore-LIJ Health System’s 

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Research and 

Treatment Program and the Joel Finkelstein 

Cancer Foundation Professor of Medicine at 

the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, where he 

also holds the title of professor of molecular medicine. As an 

investigator with The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, 

Dr. Rai is known for establishing the Rai clinical staging system 

for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which is based on an 

analysis of how the body is affected by the abnormal lymphocytes. 

Giles Scuderi, MD, 

Knee Society President 

Giles R. Scuderi, MD, vice president of orthopedic 

services for the North Shore-LIJ Health System and an 

attending at Franklin and Lenox Hill Hospitals, was recently 

appointed president of The Knee Society at its Open Meeting 

in San Francisco. The Knee Society, founded 

in 1983, is a closed-membership organization 

of orthopedic surgeons specializing in 

treatment of the knee joint. Dr. Scuderi has 

served on the society’s executive board for the 

last decade in numerous leadership positions. 

He also chaired the Society’s Research 

Committee and plays an instrumental role in the development 

and worldwide distribution of The 2011 Knee Society Scoring 

System © , a universally recognized outcomes measurement tool. 

one of the honorees at the Leadership Huntington gala and graduation 

of the class of 2012 in April, receiving the Community Leadership 

Award. He is described by Leadership Huntington as a “passionate 

advocate for affordable community healthcare.” The Dolan 

Family Health Center opened its doors in October 1995 as Long 

Island’s only privately owned, charitably supported, free-standing 

facility dedicated to providing primary and preventive healthcare to 

uninsured and underinsured families. 


kudos 

Donald Tanenbaum, DDS, section head of the Division of 

Orofacial Pain/TMD/Dental Sleep Medicine in the Department 

of Dental Medicine at LIJ and clinical assistant professor at the 

Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, has written a new 

book, Doctor, Why Does My Face Still Ache?, which provides information 

and solutions for the 75 million Americans suffering intense ear, 

teeth and jaw pain, which can also cause severe headaches, loud 

snoring and sleep problems. 

A research study led by Lily Thomas, RN, North Shore-LIJ 

vice president for nursing research and evidence-based practice, 

which was conducted at NSUH, is the basis for an article that 

appeared recently in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care 

Nursing. Kathy Trombley, RN, and Mary Brennan, RN, of NSUH, 

brought to Ms. Thomas’s attention their observations that patients 

in the Palliative Care Unit developed what appeared to be pressure 

injuries within hours or days of their death, and she helped 

them design the study. Discovery of what has been named the 

Trombley-Brennan pressure injury is a major breakthrough in 

understanding pressure injuries. 

Kevin J. Tracey, MD, president of The Feinstein Institute for 

Medical Research, was inducted into the Long Island Technology 

Hall of Fame (LITHF) in May. He was selected for his personal 

accomplishments and the accomplishments of researchers at the 

Feinstein Institute. “I’m honored to be inducted into the Long 

Island Technology Hall of Fame and am proud of the research 

conducted at the Feinstein Institute,” said Dr. Tracey. “We work 

every day at the Feinstein to study disease so that we can cure 

disease, and this kind of recognition is very much appreciated.” 

Sung K. Min, chair of the board of directors of the Korean- 

American Association of Greater New York (KAAGNY), recently 

presented Mark Solazzo, executive vice president and chief operating 

officer of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, with an appreciation 

award in recognition of the health system’s support of KAAGNY’s 

recent gala celebrating its 52nd anniversary. In addition, KAAGNY 

presented Emily Kao, RPh, associate executive director at North 

Shore University Hospital, with its Person of the Year Award. 

Adrianna Vlachos, MD, a pediatric oncologist/hematologist 

at Cohen Children’s Medical Center (CCMC), and Jeffrey M. 

Lipton, MD, PhD, chief of hematology/oncology at CCMC and 

head of the Feinstein Institute’s Susan & Herman Merinoff Center 

for Patient-Oriented Research, were among the coauthors of 

“Cancer Surveillance Defines Diamond Blackfan Anemia (DBA) 


As a Cancer Predisposition Syndrome,” which received the award 

for best abstract in the general category of epidemiology at the 2nd 

National Conference on Blood Disorders in Public Health held in 

March in Atlanta. 

Robert Waldbaum, MD, has received a 50-year citation from 

the Nassau County Medical Society. Dr. Waldbaum is chairman 

emeritus of urology at North Shore University Hospital, where he 

was the hospital’s first chairman of urology and served as director 

of urology for more than 30 years. 

Bruce Zagelbaum, MD, FACS, has co-authored a book chapter 

in the ophthalmology textbook series Duane’s Clinical Ophthalmology, 

published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. The chapter is 

titled “Surgical Management 

of Anterior Segment Trauma.” 

Another book coauthored by 

Dr. Zagelbaum, Ophthalmic Surgical 

Procedures, was recently published 

in a Portuguese language 

translation. 

Eli Cometh 

Super Bowl champion New York Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning was the 

keynote speaker at North Shore University Hospital’s Medical Staff Society 

Annual Meeting May 14 at the Garden City Hotel. Among those welcoming him 

were Carole Moodhe, MD, right, the medical staff society’s president. State 

Health Commissioner Nirav Shah, MD, also addressed the packed house.

Project Sunshine 

Honors Michael Dowling 

Michael Dowling, president and CEO of the North Shore-LIJ Health System (left), 

was the honoree at the recent benefit celebration of Project Sunshine, held at 

Cipriani Wall Street in Manhattan. Project Sunshine is a nonprofit organization 

that provides free educational, recreational and social programs to children and 

families living with medical challenges. Pictured with Mr. Dowling is Bernard 

Rosof, MD, chair of the Board of Directors of Huntington Hospital and a member of 

the Executive Committee of the North Shore-LIJ Health System Board of Trustees. 

NEW HYDE PARK — For 

the sixth consecutive year, the 

Steven and Alexandra Cohen 

Children’s Medical Center of 

New York (CCMC) has been 

ranked among the best children’s 

hospitals in the nation in US 

News & World Report’s 2012-13 

“America’s Best Children’s 

Hospitals” survey. 

CCMC placed among 

the top 50 hospitals in seven 

different pediatric specialty 

areas surveyed in the magazine’s 

annual rankings, specifically: 

cancer, diabetes and 

endocrinology; neonatalogy; 

nephrology; neurology and 

neurosurgery; pulmonology 

and urology. The hospital was 

ranked 16th in the nation for 

pediatric urology, its highest 

placement in the survey. 

The U.S. News Rankings 

are based on a hospital’s 

reputation, medical outcomes 

such as death and infection 

rates, and care-related 

New MPH Program 

at Hofstra 

HEMPSTEAD — In collaboration with the North Shore-LIJ Health System and the 

Hofstra-North Shore LIJ School of Medicine, Hofstra University has created a 

Master of Public Health (MPH) program scheduled to begin September 4. 

Hofstra is accepting applications and enrolling students through mid- 

August. The MPH program offers an innovative, interdisciplinary curriculum and 

advanced training for the next generation of health professionals. The faculty 

includes clinicians, practitioners, researchers, policymakers and policy analysts 

from Hofstra’s programs in health professions, the North Shore-LIJ Health 

System and the medical school. Their combined decades of experience provide 

students with a strong academic foundation and the practical preparation 

necessary to meet the challenges of increasingly complex and changing health 

care policy reforms. 

Advanced training in public health enables healthcare professionals to 

identify risks to health and prevention strategies and interventions earlier in 

the disease process, leading to a more efficient and effective health system. 

The program is designed to accommodate full-time professionals, and can be 

completed on a part-time basis in less than three years. For more information 

about this dynamic new program go to www.hofstra.edu/publichealth or contact 

Hofstra University’s Office of Graduate Admissions at www.hofstra.edu/graduate 

or 1-866 -GRADHOF. 

US News Ranks Cohen Among America’s Best 

Children’s Hospitals for Sixth Straight Year 

indicators such as patient 

volume, nurse staffing and 

availability of specialized 

programs. The magazine’s 

“Best Children’s Hospitals” 

edition is accessible online 

at www.usnews.com/ 

childrenshospitals. 

“The US News & World Report 

rankings provide unparalleled, 

quality-related information 

and serve as an invaluable 

guide for parents looking 

to make decisions regarding 

high quality healthcare for 

their children,” said Kevin 

McGeachy, CCMC’s executive 

director. “Being ranked for 

six straight years as one of 

the nation’s best pediatric 

hospitals is testament to the 

excellent care provided by our 

physicians and nurses. It is 

one of the reasons the Cohen 

Children’s Medical Center 

is a destination hospital for 

children from around the 

world.” 


Franklin to Expand Care to JFK 

VALLEY STREAM — Franklin Hospital 

is providing additional around-theclock 

healthcare services for JFK 

International Airport staff and patrons, 

as part of a new clinical affiliation 

agreement with Airport Medical Offices 

(AMO). The agreement enhances the 

services provided by AMO by offering 

airport employees and patrons an 

additional treatment site and greater 

access to care — including inpatient, 

outpatient and emergency services — 

at Franklin Hospital, a short distance 

from the airport. 

In case patients require 

specialized treatment, they will 

now have 24/7 access to the full 

Photo courtesy of NYRR 


range of services offered by 

Franklin Hospital and the North 

Shore LIJ Health System, including: 

cancer care, cardiology, wound 

care, neurology, orthopedics, pain 

management, psychiatry, radiology, 

rehabilitation and surgery. Franklin 

and AMO will also partner to provide 

preventive care, health and wellness 

information and screenings at the 

airport and local venues. “We are 

pleased to partner with AMO to bring 

a comprehensive array of specialty 

care to those who work and live in 

and around our shared communities,” 

said Catherine Hottendorf, RN, 

new executive director of Franklin 

Hospital. “Our physicians, nurses 

and clinical and administrative staff 

are looking forward to providing 

high-quality, compassionate care to 

AMO patients.” 

AMO caters to the healthcare 

needs of employees, travelers and 

those that reside in the surrounding 

communities. The program provides 

a full range of healthcare services, 

including all aspects of occupational 

health and medical treatment for 

accidents, injuries and illnesses 

in the workplace, primary care, 

internal medicine, family practice 

and urgent care, and AMO clinicians 

will also become credentialed to care 

Health System 

Helps Kick Off 

City Parks Event 

Staff from Lenox Hill Hospital, the 

Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat 

Hospital (MEETH) and the North 

Shore-LIJ Health System were out 

in force in April during the City 

Parks Foundation’s annual Run 

for the Parks in Central Park. The 

four-mile race, sponsored by North 

Shore-LIJ, which kicked off the 

running season in New York City, 

has the distinction of being the 

largest one-day running event in 

Central Park. There was also a kids’ 

race (top). Lenox Hill and MEETH 

staff provided free blood pressure 

screenings and pocket-sized 

sunscreen to the more than 7,000 

runners who turned out and other 

participants. In the bottom photo, 

Jennifer Mieres, MD, left, senior 

vice president of North Shore-LIJ’s 

Office of Community and Public 

Health, greeted the race’s overall 

winner, Ro Crispin, of Clifton, 

NJ, who burned up the course in 

20:26 – a 5:07 pace. 

for patients at Franklin Hospital. 

Patients are welcome 24 hours a 

day, seven days a week and Airport 

Medical participates with most major 

insurance plans. 

“The affiliation with Franklin 

Hospital provides our patients 

with access to the highest levels of 

specialty care available,” said Thomas 

D. Kelliher, Esq., executive director 

of AMO. “We are proud to work with 

such a top-notch team of healthcare 

professionals and happy to advance 

our mission to provide timely access 

to exceptional healthcare, coupled 

with extraordinary convenience, to 

our patients.”

life SAVER 

Employee 

Blood Drives 

7/10 Franklin Hospital 

7/11 Glen Cove Hospital 

7/11 SIUH South 

7/12 Plainview Hospital 

7/17 NSUH 

7/17 SIUH North 

7/18 NSUH 

JULY 

7/19 Center for Advanced Medicine 

(CFAM) 

7/19 Administrative Offices- 

Westbury 

7/25 SIUH Pouch 

7/27 Corporate Offices- 

Lake Success 

8/8 SIUH North 

8/15 Physician and Ambulatory 

AUGUST 

Network Services (PAANS) 

8/15 SIUH South 

8/23 Southside Hospital 

8/24 Forest Hills Hospital 

Lenox Hill Auxiliary Hosts Luncheon 

Holly Phillips, MD, of CBS “This Morning,” was the moderator at Lenox Hill Hospital’s annual A Healthy Give & 

Take luncheon, held in April at the New York Historical Society and hosted by the hospital’s Auxiliary. Now in 

its fourteenth year, the luncheon was attended by over 225 people; this year’s theme was “Stents, Statins and 

Supplements…Oh My.” The program focused on advances being made in cardiac and vascular medicine, with an 

expert panel of hospital physicians discussing steps we can take to promote good health. Above, from left, are 

panel members Maja Zaric, MD, Tara Narula, MD, and Lara Oboler, MD, with moderator Holly Phillips. 

North Shore-LIJ: A Great Place to Work 

Becker’s Hospital Review and Becker’s ASC Review have again selected the North Shore-LIJ Health 

System as one of the 100 Great Places to Work in Healthcare. Making the list for the second 

consecutive year, North Shore-LIJ was chosen for its “demonstrated excellence in providing 

robust benefits, wellness initiatives, professional development opportunities and atmospheres 

of employee unity and satisfaction.” 

Several factors earned North Shore-LIJ a spot on the list, including: 

o the opening of the new Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine; 

o professional development courses offered through the health system’s Center for 

Learning and Innovation; 

o extensive tuition reimbursement for advanced college degrees, including a master’s 

program in healthcare or quality management at Hofstra University, as well as a nursing 

doctorate program; 

o programs to identify, develop and fast-track its top performers; 

o a wellness program that offers Zumba, yoga, guided imagery, meditation, nutrition and 

other fitness classes to employees; and 

o the introduction of a new “CEO Chat” in which President and CEO Michael Dowling 

addresses the workforce. 

To see a full list, go to: www.beckershospitalreview.com and type “best workplaces” in the search. 


Hospital and Clinical Leadership Changes 

North Shore-LIJ President and Chief Executive Officer Michael 

Dowling and Chief Operating Officer Mark Solazzo recently 

announced the following changes to the health system’s hospital 

and clinical leadership teams: 

Winifred Mack, RN, BSN, has been 

named regional executive director for the 

health system’s Eastern Region, which 

includes Franklin, Huntington, Plainview, 

Southside and Syosset Hospitals. Ms. 

Mack’s responsibilities include coordinating 

activities within the region to focus on 

building physician partnerships and looking 

for new opportunities for growth and investment. 

She succeeds Deborah Tascone, RN, who resigned in March for 

health reasons. 

Donna Moravick, NP, succeeds Winnie Mack 

as executive director of Southside Hospital. 

She is responsible for oversight of the hospital 

and works closely with members of Southside’s 

management team and Ms. Mack as the 

regional executive director. 

William O’Connell, RN, succeeds Donna 

Moravick as vice president for North Shore- 

LIJ’s cardiac service line, with oversight for 

daily operations of cardiac services at our 

tertiary hospitals, community hospitals and 

ambulatory sites. Mr. O’Connell is also 

responsible for the service line’s financial 

and operational performance, and works with 

senior administrators and physicians developing 

strategic business plans and new programs. 

Joseph Manopella has been named vice 

president of Physician and Ambulatory 

Network Services (PAANS) regional strategy 

and business development. He is responsible 

for creating regional physician strategy, 

working with Deborah Schiff, PAANS’ vice 

president of strategy and business development. 

Catherine Hottendorf, RN, succeeds 

Joe Manopella as executive director of 

Franklin Hospital. She oversees day-today 

administration of the hospital and is 

responsible for finance, operations, quality, 

patient satisfaction and staff performance. 


Patricia Farrell, RN, succeeds Cathy 

Hottendorf as associate executive director 

of patient care services at Southside. As 

the hospital’s chief nursing officer, she has 

oversight for all nursing services, including 

strategic planning, budget management and 

regulatory compliance. 

Eileen Lovett, currently the vice president 

of ambulatory services at PAANS at Lenox 

Hill Hospital, has been named vice 

president of physician administration at 

Staten Island University Hospital. She has 

oversight for SIUH physician relations. 

Joseph Baglio, currently the deputy 

executive director at Plainview Hospital, has 

been appointed assistant vice president of 

physician administration at Lenox Hill 

Hospital, succeeding Eileen Lovett. He 

is responsible for managing day-to-day 

physician partnerships and relationships 

with the hospital’s faculty. 

Ann Roderick, RN, currently the assistant 

director of cardiology services at LIJ Medical 

Center, has been appointed director of 

cardiac services at LIJ Medical Center, 

succeeding Pat Farrell. In this role, she 

is responsible for patient care, business 

development, clinical management, finance 

and quality management for the hospital’s 

cardiac services. 

Cathy Devlin, RN, currently the associate executive director 

at Southside, has been named assistant vice president of 

perioperative services for the health system. She assists in the 

development, coordination and administration of perioperative 

services; has oversight for related information systems and 

technology; and facilitates quality improvement initiatives. 

Please join us in congratulating these individuals and wishing 

them success in their new positions.

PAANS Expands to Meet Community Needs 

MANHASSET — As the North Shore-LIJ Health System adapts to meet the future 

needs of the communities it serves throughout the metropolitan area, there 

has been a major focus on the evolution of our clinical and business models. 

Physician and Ambulatory Network Services (PAANS) continues to play a major 

role in this realignment as the paradigm shifts from providing care in the 

traditional hospital setting to an even greater focus on the care provided outside 

of the hospital. 

In the four years since PAANS was established, its network has grown from 

a budget of $450 million to $1.1 billion this year. During this same period, PAANS 

has grown from 3,200 employees to more than 4,700, with a 34 percent increase 

in employed physicians. The health system now has more than 2,400 full-time 

physicians geographically dispersed over nearly 250 inpatient and ambulatory 

facilities – and those numbers continue to grow. In a recent issue of Modern 

Healthcare magazine, the North Shore-LIJ Medical Group was ranked as the 

nation’s sixth-largest group practice, larger than the Mayo Clinic and numerous 

other nationally recognized providers. 

“We would like to acknowledge and express our appreciation for the 

work and efforts of the clinical leadership of the Medical Group in guiding and 

developing this rapid growth in size and scope of services,” said Dennis Dowling, 

regional executive director of PAANS. 

PAANS’ expansion requires the health system to work differently to ensure 

that it meets the needs of its integrated network of employed physicians, 

ambulatory care centers, state-of-the-art tertiary care facilities, premier local 

community hospitals, nationally ranked specialty care hospitals and, most 

importantly, its patients. To support those efforts, PAANS is adding talent and 

building the infrastructure needed to position it for continued success. 

The following individuals were recently appointed to work with PAANS’ 

leadership — Dennis Dowling, Deborah Schiff, Sharon Joy, Kim Schneider, 

Rosalie Long and Andrew Sama, MD, chair of the North Shore-LIJ Medical Group’s 

Executive Committee — to help lead the transformation and continued growth: 

Joseph Moscola, PA-C, MBA, has been promoted to 

vice president of ambulatory services. He joins PAANS 

from his previous role as director of corporate services 

system operations. In his new role, he oversees the 

development, integration and coordination of ambulatory 

operations, affiliated relationships, marketing, 

communications and operational responsibilities. These 

include both financial and strategic planning activities. 

Mr. Moscola reports to Mr. Dowling. 

Susan Browning, BA, MPH, has been named vice 

president of ambulatory services. Her previous role 

was at Staten Island University Hospital as senior 

vice president of business development and practice 

management. In her new role, she oversees the 

day-to-day program development of the ambulatory 

sites established throughout the health system, with a 

focus on capital and facilities. Ms. Browning reports to 

Deborah Schiff, PAANS’ vice president of strategy and 

business development. 

Anne Arthur, BS, MBA, has been promoted to 

assistant vice president of ambulatory services. She 

joins PAANS from Southside Hospital, where she was 

director of access management and patient throughput. 

In her new position, she is working on the coordination 

of ambulatory services for PAANS. She is responsible for 

the oversight of the financial integration of our multispecialty 

centers, as well as directing the development, 

coordination and administration of daily practice and 

ambulatory operations. She reports to Mr. Moscola. 

Lenny Nartowicz, BS, MBA, has been appointed 

assistant vice president of finance business plan 

modeling. In his previous role, he was associate 

executive director of finance at The Zucker Hillside 

Hospital. He is overseeing the daily financial 

operations of PAANS, including budget preparation, 

business plan modeling and the integrity of financial 

statements. Mr. Nartowicz reports to Sharon Joy, 

PAANS’ vice president of finance. 

Randi Mednick, BS, MHA, has been promoted to 

assistant vice president of the obstetrics/gynecology 

service line. She was previously senior director of 

business development for post-acute services and 

director of the health system’s cardiovascular service 

line. Her new responsibilities focus on building an 

infrastructure for the ob/gyn service line, including: 

oversight of existing operations, strategic development 

and implementation of new practices and helping our 

hospitals integrate new opportunities. Ms. Mednick reports to Adiel Fleischer, 

MD, the health system’s chair of ob/gyn. 

Patricia Dillman, RN, has been appointed assistant vice president of 

ambulatory services. She joins PAANS from Columbia University Medical Center, 

where she was director of clinical operations of the hospital’s faculty practice 

organization. In her new role, Ms. Dillman will be a key member of the PAANS 

transformation team, preparing practices to meet the challenges for delivering 

and coordinating care within the ambulatory setting. She reports to Rosalie Long, 

PAANS’ vice president of ambulatory services. 


Executive Appointments 

Barbara Felker has been named vice president of community 

and external affairs, reporting to Jennifer Mieres, MD, in the 

North Shore-LIJ Health System’s Office of Community 

and Public Health. Prior to this appointment, 

Ms. Felker served as the vice president for 

corporate human resources, overseeing talent 

management and talent acquisition. 

In her new role, Ms. Felker will develop and 

implement community engagement strategies 

to enhance the healthcare needs and wellness of 

communities served by North Shore-LIJ. As part of 

the health system’s diversity, inclusion and health literacy strategy, 

Ms. Felker will also develop and implement affinity-based employee 

resource groups to create business plans that drive employee 

engagement, increase talent retention and serve as ambassadors to 

internal and external communities. 

Before joining North Shore-LIJ, Ms. Felker held various 

leadership positions at companies including New York 

Presbyterian’s Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and HR 

Dynamics Consulting, Inc., and served as the legislative director 

for the New York State Senate. 

Catherine Galla has been promoted to assistant vice president 

for nursing initiatives at the North Shore-LIJ Institute for Nursing. 

Ms. Galla has been with the North Shore-LIJ Health System since 

1981 in a variety of clinical staff and leadership 

positions. In 1999, she transitioned into a project 

management position in the Office of the Chief 

Nurse Executive, where she coordinated projects 

related to standardizing nursing practice across 

the health system. 

During the past 12 years, Ms. Galla’s role 

has expanded to include leadership of large-scale, 

patient-care-related process and practice changes 

across the system, including the design and implementation of the 

clinical information system, IV pump product selection, rollout 

of the collaborative care model and the cross-country vendor 

management agreement. 

Susan Knoepffler, RN, has been named vice 

president of nursing and chief nursing officer 

at Huntington Hospital. Ms. Knoepffler joins 

Huntington from LIJ Medical Center, where she 

served as senior administrative director of the 

Emergency Department. Ms. Knoepffler began 

her 30-year career as a staff nurse in the Neonatal 

Intensive Care Unit at North Shore University 

Hospital. Career highlights include leadership roles 

as administrative supervisor and nursing care coordinator at 

St. Francis Hospital before joining LIJ in 2008. In her new 


role, Ms. Knoepffler’s top priorities are to enhance the patient 

experience, work toward achieving Magnet redesignation and 

focus on employee engagement. 

Ms. Knoepffler earned a bachelor of science in nursing 

from the University of Delaware, and a master’s in public health 

administration from Long Island University — CW Post. She 

is a certified nurse executive and is a member of the American 

Organization of Nurse Executives. 

Joseph Molloy has been appointed vice president of managed 

care benefits and direct contracting with the North Shore-LIJ 

Health System. In this role, he will develop relationships to deliver 

North Shore-LIJ’s healthcare services directly 

to employers, Taft-Hartley Health Funds and 

partnerships with insurance carriers and thirdparty 

administrators. 

The demand for this position comes as the 

health system’s model of care continues to evolve 

to focus more specifically on preventing and 

managing disease, as well as promoting wellness 

and healthy lifestyles. Mr. Molloy will work to deliver 

quality, evidence-based care to develop products and services for 

employers, union funds and insurance carriers. 

Prior to this position, Mr. Molloy served as the health system’s 

vice president of benefits and human resources services, overseeing 

nearly $1 billion of annual benefits, including the redesign of the 

health plan to incentivize the use of system facilities, hospitals and 

CIIPA network. 

Ms. Diaz Named PA Director 

Elizabeth Diaz, PA, has 

been appointed director of 

physician assistants at North 

Shore University Hospital. She 

had been supervising PA in the 

Department of Surgery for a 

year and a half. Ms. Diaz joined 

the hospital from St. Vincent’s 

Medical Center in Manhattan, 

where she served as supervising 

PA for four years. She graduated 

in 2001 from the Saint Vincent’s 

Catholic Medical Center’s PA 

Program and holds an MPA 

from New York University’s 

Robert F. Wagner School of 

Public Service.

George Richardson has been named vice president of 

development at Huntington Hospital. Most recently, Mr. 

Richardson served as executive director of development and alumni 

relations at St. John’s University School of Law. 

He began his career as an administrator at Mercy 

Medical Center, where he was director of 

external affairs, and held various fundraising 

positions at Hofstra University. 

Mr. Richardson is a graduate of Fairfield 

University and holds an MBA from Hofstra. 

He is a former and current board member of the 

Association of Fundraising Professionals/Long Island 

Chapter. For the past two years, he has served as a Eucharistic 

minister at Huntington Hospital. 

GROUP HEALTH MANAGEMENT 

North Shore-LIJ has established a new entity called Group 

Health Management to work with clinical and administrative 

leadership to develop a comprehensive strategy for 

addressing the needs of the chronically ill. 

This will help the health system transition 

to a new value-based Medicare/Medicaid 

reimbursement system that rewards wellness 

promotion and disease prevention. 

Nick Fitterman, MD, is the medical director of 

the new entity, and Irina Mitzner, RN, has been 

named vice president of clinical operations. 

A team of case managers, nurse practitioners, educators and 

other health professionals led by Dr. Fitterman and Ms. Mitzner 

will identify health system patients who are the largest users of our 

services. They will work with their physicians and other caregivers 

to pursue better ways of caring for them, beyond traditional 

approaches that not only have proven to be inefficient and costly, 

but do not produce the clinical outcomes we hope to achieve. 

Dr. Fitterman previously served as chief of staff and medical 

director of hospitalist services at Huntington Hospital, and 

Ms. Mitzner’s former position was as vice president of clinical 

operations at the North Shore-LIJ Home Care Network. In their 

new roles with Group Health Management, Dr. Fitterman and 

Ms. Mitzner will work with Merryl Siegel, executive director of 

post-acute services for the health system, and Howard Gold, the 

health system’s senior vice president of revenue and business 

development, to establish a groundbreaking model for managing 

the care. As medical director of this new entity, Dr. Fitterman will 

also coordinate activities with Jeremy Boal, MD, the health system’s 

chief medical officer. 

Duty Calls at 30,000 Feet 

For Two NSUH Nurses 

from page 9 

The flight attendant supplied a portable external 

defibrillator, which wasn’t needed because the woman had 

a pulse, although she was semi-conscious. The nurses took 

her pulse and her blood pressure, which were normal, and as 

she seemed to revive a bit lying flat, they asked her some key 

questions: Are you a diabetic? Do you have a heart condition? 

Any allergies? Are you on medication? Do you have chest pains? 

When did you last have something to eat? Something to drink? 

“We also did some neurochecks,” said Ms. Kwiatkowski, “like 

what’s called A&O (for aware and oriented) times 4: What’s your 

name? Where are you? What time is it? What’s happening? She 

knew the answers. If it was a stroke, the plane would have had to 

divert to the nearest airport, but we ruled that out.” 

“She was on an antibiotic for a minor illness, but she said 

she hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in a while,” Ms. Smith said. 

“I had a hunch that she was dehydrated. The flight attendant 

brought us three bottles of water, and the woman drank two 

of them and then said she was feeling much, much better. She 

got up and sat down, and Connie sat with her and her husband 

until we landed. There was only room for one of us, so I went 

back to my seat.” 

“Her poor husband was an absolute wreck,” said Ms. 

Kwiatkowski. “They had been married for more than 50 years, 

and he was so afraid for her. In situations like that, you have two 

patients: the one who is sick and the one who is about to collapse 

with anxiety. 

But his wife and I were able to reassure him.” 

When the plane landed, the pilot and the co-pilot came out 

of the cabin to shake their hands. The pilot arranged for each 

of them to get a $100 credit from JetBlue. And a man who was 

sitting behind the couple asked the nurses where they worked. 

When they told him they worked at North Shore University 

Hospital, he beamed. He introduced himself as Mark Claster, 

vice president of the North Shore-LIJ Board of Trustees, and 

he told them how proud he was of them. “Michael Dowling’s 

going to hear about this,” he said. 

And Michael Dowling did. In the letter that Mr. Claster sent 

to the president and CEO of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, 

he wrote, “The two nurses couldn’t have been more caring, 

skillful and unflappable in a very stressful situation. They deserve 

recognition. They were everything we would hope for as nurses 

in our health system and as human beings.” 

In his letters to the nurses, Michael Dowling expressed 

his sincere appreciation for their “willingness to provide care 

without hesitation.” He wrote, “You exemplify the values of 

caring and putting patients first that we are most proud of here at 

the North Shore-LIJ Health System.” 


Healthcare Challenges Seen as Opportunities 

at National Meeting Hosted by North Shore-LIJ 


MANHASSET — Healthcare 

may be in crisis in the US, 

but a spirit of excitement and 

even optimism prevailed at 

the recent 2012 Corporate 

Member Meeting of the 

Commission on Accreditation 

of Healthcare Management 

Education (CAHME), hosted 

by the North Shore-LIJ Health 

System, a CAHME corporate 

member. Entitled “Healthcare 

Reform: Positioning Graduate 

Healthcare Management 

Education for the Future,” 

the meeting was held at The 

Feinstein Institute for Medical 

Research. 

“There are huge 

challenges in healthcare 

today, but there are also 

huge opportunities,” said 

keynote speaker Richard J. 

Umbdenstock, president and 

chief executive officer of the 

American Hospital Association 

(AHA). “I believe we are closer 


than ever to getting it right.” 

His optimism was echoed 

by North Shore-LIJ President 

and CEO Michael Dowling, 

who welcomed the 66 

CAHME corporate member 

representatives in attendance, 

including CEOs of some 

of the nation’s largest and 

most highly respected health 

systems. “For those who aren’t 

afraid to embrace change, the 

future looks fantastic,” he said. 

Mr. Umbdenstock and Mr. 

Dowling, both national leaders 

in healthcare themselves, agreed 

that educating to a new kind of 

leadership is vitally important. 

“Team-based healthcare delivery 

is like a new sport,” said Mr. 

Umbdenstock, “and the new 

leader must be less the captain 

of the ship and more the leader 

of the team.” In keeping with 

that theme, Mr. Dowling 

said, “We shouldn’t confuse 

leadership with management. 

2011 Annual Report 

North Shore-LIJ President and CEO Michael Dowling, right, with Richard 

Umbdenstock, left, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association, 

and David Fine, president and CEO of St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System in 

Houston, TX, and chair of the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare 

Management Education, which held a board meeting at The Feinstein 

Institute for Medical Research. 

Both are necessary, but while 

managers create order, leaders 

create the future.” 

In regards to concerns 

about shrinking reimbursements, 

Mr. Umbdenstock said, 

The North Shore-LIJ Health System’s recently published 

2011 Annual Report, Partners in Health, recognizes our 

relationships with individuals, organizations and the 

community at large; every one plays a vital role in helping us 

fulfill our mission. See it at http://www.northshorelij.com/ 

NSLIJ/NSLIJ+Annual+Reports. 

“We will never be better paid 

than we are today. There is 

no new money. The old 

approach has been, ‘Well, 

we’ll do more with less.’ I say 

the new approach should be, 

‘Let’s do less with less — and 

get better outcomes.’” 

In small breakout sessions, 

meeting attendees tackled 

tough and timely healthcare 

topics led by experts such as 

Robert Henkel, president and 

CEO of Ascension Health, 

headquartered in St. Louis, 

MO; Chris Van Gorder, 

president and CEO of San 

Diego, CA-based Scripps 

Health; and Kathleen Gallo, 

PhD, RN, North Shore-LIJ’s 

senior vice president and chief 

learning officer.

Kids Give Tobacco the Kiss-Off 

Youngsters from the Cross Island YMCA in Bellerose learned about the dangers of smoking at an educational workshop led by Nancy Copperman, RD, director of public 

health initiatives at North Shore-LIJ. The event was part of National Kick Butts Day, which focuses attention on community activism by boys and girls to take a stand 

against tobacco. The children created posters with antismoking messages and performed a short rap song pledging not to smoke. The Y also announced its new 

smoke-free outdoor air policy to protect children and the community from the hazards of smoking and second-hand smoke. The project was funded by a grant from 

the Queens Smoke-Free Partnership, with help from the North Shore-LIJ Health System. Back row, from left: Deanna Bitetti, chief of staff for Assemblyman David 

Weprin, Jamé Krauter of the Cross Island YMCA, Ms. Copperman, and Tina Stinson-Lewis, also of the Cross Island Y. 

North Shore-LIJ Epilepsy Center Is First on LI 

to Offer New Device to Stimulate Vagus Nerve 

The Comprehensive 

Epilepsy Care Center at 

North Shore-LIJ’s Cushing 

Neuroscience Institute (CNI) 

is the first center on Long 

Island to offer the new version 

of vagus nerve stimulation 

(VNS) therapy, implanting an 

AspireHC generator into 

a 23-year-old female patient 

from Hicksville with refractory 

epilepsy this spring. 

Asesh Mehta, MD, director 

of epilepsy surgery at the 

Comprehensive Epilepsy Care 

Center, said, “VNS Therapy 

is an effective, safe option for 

epilepsy patients who are not 

achieving satisfactory seizure 

control from medications. 

Because this newest model 

of the vagus nerve stimulator 

has the longest battery life 

of any VNS therapy device, 

replacement of the generator 

can take place less frequently 

for patients who are on 

higher doses of stimulation. 

In addition, the AspireHC, 

which is about the size of a 

small pocket watch, will provide 

improved quality of life benefits 

for VNS therapy patients.” 

Dr. Mehta explained that 

implantation is a short outpatient 

procedure lasting one 

to two hours. The stimulator 

is implanted in the patient’s 

left chest area, where a thin 

flexible wire (lead) sends mild 

stimulation to the left vagus 

nerve in the neck automatically 

at regular intervals. 

The Comprehensive 

Epilepsy Care Center is a truly 

integrated and multidisciplinary 

endeavor, with epilepsy 

doctors, nurses, pharmacists, 

neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, 

social workers, technical 

staff and an administrative 

team all working together 

to provide care and support 

for both adult and pediatric 

epilepsy patients. It is the largest 

and most comprehensive 

program on Long Island for 

the evaluation and medical and 

surgical treatment of epilepsy 

in children and adults. 


Lenox Hill Hospital First in New York State to 

Perform Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Replacement 

NEW YORK — A 76-yearold 

woman from Flushing, 

Queens, was the first patient 

in New York and only the 

second in the entire country 

to undergo a percutaneously 

implanted mitral valve 

replacement. 

The procedure, 

performed in February, was 

executed conjointly by Lenox 

Hill Hospital’s Carlos Ruiz, 

MD, director of the Structural 

and Congenital Heart Disease 

Program of the Department 

of Interventional Cardiology, 

and Gregory P. Fontana, MD, 

chairman of the Department of 

Cardiothoracic Surgery. This 

minimally invasive procedure 

is used to repair a blocked or 

leaky mitral heart valve that 

had previously been replaced. 

The replacement valve is 

inserted percutaneously 

through a vein in the groin 

and positioned within the 


mitral valve. It is an option for 

individuals who are at high risk 

for undergoing a second openheart 

surgery given their age or 

current medical condition. 

“Transcatheter valve 

replacement is a major 

breakthrough in the treatment 

of heart disease and is part 

of an important trend in 

which minimally invasive 

procedures are used in place of 

traditionally invasive surgical 

procedures,” noted Dr. Ruiz. 

“What is unique at Lenox 

Hill Hospital is the close 

collaboration between the 

interventional cardiologists 

and the heart surgeons. The 

doctors often review and 

discuss all available test results 

to offer a joint opinion to 

ensure that each patient 

receives the best treatment for 

his or her particular problem.” 

“It is a true 

multidisciplinary effort,” 

added Dr. Fontana. 

“Cardiologists, cardiac 

surgeons and vascular surgeons 

all work together in a single 

setting with a single goal: 

to provide extraordinary, 

minimally invasive, efficient 

heart care to patients suffering 

from all forms of heart disease 

and vascular disease.” 

Girl Scouts Find a 

Few Good Babies 

It’s never too early to recruit new 

members, which is why the Girl Scouts 

of Nassau County came to LIJ’s Katz 

Women’s Hospital this spring to present 

honorary memberships to all baby 

girls born on March 12, 2012, the 100th 

anniversary of Girl Scouting in America. 

Pictured are four new recruits with 

their mothers, members of Girl Scouts 

of Nassau County and the leadership of 

Katz Women’s Hospital.


System recently formed a Lions 

Club International chapter, 

the Manhasset North Shore- 

LIJ Lions, with the mission to provide 

resources and support for the prevention 

and treatment of diabetes in Long Island 

communities. 

Approximately 26 million people in 

the United States have diabetes and one in 

four is unaware. Estimates range as high as 

79 million who have pre-diabetes and are 

at a high risk for developing the disease. 

“Without prevention and treatment, the 

numbers will continue to rise,” said Tracy 

Breen, MD, director of diabetes care for 

North Shore-LIJ. “Many Americans live 

with undiagnosed diabetes and don’t even 

know it. Routine checkups and blood work 

are the best prevention methods, and 

access to that care is essential.” 

“As a major healthcare provider, 

it is our responsibility to provide 

multidisciplinary diabetes care and 

prevention services to our communities,” 

said Susan Somerville, executive director 

of North Shore University Hospital. 

“Awareness is essential and our Lions 

Club’s charter is another step to helping 

make each community aware of the 

diabetes services available. With the 

additional support of dedicated Lions 

members and volunteers, we have the 

ability to make a difference for thousands 

of at-risk New Yorkers.” 

Research shows that patients with 

diabetes or pre-diabetes, who are not 

carefully managed, experience poorer 

outcomes such as blindness, kidney failure 

and damage to the heart and circulatory 

system. The health system’s diabetes 

task force combines the expertise of 

the departments of nursing, nutrition, 

medicine, surgery, pharmacy, social work, 

laboratory and quality management to 

Shown from left: Pat Webb McNally, guiding Lion, Rockville Centre Lions Club; Stephen Dean, district 

governor; Marie Frazzitta; and Wing-Kun Tam, Lions Clubs International President. 

Manhasset North Shore-LIJ 

Lions Club Receives Charter 

for Chapter to Address Diabetes 

reduce the incidence of diabetes and 

coordinate patient care. “The best way 

to treat diabetes is to prevent it,” said 

Marie Frazzitta, director of diabetes 

education for North Shore-LIJ, president 

of the Manhasset North Shore-LIJ Lions 

Club and co-chair of the health system’s 

diabetes task force. “Our new Lions 

Club is committed to helping provide the 

screening and educational resources and 

services to begin battling diabetes before 

it strikes, and to keep those diagnosed as 

healthy as possible.” 


WOMEN’S corner 

North Shore-LIJ Physicians, Researcher 

Honored at Women’s Health Conference 

While hosting more than 600 attendees at its fifth women’s health conference on May 2, 

the North Shore-LIJ Health System took time out of a busy, day-long schedule of seminars 

to honor four physicians and a researcher for their contributions to their professions and 

the health system. The following individuals received awards named in honor of long-time 

donors and trustees whose support contributed greatly to North Shore-LIJ’s success: 


Lorinda De Roulet Award for Excellence in Research 

Christine Metz, PhD 

Investigator 

The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research 

Center for Immunology and Inflammation 

Center for Patient-Oriented Research 

Tita Monti Award for Outstanding Community Education 

Dana Lustbader, MD 

Section Head, Palliative Medicine 

Intensivist, Critical Care Medicine 


Ann Gottlieb Award for Excellence in 

Teaching 

Miriam Ann Smith, MD 

Chairman, Department of Medicine 

Residency Program Director 


Sandra Atlas Bass Award for Clinical 

Excellence 

Carmel Foley, MD 

Director of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry 

Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s 

Medical Center 

Sharon Joyce Schlanger Award for 

Outstanding Community Service 

Jacqueline Moline, MD 

Vice President, Population Health 


Chair, Department of Population Health 

North Shore University Hospital and 

Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine 

Dr. Nancy Snyderman at 

Women’s Health Conference 

“Celebrating a New Era in Women’s Health: Information/Innovation/ 

Wellness” was the theme of the fifth North Shore-LIJ women’s health 

conference, held at the Long Island Marriott Hotel in Uniondale. Nancy 

Snyderman, MD, chief medical editor for NBC News, shared her medical 

insights and personal history with the 600 attendees. She is pictured with 

Michael Dowling, president and chief executive officer of the health system, 

left, and Richard Goldstein, chairman of the board. “If you feel that your 

doctor is not listening to you, it’s probably a good time to ask for your 

medical records and find another physician who does listen,” Dr. Snyderman 

said. “Women must take care of themselves first.”


Collaborative Care Council 

Gets Results 

from page 29 

Press Ganey scores. 

Nelson Martinez, 

environmental aide at 

Plainview Hospital, co-chaired 

a council that was able to 

decrease bed turnaround 

time from 70 minutes to 62 

minutes. Danielle Green at 

Plainview co-chaired a food 

and nutrition council, and 

the ratings for food service 

courtesy, overall meals and 

meal quality all improved. 

At Franklin Hospital, 

a council on a med/surg 

oncology unit reduced the 

length of stay from 8.07 

days in January to 6.84 in 

November of 2011. “We 

focused on what we needed to 

do to get patients safely and 

quickly through their hospital 

stay,” said Kathy Bradfield, 

LMSW, director of social work. 

At Long Island Jewish 

Medical Center, a council 

redesigned a surgical waiting 

room, provided more 

privacy for consultations and 

improved communication 

between clinicians and 

waiting families and patients 

in recovery, according to 

Agnes Barden, DNP, RN. 

Another council created a 

pre- and post-op surgical 

education class for patients 

and family, obtained a 

grant for DVD education 

and worked to collaborate 

more effectively with the 

cardiothoracic ICU on 

patient transfers. Automating 

physician orders on 7 South 

freed the unit receptionist, 

Patricia Rodriguez, to 

perform a concierge role, 

keeping everyone informed, 

helping solve problems 

and coordinating tests. 

Rachel Neuman, PT, who 

participated in the council 

with Ms. Rodriguez and 

others, said the concierge 

position “changes the attitude 

of the whole team.” 

This is just a sampling 

of how more than 300 

collaborative care councils at 


are gaining measurable results. 

Collaborative efforts 

between facilities are reaping 

results, too. Collaborative 

care councils at North 

Shore University Hospital 

and Stern Family Center 

for Rehabilitation worked 

together to share more 

comprehensive and accurate 

patient information on the 

clinical information system 

to ensure better handoffs. 

As a result, “We were more 

prepared to admit patients 

when they came to us,” said 

Carole Clement, RN, Stern 

Family Center nurse manager. 

Press Ganey “likelihood to 

recommend” scores at the 

long-term care facility jumped 

from 77.1 in June 2011 to 92.9 

in November last year. 

Lynn Johnson, NP, 

manager, nursing initiatives, 

Institute for Nursing, who 

President’s Awards 

Keep an eye out for a special supplement on North Shore-LIJ’s President’s 

Award program featuring this year’s nominees and winners, including 

Sylvester Wallace of Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York. 

facilitated both collaborative 

care councils, also helped 

roll out councils at Lenox 

Hill Hospital. Over 3,300 

employees learned about the 

collaborative care model last 

summer, and Lenox Hill 

is already gaining results. 

A council chaired by James 

Richter, MD, chief of 

anesthesiology, succeeded 

at decreasing turnover time 

between OR cases, in part 

thanks to more realistic 

scheduling. “If there is ever 

going to be a mechanism 

for reducing turnover, the 

councils are it,” he said. Arlex 

Matulac, associate executive 

director, perioperative 

services, said, “We started with 

turnover at 51 minutes last 

fall and were at 48 minutes 

in February. Our goal is 45 

minutes and our stretch goal is 

30 minutes.” 

Linda DiCarlo, RN, 

director, nursing informatics, 

Lenox Hill, attributes the 

success of collaborative care 

councils to “all the disciplines 

participating and everyone 

talking the same language,” 

but admits that it takes time to 

achieve full results. 

Catherine Galla, RN, 

assistant vice president, 

nursing initiatives, Institute 

for Nursing, concurs. 

“Transformational change 

never happens immediately, 

but we have a structure 

that supports incremental 

changes and staff working 

in interdisciplinary teams to 

improve the care we deliver.” 


center for learning and innovation 

Center for Learning and Innovation 

Celebrates 10th Anniversary 

LAKE SUCCESS — The adage “if you build it, they will come” 

characterizes the 10 years that the Center for Learning and 

Innovation has existed. The corporate university for the North 

Shore-LIJ Health System celebrated its tenth anniversary on January 

16, 2012. From its humble beginnings in a rented single classroom 

at the Dale Carnegie Institute in Woodbury, CLI has grown and 

flourished, impacting employees from all levels and areas and now 

occupying a state-of-the-art facility in Lake Success. Through the 

end of 2011, CLI has taught 163,384 people and it has no plans to 

slow down. “Since it opened in 2002, CLI has become the largest 

corporate university in the healthcare industry, setting the standard 

for educational excellence and demonstrating the highest level of 

innovation,” said Michael Dowling, president and CEO of the North 

Shore-LIJ Health System. 

A New Place to Play 

Officials from Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove and Cohen Children’s Medical Center (CCMC) of New York 

recently celebrated the opening of the shopping center’s new children’s play area. Sponsored by the North 

Shore-LIJ Health System, the play space is located in the mall’s Sears Court. Among those at the opening were, 

from left: Cynthia Ruf, corporate director of marketing for the health system; Kevin Carraccio, CCMC’s vice 

president of philanthropy; Debora Riccardi, CCMC’s director of community outreach; Paul Fiore, Simon Property 

Group’s northeast regional director of business development; Sharon Ritterband, Simon Property group’s 

area director of business development; and James Lundgren, Smith Haven Mall’s general manager. 


Based on Michael Dowling’s original white paper on the 

development of a leadership institute, CLI began 10 years ago with 

educational offerings limited to Core Management and Six Sigma, 

which had instructors traveling to hospitals and using a rented 

classroom to offer the education to employees. It was not until a year 

later, when CLI moved to its first location, that the education was 

centralized and the amount of programs that the corporate university 

was able to offer began to grow. Over the years, CLI developed 

additional programs such as the administrative and physician high 

potential programs, as well as the scholar pipeline and administrative 

fellowships. In 2012, over 80 different enrichment courses are 

scheduled, with additional courses being developed due to the high 

demand of learners and the continued growth of the health system. 

One of CLI’s innovations was the establishment of the 

Patient Safety Institute (PSI) in 

2006 to focus on preventable 

medical errors, teamwork and 

communication. PSI provided 

the clinical aspect of education 

that was in high demand for the 

organization’s team members who 

were directly involved in patient 

care. In 2011 alone, CLI and PSI 

conducted over 950 individual 

educational programs. 

Outside organizations 

repeatedly take notice of the 

work that is done by CLI. The 

International Association for 

Continuing Education and Training 

(IACET), which accredits CLI to 

offer continuing education units, 

awarded the corporate university the 

2011 Exemplar Award for Internal 

Training. The Center for Learning 

and Innovation also received a 

Silver Award for Best Leadership 

Training Program. Most recently, 

Chief Learning Officer Magazine named 

CLI a 2012 Learning Elite Finalist. 

“We’re proud of CLI’s 

success and confident that its 

future achievements will enable 

us to reach even greater heights 

as a ‘learning organization,’” said 

Mr. Dowling.

Simulation Lab Creates Real-Life 

Scenarios for New Med Students 

Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine Students Benefit 

from Simulation Training at Center for Learning and Innovation 

Students in the inaugural class at the Hofstra North Shore- 

LIJ School of Medicine have completed only one year of 

study and already they have performed physical exams on 

patients, cleared an obstructed airway and even assisted in 

the birth of a baby at the CLI’s Patient Safety Institute. While none 

of these procedures were carried out on real people, they certainly 

had the look and feel of true-to-life situations. 

“The exposure to simulation exercises, at one of the largest 

institutes of its kind in the country, certainly gives our students a 

wonderful opportunity to learn and strengthen their clinical skills 

at an early stage in their education,” said Lawrence Smith, MD, 

dean of the School of Medicine. 

Simulation education is a bridge between classroom learning 

and real-life clinical experience. CLI’s advanced learning facility 

features state-of-the-art human-simulation laboratories with 

digitally enhanced and controlled mannequins and partial- 

and full-body task trainers, standardized patient rooms, and 

endovascular simulators for interventionalists. CLI helps 

students manage hypothetical patient cases as members of a 

multidisciplinary healthcare team. The exercises are followed by 

a debriefing with the med school faculty and the CLI staff, which 

comprises a multitude of complementary health professions. 

“Our students are exposed to these simulation exercises much 

earlier than at most medical schools, which would normally cover 

this material in the third year. This gives our students a great advan- 

tage,” said Thomas Kwiatkowski, MD, assistant dean of education/ 

simulation and course director for CPR at the School of Medicine. 

The high-tech, computerized mannequins at CLI are able to 

mimic real patients and are able to talk and respond to the medical 

students, who take vital signs and perform emergency procedures, 

such as intravenous line insertion, breathing tube insertion 

and medication administration. The mannequin patients are 

controlled remotely by instructors at CLI, who can make them cry 

out in pain, move about and even react to a student’s touch. 

First-year medical student Niki Sheth called the CLI simulations 

“very realistic” and the detailed debriefings very helpful. 

“The debriefing was a great way of getting feedback,” she said. 

“It also helps you reason out and explain why you took certain 

actions during the exercise.” 

According to Dr. Kwiatkowski, lessons taught in a realistic 

simulation are retained better, due to the required active learning 

and focused concentration, the experience’s emotional investment 

and the direct association with the real world. 

Medical students also train at the world-renowned Feinstein 

Institute for Medical Research, the research arm of the health system. 

To see a video of this story, go to: www.northshorelij.com/ 

NSLIJ/media-portal/homepage-video-channel/sim-lab. 

Above: Margaret Delaney, a nurse educator at North Shore-LIJ’s Patient Safety 

Institute, works with medical student Robert Metzler. 


center for learning and innovation 

LAKE SUCCESS — The 

Center for Learning and 

Innovation (CLI) has established 

a Quality Academy to 

further improve performance 

in healthcare delivery at North 

Shore-LIJ facilities. The initiative 

builds on more than a 

decade of workforce development 

programs to improve 

patient safety and quality care 

throughout the North Shore- 

LIJ Health System. 

The Quality Academy is 

grounded in staff members’ 

need to keep pace with rapid 

changes in the healthcare field. 

At the same time, the science 

of improvement in healthcare 

has gotten more sophisticated 

and is constantly evolving. 

The academy addresses these 

challenges with a comprehensive, 

multitiered program to 

advance the knowledge base of 

the workforce to further enable 

staff members at every level to 

anticipate, recognize and solve 

problems to improve performance 

and to provide “perfect” 

care to patients and families. 

“The Quality Academy 

will allow the health system to 

combine and standardize all 

quality improvement education 

and training programs 

under one roof,” said Jeremy 

Boal, MD, senior vice president 

and chief medical officer 

at North Shore-LIJ. “This 


allows us to formalize performance 

improvement initiatives, 

using the same measurement 

tools and metrics across 

the board in order to replicate 

high-quality outcomes in our 

patient care processes.” Dr. 

Boal added that front-line staff 

members are often in the best 

position to understand and 

improve their work environments 

to optimize patient care 

and outcomes. 

“Education programs 

at the academy will increase 

awareness about quality issues 

and further empower all 

employees to identify problems 

and take an active role in quality 

improvement, regardless of 

job title,” said Alan Cooper, 

PhD, vice president of learning 

and innovation at North Shore- 

LIJ. For example, if nurses 

notice a delay in responding to 

patient call bells, they are in the 

best position to recognize ways 

to increase response time and 

enhance patient satisfaction. 

Through proper education in 

improvement sciences, they can 

study the problem and engineer 

ways to improve workflow. 

“This not only creates a safer 

environment for patients, but 

also has the benefit of creating a 

more efficient workplace,” said 

Dr. Cooper. 

At the academy, quality 

improvement training and 

education are being developed 

collaboratively with health 

system departments and business 

units, which will provide 

educational opportunities for 

all North Shore-LIJ staff. For 

example, the Quality Academy 

will incorporate a section on 

quality improvement in Beginnings, 

the program geared toward 

new employees, and reach 

out to train other staff members. 

The Quality Academy is 

New Quality Academy Focuses 

on Improving Performance 

By Betty Olt 

also developing an online video 

introduction to the importance 

of everyone’s role in improving 

performance throughout the 

health system. 

Ultimately, programming 

will target all managers, directors 

and senior staff members; 

all chiefs, chairs and medical 

directors; all staff members 

hired in quality roles; and the 

highest level, or expert level, 

which will be designated for 

staff including quality professionals, 

administrators, managers, 

physicians and other 

Stay Connected, Get Inspired 

clinicians involved in multidepartmental, 

facility-wide or 

system-wide improvements. 

Learning will incorporate 

in-class training and online 

modules with group exercises. 

Already, all health system associate 

executive directors have 

attended the Quality Academy’s 

first course, “Quality, 

Safety and Improvement Sciences,” 

which is part of CLI’s 

new leadership development 

program, ALEAD – Applied 

Leadership Effectiveness and 

Development. 

Fiona Levy, chief quality 

officer for the Cohen Children’s 

Medical Center of New 

York, leads and facilitates the 

Quality Academy development 

team. In addition to Drs. Boal, 

Cooper and Levy, the team 

includes Yosef Dlugacz, PhD, 

senior vice president and chief 

of clinical quality, education 

and research at the Krasnoff 

Quality Management Institute; 

Mark Jarrett, MD, vice president 

and health system chief 

quality officer; Marc Napp, 

MD, vice president of medical 

affairs; Karen Nelson, RN, 

vice president, clinical excellence 

and quality; and Elaine 

Smith, EdD, RN, vice president 

for nursing education. 

For more details about the 

Quality Academy, call CLI at 

(516) 396-6150. 

Inspiration is just a click away.The North Shore-LIJ Foundation 

supports health system services by sponsoring neighborhood events, walks, 

concerts, luncheons, sporting events and so much more. Stay in touch with all 

the North Shore-LIJ Foundation is doing by connecting with us at Facebook. 

com/NorthShoreLIJFoundation and on Twitter at Twitter.com/nslijfoundation.

According to the 

US Institute 

of Medicine 

(2000, 2001), 

the widespread incidence of 

preventable errors in our 

nation’s hospitals revealed 

that how care is delivered is 

as important as what care is 

delivered. These landmark 

reports noted that developing 

effective clinical teams is essential to delivering care that is patientcentered, 

safer, timelier and more effective, efficient and equitable. 

To achieve those goals, the Center for Learning and Innovation 

(CLI) is expanding its efforts to “train in teams those that work 

in teams” in order to build interprofessional teamwork and 

collaboration. To that end, Barbara DeVoe, DNP, FNP-BC, has 

been promoted to vice president for interprofessional learning and 

education, a role in which she will enhance the strategic importance 

of interprofessional learning and education throughout the health 

system. She will also continue her day-to-day responsibilities 

at CLI’s Patient Safety Institute (PSI). Barbara was recruited to 

CLI six years ago to develop the Critical Care Nurse Fellowship 

Program, for which we established our first simulation program. 

Her clinical background is critical care and emergency nursing. She 

is also a board-certified family nurse practitioner and has worked 

collaboratively in two physician practices. Barbara received her 

doctorate in nursing practice from Case Western Reserve University 

in 2009. Her areas of interests are patient safety, teamwork and 

communication and human factors. 

Interprofessional Education 

Fosters Clinical Teamwork, 

Increases Patient Safety 

Interprofessional 

education (IPE) has been 

defined as: “when two or 

more professionals learn with, 

from and about each other to 

improve collaboration and 

the quality of care.” While 

this activity commonly occurs 

among clinical teams at PSI, 

it is incumbent upon us to 

expand IPE even further, 

Barbara DeVoe 

considering its proven success 

in improving patient safety. 

Similar to CLI, PSI has grown rapidly, not only in reputation 

but also in programs, size and resources. What began as an idea 

and one simulator in 2006 has become an infrastructure that is 

strategically important to the health system as well as the Hofstra 

North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine. CLI and PSI will continue to 

evolve as the needs of the health system change. 

Dowling 

at Dowling 

North Shore-LIJ President and CEO 

Michael Dowling spoke to more 

than 200 high school students from 

throughout Long Island during a 

Long Island Youth Summit hosted 

last spring at Dowling College in 

Oakdale. The purpose of the Summit 

was to work with the brightest and 

most active high school students in 

order to make them aware of the 

socioeconomic, environmental and 

sociomedical issues affecting Long 

Island and to recommend solutions. 


Hospital Chefs 

Compete in 

Healthy Cooking 

Challenge 

By Betty Olt 

GLEN COVE — Hospital food 

usually gets a bad rap, but 

chefs from 11 North Shore-LIJ 

hospitals recently competed in 

the health system’s first-ever 

cooking challenge to prove 

that hospital chefs can serve 

up gourmet restaurant-quality 

meals, but without high fat, 

calories or sodium. 

Coinciding with National 

Nutrition Month, culinary 

teams from Queens, Nassau, 

Suffolk, Manhattan and Staten 

Island faced off at Glen Cove 

Hospital’s Pratt Auditorium, 

which was transformed into a 

giant kitchen equipped with 

stove-top burners, a pantry 

and farmers’ market for the 

Ultimate Chef Healthy Entrée 

Challenge. Each team had 

one hour to create a delicious, 

attractive and nutritious meal. 

Three celebrity chef judges 

awarded Forest Hills Hospital’s 

chefs with the top prize for 

their original dish of spinachstuffed 

pork tenderloin with 

cranberry wild rice. Lenox 


Hill Hospital 

received second 

place and 


came in third. 

Michael 

Kiley, director 

of nutrition and 

food services 

at Glen Cove 

Hospital, who 

also helps 

coordinate North Shore-LIJ’s 

chef committee, organized 

the cook-off. “Patients often 

compare hospital food to 

restaurants, and this event 

showcases that hospital chefs 

can prepare appealing food 

that tastes really good and is 

nutritious,” said Mr. Kiley. 

Judges rated all entrees and 

side dishes prepared during 

the competition based on taste, 

nutrition, originality and 

presentation. Each hospital 

culinary team was paired with 

a registered dietician from 

a North Shore-LIJ hospital 

to ensure that each dish 

contained no more than 500 

calories, 15 grams of fat and 

600 milligrams of sodium. 

Teams worked with a “surprise 

protein” — such as halibut, 

shrimp, chicken and pork 

tenderloin — to build a creative 

meal around the item. 

Winning chefs Gary 

DeFreitas and Dale Lyons from 

Forest Hills Hospital said they 

are used to preparing meals for 

600 to 700 patients each day. 

After the awards ceremony, Mr. 

Lyons said, “This event gives us 

the opportunity to show what 

we can do in the kitchen.… 

It’s a dream come true.” Mr. 

DeFreitas, who has been 

cooking since he was 19 years 

old, said it was a “great honor” 

to receive first prize in the 

competition but pointed out 

that “love is the most important 

ingredient in cooking, and it 

always comes out in the dish.” 

Above: Chefs from Forest Hills 

Hospital won North Shore-LIJ’s 

Ultimate Chef Challenge cook-off. 

Dale Lyons chops an onion for the 

winning dish — spinach-stuffed 

pork tenderloin with cranberry wild 

rice — while Gary DeFreitas consults 

with Malgorazata Rokoszak, RD, of 

Staten Island University Hospital.

Ultimate Chef Healthy Entrée 1st Place Recipe 

Spinach-Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Cranberry Wild Rice 

By: Gary DeFreitas and Dale Lyons 

Serving Size: 6 oz Stuffed Pork, 1/3 cup Wild Rice Preparation time: 30 minutes 

Servings: 4 Cooking time: 30 minutes 

Ingredients: 

Pork Tenderloin 

1 pound Pork Tenderloin, silver skin removed 

1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar 

½ tablespoon Dijon Mustard 

1/8 teaspoon Garlic Powder 

1/8 teaspoon Rosemary, fresh, chopped 

Stuffing 

1 tablespoon Canola Oil 

4 oz Fresh Baby Spinach 

2 oz Snap Peas 

2 oz Dried Figs, minced 

1 oz Pistachio Nuts, shelled and roughly chopped 

½ tablespoon Rosemary, fresh, chopped 

½ tablespoon Shallots, peeled and chopped 

1 ½ teaspoons Garlic, fresh, chopped 

Directions: 

1. Pork Tenderloin: Cut the pork 

tenderloin into 4 equal 4oz portions. 

Place each piece of pork onto a large piece 

of plastic wrap and cover it with another 

piece of plastic wrap. Pound each portion 

with a meat mallet or the bottom of a flat 

frying pan until it is thin: about a 4” x 6” 

piece of meat. 

2. Mix together the balsamic vinegar, 

mustard, garlic powder and rosemary. 

Drizzle or smear the mixture onto both 

sides of each pork cutlet. Reserve seasoned 

pork cutlets until ready to stuff. 

3. Spinach Stuffing: Preheat a sauté 

pan over medium-high heat. Add the 

canola oil and garlic to the hot pan. Cook 

garlic until golden, and then add the 

spinach, snap peas, dried figs, pistachio 

nuts, rosemary, shallots and garlic. Sauté 

the mixture for about 5 minutes until 

the spinach wilts and the flavors have 

developed. 

4. Lay each seasoned piece of pork 

Wild Rice 

½ cup Wild Rice 

½ cup Celery, minced 

¼ cup Onion, minced 

½ tablespoon Garlic, minced 

1 ½ teaspoons Canola Oil 

1 oz Dried Cranberries 

1 cup Water 

Pan Sauce 

1 ½ oz White Wine, dry 

1 ½ teaspoons Dijon Mustard 

4 leaves Radicchio for garnish 

tenderloin onto a flat surface like a cutting 

board. Place ¼ of the spinach mixture 

onto each of the 4 pieces of flattened and 

seasoned pork tenderloin. Pat the spinach 

mixture down to cover the pork tenderloin 

cutlet. On the longest side of the cutlet, 

fold the pork over onto the spinach tightly. 

Continue to roll in a jelly roll fashion until 

you have a tight roulade. 

5. Wild Rice: Sauté wild rice in ½ 

tablespoon of canola oil for one minute. 

Add the fresh chopped garlic, chopped 

celery and minced onion to the rice and 

continue to cook for about 3-5 minutes. 

Add 1 cup water to the saucepan and bring 

the mixture to a boil. Cover and reduce 

heat to a simmer. Cook for 20 – 25 

minutes until the rice is tender and the 

water has been absorbed into the rice. 

6. While the rice is cooking, heat a 

frying pan over medium-high heat: Add 1 

teaspoon of canola oil to the pan and then 

add the four roulades. Position the stuffed 

pork pieces so that they are not touching 

each other. Cook the pork all around the 

roulades until the internal temperature 

reaches 140ºF. Take the pork out of the 

pan and place it onto a plate to rest. 

7. Sauce: Pour white wine and Dijon 

mustard into the frying pan and deglaze 

the pan. Simmer the wine mixture until it 

reduces slightly. 

8. Plating: After the rice is cooked 

add the dried cranberries and stir. With 

a sharp knife, slice each roulade into 1” 

pinwheel slices on the bias. Place 1/3 

cup of rice mixture into the center of a 

dinner plate using a cup as a mold. Place 

1 radicchio leaf into the rice so that it 

stands up. Place the slices of the roulade 

around the rice. Drizzle the pan sauce 

around the plate and serve. 

Nutritional Information: 228 Calories, 8g Fat, 

26g Protein, 10g Carbohydrate, 62mg Cholesterol, 1g 

Fiber, 121mg Sodium, 570mg Potassium. 


Miracle Foundation Palliative Care Center: 

It’s All About Quality of Life 

Patients living with a 

serious illness can find 

pain relief and address 

symptom management 

at home, in the company of 

their loved ones, courtesy of the 

Miracle Foundation Palliative 

Care Center. 

“The Miracle Foundation 

Palliative Care Center dialogues 

with patients and families 

living with advanced illnesses 

about treatment options, 

offers emotional support and 

makes them as comfortable 

as possible,” said Maureen 

Hinkelman, chief executive 

officer of the Hospice Care 

Network, part of the North 

Shore-LIJ Health System. 

Palliative care is 

comprehensive, individualized 

medical treatment that 

complements curative 

therapies for patients with 

life-threatening illness. In 

February and April 2011, 

Governor Cuomo passed two 

important pieces of legislation 

to address it. The Palliative 

Care Information Act requires 

that attending physicians 

and nurse practitioners 

offer terminally ill patients 

information and counseling 

concerning palliative care 

and appropriate end-of-life 

options. According to the 

New York State Department of 

Health, the law helps to ensure 

that patients are fully informed 

of their options when they face 

a terminal illness or condition. 


Jim Kennedy 

The second law, the 

Palliative Care Access 

Act, requires hospitals, 

nursing homes, home care 

agencies and assisted living 

residences to provide access to 

information and counseling 

about palliative care to 

patients with advanced, 

life-limiting conditions and 

illnesses. These providers 

must also facilitate access to 

palliative care consultation 

and services that are 

consistent with the patient’s 

needs and preferences. 

“We are always looking for 

better ways to serve the patients 

and families in our community. 

Many families have told us that 

they wished they had known 

sooner about palliative care and 

hospice service options. The 

Miracle Foundation Palliative 

Care Center addresses this 

concern by providing a useful 

venue to help physicians attend 

to the new requirements,” said 

Ms. Hinkelman. 

This unique center 

is generously funded by a 

$500,000 grant from the 

Miracle Foundation, an 

organization founded by 

Patti and Michael Tenaglia 

and dedicated to improving 

the lives of those diagnosed 

with cancer and other lifethreatening 

diseases. 

Above: With a live-in aide and 

regular visits from palliative care 

nurse Laurie Alonso, NP, left, 

102-year-old George Wittmer is 

able to remain in his home.

Club TLC Benefits Families of “NICU Babies” 

A night of dancing, cocktails, light bites and socializing at the Maximus Spa & Salon in Mineola was also a fundraiser for the Tender 

Loving Care (TLC) Foundation, which raises funds for support programs geared toward families of newborns treated in the Neonatal 

Intensive Care Units (NICU) at the North Shore-LIJ Health System’s Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York 

in New Hyde Park and Manhasset. Sick and critically ill newborns often spend weeks or months in the NICUs receiving highly specialized 

care, putting an enormous 

strain on families. 

Proceeds from this event 

and those in 2010 and 2011 

have helped or will help 

provide funding for muchneeded 

medical equipment 

such as a Transport Isolette 

and Retscan Retina Scanning 

Unit, as well as support for the 

music therapy program, family 

support groups, monthly 

dinners in the NICU and 

sibling outreach. 

Shown at Club TLC, from left: David Goldberg, TLC chairman, his wife, Franessa, and Joyce and Richard Calcasola, who 

generously hosted the event. 

Multispecialty 

Facility 

Ribbon-Cutting 

North Shore-LIJ officials 

gathered to celebrate the 

opening of a single destination 

for orthopedic, neuroscience 

and imaging services at 611 

Northern Boulevard in Great 

Neck. The new facility brings 

together the experience 

and resources of University 

Orthopedic Associates, the 

Cushing Neuroscience Institute 

and North Shore-LIJ Imaging. 


Patients at North 

Shore-LIJ hospitals 

and facilities may now 

see visitors any time, 

thanks to a new visitation policy. 

Only occasional limitations may 

be needed for health reasons or 

certain situations. 

Active involvement of 

patients and families in their 

healthcare helps improve the 

safety and overall quality of 

care, according to the American 

Association of Critical Care 

Nurses. This is especially 

true in intensive care units, 

where patients often have 

breathing tubes inserted and 

North Shore-LIJ Nursing Homes Among 

Best, says US News & World Report 

By Betty Olt 

The Stern Family Center for Rehabilitation in Manhasset and the Orzac Center for Rehabilitation in Valley Stream recently 

earned the top five-star overall quality ranking in US News & World Report’s 2012 Best Nursing Homes report. The report also 

recognized four health system affiliates: A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility in Uniondale; Amsterdam Nursing Home in 

Manhattan; Queens Boulevard Extended Care Facility in Woodside; and Fairview Nursing Care Center in Forest Hills. 

US News’ Best Nursing Homes recognizes top-rated facilities in all 50 states and offers important guidance to families 

and healthcare providers caring for people who need a nursing home. 

The publication’s evaluation is based on data from Nursing Home Compare, the US Centers for Medicare and 

Medicaid Services’ consumer Web site. The government agency sets and enforces standards for nursing homes (defined 

as facilities or portions of facilities enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid that provide 24-hour nursing care and other 

medical services). Facilities earn an overall rating of one to five stars, as well as up to five stars in health inspections, 

nurse staffing and quality of care. 

Of more than 15,500 nursing homes rated and profiled on the US News Web site, North Shore-LIJ’s Stern and Orzac 

centers and its four affiliate nursing homes were among the fewer than one in eight that received a five-star overall quality 

rating in all four quarters of 2011. View Best Nursing Homes 2012 at USNews.com/nursinghomes. 

According to US News, more than three million Americans will spend part of this year in a nursing home. “Nursing 

homes in New York and across the country vary in quality of care and the healthcare services they provide to residents,” said 

Maureen McClusky, executive director of the Stern and Orzac facilities. “Earning US News’ five-star quality ranking for our 

facilities is a top honor, thanks to the dedication of our clinical teams and our entire staff. The report also gives concrete 

quality measures consumers can access online to help them select the best nursing home.” 


can’t speak for themselves. 

The association also pointed 

out that unrestricted visitation 

of a support person or 

family member can improve 

communication and help 

convey a better understanding 

of the patient. 

“The health system has 

created an environment where 

the patient’s voice is heard 

and where we value the 

benefit and support of family 

members and others involved 

in their loved ones’ care,” said 

Elaine Smith, EdD, RN, vice 

president for nursing education 

at North Shore-LIJ and co- 

chair of the newly formed 

Patient Rights Task Force. 

The task force focuses on 

reviewing and establishing a 

safe, open visitation process 

that protects all patients’ 

privacy. James Romagnoli, the 

health system’s vice president 

Family-Friendly Visitation 

Puts Patients First 

By Betty Olt 

of protective services, also cochairs 

the interprofessional 

task force, which combines 

the expertise of nurses, 

physicians, information 

technology specialists, 

attorneys, staff educators, 

health literacy professionals, 

hospital executive directors, 

clinical excellence and quality 

staff and security personnel. 

The visitation policy allows 

patients to designate a support 

person to carry out their wishes 

about who can visit and manage 

the flow of visitors to the 

hospital room. Children who 

are supervised by an adult are 

welcome to visit. 

Piloted at North Shore 

University Hospital (NSUH), 

the policy puts structure around 

visitation and supports families, 

patients and staff, according 

to task force member Joanne 

Bentson, RN, DNP, associate 

executive director at NSUH. 

“We know that having family 

members or significant others at 

the bedside is in the best interest 

of patients and promotes 

healing,” said Dr. Bentson. 

“Our policy puts patients first, 

while ensuring simple guidelines 

for safe, respectful visitation for 

all patients.” 

Going 

Abroad? 

Protect your health when you 

travel overseas. Contact the North 

Shore-LI J Travel Immunization 

Center before your getaway. Call 

(516) 562-4280 to learn more. 

Thinkstock/Stockbyte

It’s three diamonds 

down, only two to go for Long 

Island Jewish Medical Center’s 

Satellite Dialysis Facility in 

Queens Village, led by John D. 

Wagner, MD, medical director. 

Yolanda A. Malone, RN, 

nurse manager, was recently 

informed by the New York 

State ESRD (End Stage Renal 

Disease) Network that the 

facility had taken the measures 

necessary to achieve the third 

diamond in the 5-Diamond 

Patient Safety Program and will 

be recognized in the network 

newsletter. Sponsored by 

the CMS-contracted Quality 

Improvement Organization, 

a subsidiary of IPRO, the 

program is dedicated to assisting 

dialysis facilities in improving 

both staff and patient awareness 

of specific patient safety areas, 

promoting patient safety values 

and building a culture of patient 

safety in every dialysis facility. 

“The first module 

we completed was Patient 

LIJ Dialysis Facility Achieves 

Third Diamond in ESRD Program 

Safety Principles,” said Ms. 

Malone. “This mandatory 

module, representing the 

first diamond, teaches basic 

concepts of patient safety 

and the appropriate steps to 

prevent errors. The second 

module was Medication 

Reconciliation; it stresses 

the importance to both 

patients and staff of avoiding 

medication errors. Third 

was Hand Hygiene. Next is 

Slips, Trips and Falls, and the 

module we will tackle last will 

be Emergency Preparation.” 

Following in the footsteps 

of the Queens Village facility 

is the pediatric chronic 

dialysis unit, located within 

the inpatient unit at LIJ, 

where Ms. Malone is also 

nurse manager; they hope 

soon to achieve their first 

diamond. Joanne Seylar, RN, 

Marlyn Batan, RN, and the 

entire nursing leadership join 

together in commending the 

staffs of both facilities for 

their enthusiastic participation 

in the program, undergoing 

training and bringing the 

lessons learned down to the 

patient level. 

“We have a great team,” 

said Ms. Malone. “Everyone 

pitched in and helped, from 

leadership, especially Dr. 

Wagner, our educator, Nicole 

Lemoine, RN, on down. With 

that level of multidisciplinary 

collaboration, by the end of 

2012, we expect that both units 

will be 5-Diamond facilities.” 

“The 5-Diamond 

program formally measures 

and acknowledges our facility’s 

efforts in the areas cited, but 

our performance improvement 

program has always focused on 

these areas,” said Dr. Wagner. 

“Participating in the program 

confirms that we are on the 

right track, and it also applauds 

our achievements. I could 

not be prouder of the highly 

talented team of nurses, patient 

care technicians, dietitians, 

social workers and support 

staff who took the initiative to 

engage in this program.” 

Above: Shown in the pediatric 

chronic dialysis unit with a young 

patient are Yolanda Malone, RN, 

left, and Vera Benn, RN. 


LAKE SUCCESS — There 

was a surprise visitor this 

spring when North Shore- 

LIJ Laboratories hosted a 

reception to celebrate the 

10th anniversary of the DNA 

Learning Center West: none 

other than Nobel Laureate 

James Watson, PhD. 

The DNA Learning 

Center, a joint collaboration 

of North Shore-LIJ and Cold 

Spring Harbor Laboratory 

(CSHL), has provided 

education in genetics to more 

than 30,000 middle and high 

school students from across 

Long Island, New York City 

and the entire tri-state area 

since opening in June 2002. 

Within the 2,200-squarefoot 

education center, located 

adjacent to North Shore-LIJ 

Laboratories’ headquarters 

at 10 Nevada Drive in Lake 

Success, are a genetic/ 

biochemistry lab, a prep lab, 

a lunchroom and an office. 

North Shore-LIJ Laboratories 


Nobel Laureate Helps 

DNA Learning Center West 

Celebrate 10th Anniversary 

underwrites the $250,000 

annual cost of the leased space. 

“For many of these 

students, the experience 

they’ve gained at the DNA 

Learning Center West has 

opened their eyes to careers 

in medicine, science and 

other healthcare fields,” 

said Robert Stallone, vice 

president of North Shore-LIJ 

Laboratories. He said some 

former students now work as 

medical technologists and in 

other related jobs at North 

Shore-LIJ Laboratories, a 

fully automated, 60,000- 

square-foot facility that 

offers a range of specialty 

lab testing to physician 

practices, hospitals, nursing 

homes and the biomedical 

industry. The lab’s business 

has doubled in the past four 

years, underscoring the career 

opportunities available for 

young people in this field. 

The three-to-fourhour 

daily tours of the DNA 

Learning Center West and 


are so popular that schools must 

book a year in advance, said 

center instructor Tedi Setton. 

In addition to the school tours, 

the DNA Learning Center hosts 

about 300 students during 

its annual summer program. 

Curriculum is developed and 

taught by CSHL staff. 

Among the highlights 

of the center’s curriculum, 

students are able to view their 

own DNA, utilizing the center’s 

fingerprinting and human 

mitochondrial sequencing 

labs. The center’s interactive 

approach links the process 

of discovery to learning, said 

James Crawford, MD, North 

Shore-LIJ’s chair of pathology. 

“Every time I come by the Lab, 

I’m looking for those bright 

eyes of students and they’re 

here five days a week, yearround,” 

said Dr. Crawford. 

To learn more about the 

DNA Learning Center West, 

go to: www.dnalc.org/about/ 

locations/aboutdnalcwest.html 

Among those celebrating the DNA 

Learning Center West’s 10th 

anniversary were, from left: Robert 

Stallone, vice president of North 

Shore-LIJ Laboratories; Dr. James 

Watson, chancellor emeritus at 

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 

(CSHL); David Micklos, founder 

and executive director of the DNA 

Learning Center; and Dr. James 

Crawford, North Shore-LIJ’s chair 

of pathology.

MANHASSET — North 

Shore University Hospital has 

been designated an Academic 

Center of Excellence for 

minimally invasive surgery 

in gynecologic oncology and 

gynecology by the American 

Institute of Minimally Invasive 

Surgery (AIMIS), joining LIJ 

Medical Center as one of only 

28 Centers of Excellence in 

the country to achieve this 

designation and only one of 

four centers in New York State. 

“This prestigious 

accreditation from AIMIS 

shows that we have a deep 

commitment to providing only 

the highest quality of care to 

all our female patients with 

state-of-the-art, minimally 

invasive and robotic surgical 

gynecologic expertise,” said 

Susan Somerville, executive 

director of the hospital. “This 

is an occasion to take pride 

in our work and to rededicate 

ourselves to continue at this 

same high level in the future.” 

AIMIS is the nation’s 

preeminent educator of 

advanced surgical techniques 

for women’s health specialists 

and recognizes hospitals and 

clinics that excel and provide 

leadership in leading-edge 

surgical techniques. A hospital 

or surgical center can be 

recognized as a Center of 

Excellence once it has combined 

efforts with an accredited 

AIMIS surgeon and meets 

AIMIS standards. Recognized 

institutions have made 

minimally invasive surgery a 

priority, which helps minimize 

recovery times and provide 

better patient outcomes. 

“We have always taken 

great pride in our ability to 

North Shore Recognized for 

Gynecological Surgery Expertise 

provide our patients with the 

latest that technology offers 

in a safe, caring, professional 

environment,” said Michael 

Nimaroff, MD, vice chair and 

chief of gynecology at North 

Shore University Hospital. “We 

are fully committed to offering 

our patients the full range 

of minimally invasive and 

robotic surgical options that 

successfully treat a wide range 

of both benign conditions and 

gynecological cancers.” 

North Shore University 

Hospital’s Division of 

Gynecology performed more 

gynecologic surgery procedures 

than any other hospital in 

New York State — a total 

of 3,935 cases in 2011. “It 

is because of our team of 

highly trained gynecologists, 

urogynecologists, reproductive 

surgeons and gynecological 

oncologists that we have 

established a proven track 

record of positive surgical 

outcomes for women. We 

thank AIMIS for recognizing 


Hospital with this highly 

sought-after accreditation,” 

said Dr. Nimaroff. 

Minimally invasive 

surgery, whether laparoscopic 

or robotically assisted, is 

advancing healthcare for 

women by providing doctors 

new tools to accomplish the 

same goals as they would with 

traditional open surgery. 

Most patients undergoing 

minimally invasive procedures 

experience less pain and blood 

loss, decreased scarring, fewer 

complications, faster recovery 

and a decreased length of 

hospital stay. 

AIMIS teaches and 

supports minimally 

invasive gynecological and 

urogynecological surgical 

methods while improving 

patient outcomes through 

advanced surgical techniques. 

The organization brings 

together hospitals, surgeons, 

clinics, medical technology 

companies, the insurance 

industry and patients by 

providing a platform to deliver 

advanced surgical procedures 

that improve healthcare for 

women of all ages. 

Above: North Shore University 

Hospital’s minimally invasive and 

robotic surgery team, pictured 

from left: Kelly Cifu, RN, associate 

executive director, peri-op services 

at NSUH; Chris Ciampa, quality 

management; Pat Moleski, RN, 

director, peri-op services; Adiel 

Fleischer, MD, North Shore-LIJ’s 

chair of obstetrics and gynecology; 

Emily Kao, RPh, associate executive 

director, NSUH; Robert Barnett, 

MD, AIMIS representative; Michael 

Nimaroff, MD, vice chair of 

obstetrics and gynecology and chief 

of gynecology at NSUH; Cindy 

Girdusky, RN, nurse manager, periop 

services; and Andrea Restifo, RN, 

associate executive director, quality 

management. 


Ambulance Tracking Tool 

Launched at LIJ 

By Betty Olt 

NEW HYDE PARK — North 

Shore-LIJ’s Center for 

Emergency Medical Services 

(CEMS) has installed a new 

wireless tracking system to 

better predict ambulance 

arrivals and collect critical 

health data in real time before 

patients arrive at the Emergency 

Department (ED). The new 

technology was recently rolled 

out at LIJ, the first hospital on 

Long Island and Queens to use 

the software. 

Responding to 911 calls, 

paramedics and emergency 

medical technicians (EMTs) 

begin their assessment 

and gather critical patient 

information. Using a laptop 

computer, emergency medical 

workers transmit patients’ 

age, gender, vital signs and 

brief comments about their 

condition — for example, 

“dizziness, seizure, fainting.” 

Information is displayed on a 

40-inch monitor on the wall 

facing the entrance of LIJ’s 

ambulance bay (names are 

not used to protect patient 

privacy). Triage nurses or 

physicians can get a quick visual 

picture about the number of 

ambulances en route to the 


hospital and the severity of 

patients’ conditions, which 

allow staff to better prepare 

for patients and manage care. 

Physicians and nurses can also 

access patient information on 

computers in the ED. 

“The ED is an 

unpredictable place,” said 

Salvatore Pardo, MD, 

associate chairman of 

emergency medicine at LIJ. 

“The technology is a great 

tool because it gives the ED 

team information at a glance 

to better plan for incoming 

patients.” From several yards 

away staff can see incoming 

cases blinking on the monitor, 

with trauma cases in black 

or cardiac arrests in orange, 

for example. Previously, Dr. 

Pardo said the ED would get 

a phone call from emergency 

medical staff in the ambulance 

and it was nearly impossible 

to capture all details of a 

patient’s condition. (EMTs 

will likely still call ahead to the 

ED to alert staff to heart attack 

or major trauma patients.) 

“The tracking system 

eliminates paperwork and 

gets patients registered before 

they arrive, making treatment 

and the entire process more 

effective,” he added. 

The new tracking system, 

known as XChangER, was 

developed by the Duluth, 

MN-based company Sansio. 

Currently, North Shore-LIJ 

EMS and the SeniorCare EMS 

are using the system at LIJ. 

CEMS, the largest hospitalbased 

ambulance service in 

the New York metropolitan 

area and one of the largest 

in the country, plans to 

introduce the technology at 

other health system hospitals 

in the coming months. 

“The tracking technology 

provides a continuum of 

care for patients, integrating 

information taken at the 

emergency site and in the 

ambulance prior to arrival at 

the hospital for treatment,” 

said Alan Schwalberg, CEMS 

vice president. “Combining 

the technology of electronic 

medical records and this new 

tracking software, we are 

providing accurate, up-to-the 

minute health information 

about patients so ED staff can 

prepare and coordinate the 

best possible medical care.” 

In the past year, LIJ’s 

ED saw a 36 percent increase 

in patient visits, partially 

attributable to recent hospital 

closures in Queens, according 

to Patricia Farrell, RN, senior 

administrative director of 

patient care services at LIJ. 

Each month, LIJ’s ED receives 

about 1,400 ambulances 

via 911 calls; it receives

approximately 80,000 patient 

visits annually. 

“We know that seconds 

count in a 911 call for a 

medical emergency,” said Ms. 

Farrell. “The tracking system 

jump-starts care and we are 

able to triage patients before 

they come through the door.” 

Ms. Farrell explained that 

the pre-hospital electronic 

records technology also helps 

the ED staff to better manage 

incoming ambulance traffic. 

Through CEMS, they have the 

ability to divert an ambulance 

to a nearby hospital, if 

necessary, improving 

“hospital throughput.” 

“If we see an increased 

volume of patients in the ED 

and we know their condition, 

we can notify the operating 

room or other hospital 

departments, for example,of a 

need for more beds,” she said. 

“This way, we have a game plan 

that not only enhances patient 

care and service, but makes the 

workflow more efficient.” 

Above: LIJ’s new tracking software 

gives emergency medicine staff a 

snapshot of incoming ambulances 

and patients, which optimizes care. 

ER nurse Debbie Sutton-Williams, 

RN, left, discusses a patient’s case 

with North Shore-LIJ paramedics. 


Make a Gift Now 

and Receive 

Payments 

for Life! 

It sounds too good to be true! 

Make a gift and gain an income 

stream for life. 

You can do just that — support 

yourself, and then support North 

Shore-LIJ. A charitable gift annuity 

enables you (or you and a spouse) 

to make a gift of $10,000+ and gain 

a fixed income stream for your life. 

Any remaining amount will be used 

by North Shore-LIJ to fulfill our mission 

of caring for our community. 

Here are some representative 

one-life rates: 

ONE LIFE 

Age Rate 

60 4.9% 

65 5.2% 

70 5.6% 

75 6.3% 

80 7.3% 

85 8.3% 

Example: Anna, age 78, donates 

$10,000. She would receive $690/ 

year ($566 tax-free for 10.5 years) 

and may be eligible to claim a $4,052 

income tax deduction. 

For more information and 

a no-obligation personalized 

illustration of benefits, contact 

Alexandra Brovey, senior director of 

gift planning, at (516) 465-2610 or 

abrovey@nshs.edu. 

Rates are subject to change. Please 

contact us to discuss your rate, tax-free 

income and charitable deduction. 


North Shore-LIJ Integration Garners Praise 

GREAT NECK — The North Shore-LIJ Health System continues to rank among the top 100 integrated healthcare networks 

(IHNs) in the US, according to IMS Health. North Shore-LIJ ranked 31st out of 100 IHNs. A provider of information services 

to the healthcare field, IMS Health rates each network’s performance and degree of integration. 

Rankings are determined by coming up with a system’s total score based on measurements of 33 attributes in 

weighted performance categories. Specifically, networks are rated on: 

w Hospital utilization: use of medical services, procedures and facilities (includes data on measures such as 

length of stay, tests and procedures, discharges, etc.). 

w Financial stability: network operating and profit margins, long-term debt-to-capitalization ratio and 

financial results. 

w Physician participation: the size and scope of physicians in the network. 

w Services and access: the availability of specific services, network size and hospital accreditation. 

w Contractual capabilities: the ability to manage costs in the purchasing and managed care markets. 

w Outpatient utilization: patient care, continuum of care and effects of diversification. 

w Integration: coordination of administrative and clinical functions and procedures throughout the network. 

w Integrated technology: integration of the network’s technical systems, including the level of seamless 

communication and information systems. 

Last year, North Shore-LIJ ranked 34th among the top 100 IHNs. The improved score reflects collaborative efforts 

throughout the health system to work effectively and efficiently. 

“Every Woman Matters” 5k Walk Attracts 5,000+ 


System’s third annual Every Woman 

Matters Walk: A Walk for Women and 

Their Families at Jones Beach State 

Park brought together families, friends 

and the whole community to celebrate 

women’s health and wellness, and 

support an initiative that promises 

to transform women’s healthcare 

throughout the region: North Shore- 

LIJ’s Katz Institute for Women’s Health 

and Katz Women’s Hospitals. 

Highlights of the day included 

demonstrations of the da Vinci robot, 

the state-of-the-art instrument that 

allows surgeons to remotely perform 

minimally invasive surgeries, an 

early-morning yoga class, the Katz 

Institute of Women’s Health showcase 

tent and many giveaways from 

event sponsors. Many participants 

registered online, enticed by the 

incentive of receiving two tickets to 

an upcoming New York Mets game, 

donated by Saul Katz, president of the 

Mets and long-time North Shore-LIJ 

trustee and former chairman. 

Since the inception of the 5k 

walk in 2010, more than $1.5 million 

has been raised to support the Katz 

Women’s Hospitals. 

Above: The Third Every Woman 

Matters Walk

Mets Present “Every Woman Matters” 

Award to Dr. Michael Nimaroff 

Michael Nimaroff, MD, vice chair and chief of gynecology at the North Shore 

University Hospital (NSUH) Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, was 

presented with the “Every Woman Matters” Award this spring at the New York 

Mets’ Welcome Home Dinner. The award is presented annually to an individual 

associated with North Shore-LIJ’s Katz Institute for Women’s Health and 

the Katz Women’s Hospitals who exemplifies outstanding care, compassion 

and achievement in the care of women. Dr. Nimaroff has been a pioneer in 

introducing minimally invasive surgical techniques, including robotic and 

single-incision procedures designed to help women return to their normal lives 

as quickly as possible. He dedicates much of his time to training practitioners 

in the latest gynecologic surgical techniques. He established NSUH’s Minimally 

Invasive and Robotic Gynecologic Fellowship program in 2009. From left are: 

ob/gyn Daniel Kuo , MD; North Shore-LIJ Trustee and Mets President Saul B. 

Katz; Adiel Fleischer, MD, North Shore-LIJ’s chair of ob/gyn; Neeta Shah, MD, the 

health system’s vice president of women’s health; NSUH medical director Vicki 

LoPachin, MD; Dr. Nimaroff; and ob/gyns Helen Greco, MD, and Allen Toles, MD. 

MANHASSET — A US Food 

and Drug Administrationapproved 

revascularization 

device is now available to 


Hospital patients suffering 

from acute ischemic stroke. 

Jeffrey Katz, MD, chief 

of vascular neurology and 

director of the NSUH Stroke 

Center, recently used the 

Solitaire Flow Restoration 

(FR) device in 47-year-old 

Richard Hasselberger from 

Manhasset, who presented 

with a spontaneous carotid 

dissection and ischemic stroke. 

“The Solitaire device is 

relatively easy to use compared 

to the older technology we 

have been accustomed to and 

has the potential to open 

blood vessels more rapidly 

than previous devices,” said 

Dr. Katz. “This is important 

because ‘time is brain’ when 

SIUH Receives 

Cancer Care Award 

The Commission on Cancer (CoC) of the American 

College of Surgeons has granted an Outstanding Achievement 

Award (OAA) to Staten Island University Hospital. This 

puts the hospital in the distinguished company of 106 cancer 

programs nationwide being recognized for striving for excellence 

in providing quality care to cancer patients. The facilities so 

honored demonstrate a Commendation level of compliance 

in six areas of cancer program activity: cancer committee 

leadership, cancer data management, clinical management, 

research, community outreach and quality improvement. 

“As the primary deliverer of cancer care in our community, 

we are happy to service our patients. None of the staff seeks 

out praise for what they do, but it is always nice to be singled 

out by a national organization as a center of excellence,” said 

Dr. Frank Forte, program director of oncology/hematology/ 

palliative care at SIUH. “Thank you to the entire professional, 

administrative and support staff for a job well done.” 

Established in 1922 by the American College of Surgeons, 

the Commission on Cancer is a consortium of professional 

organizations dedicated to improving patient outcomes and 

quality of life for cancer patients through standard-setting, 

prevention, research, education and the monitoring of 

comprehensive quality care. 

NSUH Stroke Center Offers New Treatment 

treating stroke patients. In the 

randomized trial comparing 

the new Solitaire device to the 

Merci retriever, patients treated 

with Solitaire had excellent 

clinical outcomes, which is what 

we have seen in the first two 

patients we treated.” 

The Solitaire FR is a selfexpanding, 

columnar metal 

cage device combining the 

ability to restore blood flow to 

the brain, administer medical 

therapy and retrieve the blood 

clot. Treatment with Solitaire 

allows the interventional 

neurologist to reopen target 

arteries in a much more 

effective and efficient way, 

resulting in less symptomatic 

intracranial hemorrhage and 

better neurologic outcomes by 

three months after the stroke. 


To help facilitate the 

commercialization 

of discoveries at The 

Feinstein Institute 

for Medical Research and 

pursue other opportunities 

across the the health system, 

North Shore-LIJ entered into 

an alliance this spring with the 

world-renowned Cleveland 

Clinic’s venture arm, Cleveland 

Clinic Innovations. 

“Our scientists are leaders 

in their fields, and we believe 

that the North Shore-LIJ/ 

Cleveland Clinic alliance will 

help us translate discoveries 

made in our labs into 

significant patient benefits,” 

said Kevin Tracey, MD, the 

Feinstein’s president and chief 

executive officer. Considering 

that it typically takes years 

and costs millions of dollars 

to move research advances 

to market, the partnership 

is significant because of 

Cleveland Clinic Innovations’ 

solid track record of advancing 

fledgling research and 

promising clinical discoveries. 

With 55 research 

laboratories organized into 

11 Centers of Excellence, the 

Feinstein has more than 1,500 

employees engaged in basic and 

clinical research, working to 

move discoveries from the lab 

to the bedside. The Feinstein 

already receives about $60 

million annually in research 

grants, including about $45 

million from the National 

Institutes of Health (NIH). 

The Bayh-Dole Act of 

1980 authorizes universities 

and research institutions to 

control and commercialize 

the patent rights arising 

from their research that is 

supported by federal grants. 


Generally, this is accomplished 

by licensing Feinstein patent 

rights, either to outside 

companies or to new ventures 

started by its entrepreneurial 

faculty members, which can 

support the high cost of 

developing and validating new 

clinical products. Since the 

Feinstein’s founding in 1999, 

breakthroughs have led to the 

creation of a dozen startup 

companies and more than 

70 licensing opportunities, 

according to Kirk Manogue, 

PhD, vice president and 

director of the Feinstein’s 

Office of Technology Transfer. 

Below are some of those 

companies and the promising 

technologies they are 

developing for clinical use. 

Established in 1998, 

Angion Biomedica Corp. has 

licensed Feinstein patent rights 

and is developing products 

relating to renal transplant 

and myocardial infarction. 

Since 2005, Angion has 

received more than $40 

million in NIH Small Business 

Innovation Research (SBIR) 

funding. Angion scientists at 

its multidisciplinary research 

and development facility in 

Uniondale are advancing 

several of its products to Phase 

I and Phase 2 clinical trials. 

In 2008, Critical 

Therapeutics, Inc., cofounded 

in 2001 by Dr. 

Tracey, with colleagues 

from the Massachusetts 

General Hospital and the 

University of Pittsburgh, 

merged with Cornerstone 

Biopharma Holdings to create 

Cornerstone Therapeutics, 

Inc. Cornerstone holds 

licensed rights to autoimmune, 

inflammatory disease and 

critical care treatments that 

are based on discoveries made 

in Dr. Tracey’s Laboratory of 

Biomedical Sciences. 

SetPoint Medical, 

another faculty startup, is 

developing an implantable 

neuromodulator under 

license from the Feinstein. 

This computerized vagus 

nerve stimulator is based 

on discoveries made in Dr. 

Tracey’s laboratory and is 

presently in Phase 2 clinical 

trials in rheumatoid arthritis. 

Under license from the 

Feinstein and Cornerstone, 

Targacept, Inc. is developing 

a drug that acts through 

neuronal nicotinic receptors 

(NNRs), which are key 

regulators of the nervous 

system, to treat asthma and 

type 2 diabetes. Phase 2 

clinical trials are ongoing. 

The drug is also based on 

discoveries made in Dr. 

Tracey’s laboratory. 

TissueGenesis, Inc., 

founded in 1998 by Daniel 

Grande, PhD, has licensed the 

rights to develop products that 

enhance bone and cartilage 

repair through gene-enhanced 

tissue engineering. These 

orthopedic implants are based 

on research conducted in 

Dr. Grande’s Laboratory of 

Orthopedic Research. 

Cleveland Clinic Alliance to 

Enhance Feinstein Institute’s 

Commercial Success 

TheraSource LLC is a 

faculty startup that has licensed 

patent rights to develop novel 

medicines for the treatment of 

sepsis, ischemia/reperfusion 

injury and hemorrhagic 

shock. TheraSource was 

founded by Ping Wang, MD, 

who leads the Laboratory of 

Surgical Research, the source 

of discoveries that are now 

licensed to TheraSource for 

product development. 

T3 Therapeutics is 

under license to develop 

an experimental thyroid 

medication based on 

discoveries made at the 

Feinstein.

Eleven North Shore-LIJ Hospitals 

Recognized for Superior Stroke Care 

The American Heart Association/ 

American Stroke Association’s Get With The 

Guidelines®-Stroke Quality Achievement 

Award has been awarded to 11 North Shore- 

LIJ Health System hospitals, recognizing 

the facilities’ successes in implementing 

excellent care for stroke patients, according 

to evidence-based guidelines. 

To receive the Get With The 

Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus or Gold 

Quality Achievement Award, each hospital 

achieved 24 consecutive months of 85 

percent or higher adherence to all stroke 

performance achievement indicators. These 

measures include aggressive use of medications, 

such as tissue plasminogen activator 

(or tPA, a clot-busting drug); interventions 

to prevent blood clots; administration of 

cholesterol-reducing drugs; and review of 

smoking cessation techniques with patients. 

All the protocols are designed to reduce 

mortality and disability rates, and improve 

the lives of stroke patients. Gold Plus 

indicates hospitals that have met the Gold 

requirements AND have shown adherence 

to several additional quality measures. 

North Shore-LIJ hospitals received 

the following awards: 

Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award 


Franklin Hospital 

Glen Cove Hospital 

Huntington Hospital 

Long Island Jewish Medical Center 



Southside Hospital 

Staten Island University Hospital 


Gold Achievement Award 

Lenox Hill Hospital 

In addition, Forest Hills Hospital and 

Lenox Hill Hospital achieved Target: Stroke 

honor roll status, an additional campaign 

to improve outcomes for ischemic stroke 

patients, indicating the achievement of 

door-to-needle (DTN) times of 60 minutes 

or less in at least 50 percent of stroke cases 

for at least one year. Shorter DTN times 

have been proven to improve outcomes and, 

through Target: Stroke, hospital teams can 

work toward eliminating delays and reducing 

long-term disability in stroke patients. 

“With a stroke, time lost is brain 

lost,” said Richard Libman, MD, chair of 

North Shore-LIJ’s stroke task force and chief 

of vascular neurology at LIJ Medical Center. 

“The Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke 

Quality Achievement Awards demonstrate 

that our highly trained physicians and 

nurses are committed to providing care that 

has been clinically proven to quickly and 

efficiently treat stroke patients and save lives.” 

As New York State-designated stroke centers, 

all 11 hospitals have multidisciplinary stroke 

teams available 24 hours a day to assess and 

treat stroke patients. 

North Shore-LIJ 

Goes to Harvard 

Twenty-four staff from throughout 

the North Shore-LIJ Health System, 

pictured at left, participated in 

the Harvard Project Management 

Program, a specialized training 

program designed for healthcare 

professionals in both clinical and 

operational roles that focuses 

on improving cost, quality and 

delivery through management 

of both people and processes. 

Participants attended the five 

2-day modules over 10 months. 

The program enables participants 

to develop management skills to 

deliver projects on time, within 

budget and to specification. 


MANHASSET — If you’ve 

driven north on Community 

Drive toward North Shore 

University Hospital, as many 


employees have, on your left 

you may have spotted a tiny 

white clapboard church. In the 

crush of fast-moving traffic, you 

may have caught a glimpse of a 

graveyard behind the church. 

Surrounded by modern medical 

facilities, they are clearly relics 

of another time and place. That 

time was the first half of the 

20th century, and the place was 

the vibrant African-American 

community called Spinney 

Hill that once spread over 

several acres of Great Neck and 

Manhasset. 

Dedrick Johnson, 

coordinator of medical 

records at North Shore 

University Hospital, grew 

up in Spinney Hill, or more 

accurately, what remained of 

Spinney Hill, in the seventies 

and eighties. (He still lives 

in the neighborhood, and 

can walk to work.) A sense of 

nostalgia, along with an urge 

to tell the story before it is lost 

in the past, led Mr. Johnson 

and his boyhood friend, 

Lloyd Means, now a software 

engineer with Cablevision, 

to make a documentary about 

Spinney Hill. 

Sunday services are still 

conducted at the Lakeville 

AME Zion Church on 

Community Drive, which 

was founded by freed slaves 

in the 1820s. But the African 

American-owned businesses 

that once lined Northern 

Boulevard are gone. “There 

was a barber shop, a beauty 

salon, a nightclub called 

Gibson’s, Hotel James,” said 

Mr. Johnson. “On what is now 

the golf course, black farmers 

grew asparagus. The hospital 


grounds were all fields, too, of 

potatoes, probably, and corn.” 

Spinney Hill’s settlers 

were part of what is called the 

Great Migration of African- 

Americans, mostly from 

the tobacco fields of South 

Carolina, from about 1910 to 

1930. New York City’s rich 

and famous – the Astors, the 

Vanderbilts – were building 

lavish mansions along Long 

Documentary 

Brings Forgotten 

African-American 

Community to Life 


Island’s Gold Coast, and 

the new residents took jobs 

as cooks, yard men, maids, 

housekeepers, chauffeurs. 

Many became entrepreneurs. 

If they didn’t live on the grand 

estates, their homes were in 

Spinney Hill. In the fifties, 

legendary pro football player 

Jim Brown, who lived on 

Lee Avenue in Spinney Hill, 

graduated from Manhasset 

High School, having earned 17 

letters in a variety of sports. In 

the sixties, Dr. Martin Luther 

King, Jr., visited synagogues in 

Great Neck to raise money for 

the cause of civil rights. 

Mr. Johnson and his friend 

enjoyed what he describes as a 

“Norman Rockwell childhood,” 

building forts in the woods 

and skating on Whitney Pond. 

But the post-war Baby Boom 

and the suburbanization of 

Long Island were eating away 

at Spinney Hill. The final 

blow was an urban renewal 

project in the mid-1980s, with 

medical and office buildings 

replacing most of the original 

establishments. 

For Mssrs. Johnson and 

Means, the work is ongoing. 

They are still collecting 

photographs and interviewing 

former residents about their 

memories — and they are 

making another film. “Two 

men we interviewed for the 

first film, William Singletary 

and Joe Oliphant, who both 

sang at Hotel James, died 

before the film was finished,” 

Mr. Johnson said. “We regret 

that they didn’t live to see it. 

We want the old-timers to 

know that Spinney Hill and 

they are not forgotten.” 

Left: Dedrick Johnson stands outside 

the tiny church, founded in the 

1820s by freed slaves.

Department of Medicine Presents Scherr Awards 

It’s a rite of spring at North Shore University Hospital (NSUH): the presentation 

of awards to interns, residents and fellows who have put forth significant time 

and effort in the pursuit of knowledge. The awards have been presented for 24 

years, but for the last five years they have been named in honor of Lawrence 

Scherr, MD, MACP, NSUH’s former chair of medicine and the North Shore-LIJ 

Health System’s academic dean emeritus and historian. The Lawrence Scherr, 

MD, MACP, Scholarly Activity Awards were presented May 3 at NSUH’s Rust 

Auditorium. From left are: Andrew Yacht, MD, associate dean for general medical 

education at Lenox Hill Hospital; Amgad Makaryus, MD, chair of the Scherr 

Awards Committee and director of echocardiography, cardiac CT and MRI in the 


Performs C-Reactive Protein Tests 

Live on “Dr. Oz Show” 

Eight New York State licensed medical technologists were chosen from 

North Shore-LIJ Laboratories and the Monter Cancer Center Laboratory 

to perform129 fingerstick high-sensitivity CRP tests on members of 

the studio audience. The testing of Dr. Oz himself was executed by 

Rosemary Frederick, manager of point of care testing, pictured here 

with the doctor. North Shore-LIJ Labs’ dedicated, knowledgeable 

and well-prepared team performed a valuable service in terms of 

increasing awareness of this test, not just for the studio audience but 

for the thousands of people watching at home. 

Department of Cardiology; John Makaryus, MD, house staff awardee in the case 

reports category; Robert Sporter, MD, house staff co-awardee in the abstract 

category; Nishtha Sareen, MD, house staff co-awardee in the paper category; 

Sameer Khanjio, MD, house staff co-awardee in the paper category; Saima 

Chaudhry, MD, residency program director and associate chair of graduate 

medical education for the Department of Medicine; Thomas McGinn, MD, chair 

of the Department of Medicine; Elizabeth Forde, residency liaison for the Office 

of Graduate Medical Education; and David Battinelli, MD, North Shore-LIJ’s chief 

academic officer. (The house staff co-awardee in the abstract category, Shalin 

Desai, MD, was unable to be present at the ceremony.) 


Drug “Take Back” 

Collection Hits 

New High 

The fourth drug “Take Back” event, held 

on Saturday, April 28, was the best yet, with 

all participating North Shore-LIJ facilities 

combined collecting 481 pounds of prescription 

drugs. That total represents 9 percent of what 

was collected on Long Island, and 8 percent of 

what was collected in New York City. 

Each year, the rate of prescription drug 

abuse increases in the US, as does the number 

of accidental poisonings and overdoses. Studies 

show that a majority of abused prescription 

drugs are obtained from family and friends, 

including from home medicine cabinets. 

In addition, many Americans do not know 

how to properly dispose of their unused 

medicines, often flushing them down the 

toilet or throwing them away – both potential 

safety and health hazards. The “Take Back” 

initiative, conducted by the North Shore-LIJ 

Health System in partnership with the US 

Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) 

and other government, community, public 

health and law enforcement organizations, 

seeks to prevent increased pill abuse and theft 

by collecting potentially dangerous expired, 

unused and unwanted prescription drugs at 

system hospitals and disposing of them safely. 

“Each time we participate in this event 

our numbers increase, which I think is a 

reflection of all of the work you all do in 

getting the word out, as well as the ongoing 

need in our communities,” said Lisa Burch, 

MPH, system director of community and 

public health. “To illustrate how the initiative 

has grown, in October 2011 we collected 

319 pounds, in April 2011 we collected 305 

pounds and in September 2010 we collected 

239 pounds. Once again, thank you for your 

participation and thank you for helping to 

keep our communities safe.” 

The DEA is already planning another 

“Take Back” event before the end of the year; it 

will be publicized when the date is set. 


COMPLIANCE corner

Spiritual Inspiration 

Among the features of LIJ Medical Center’s 

newly opened Katz Women’s Hospital and 

Zuckerberg Pavilion is the Judy and Fred 

Wilpon Family Foundation Meditation 

Center. Open around-the-clock, the center 

is surrounded on three sides by a reflecting 

pool. Soon after the tower opened, LIJ 

administrators greeted priests, rabbis, 

ministers, an Imam, a nun and other clergy in 

the meditation center, which offers various 

religious services throughout the week. Mr. 

Wilpon and North Shore-LIJ trustee Saul Katz 

are owners of the New York Mets. 


98 Summer 2012

ORIGINS 

photo credit 

The First Miss North Shore Hospital 

In 1950, students in local high schools were invited to participate in a contest to raise money and 

awareness of the need for a community hospital in Manhasset. The young women who entered wore 

nurse’s uniforms (a “bathing beauty” contest was deemed inappropriate) and delivered one-minute 

speeches stating why the hospital should be built. The winner, pictured here, the first Miss North Shore 

Hospital, was 16-year-old Glorian Devereux, a senior at Manhasset High School (where football legend 

Jim Brown was a sophomore). With her is a young and handsome Perry Como, who was from Port 

Washington. He performed at the event, held at Roosevelt Raceway, as did Frank Sinatra (although 

he was from New Jersey). “The prize was an all-expenses-paid trip to Bermuda, with a boyfriend and 

a chaperone,” Mrs. Dorsey (her married name) recalled. “I think I received a set of luggage, too. The 

chaperone was the high school gym teacher, who was only 22 herself, and the three of us rode bikes – 

not motor bikes – all over the island. We had a wonderful time.” 

New TV Star 

at PAANS 

Adrian Ashby, administrative 

support associate with the Physician 

and Ambulatory Network Services 

(PAANS), was selected to compete on 

the Food Network’s Chopped cooking 

competition program. Mr. Ashby, 

whose favorite hobby is cooking and 

baking, stood out because of his 

extensive experience in throughout 

New York City’s competition circuit 

and for doing well during his screen 

test. Look for the program to air by 

the end of the year. 


125 Community Drive 

Great Neck, NY 11021 

100 Summer 2012 

NON PROFIT 

U.S. POSTAGE 

PAID 

NSLIJHS

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