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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.”
The New Standard 69