Author Archives: Michael Hinck

Jamaica Hospital Signs Formal Agreements With Local Cure Violence Groups To Help End Gun Violence In Our Community

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On Monday, June 13th, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center held an important event to address the gun violence epidemic in our community.

On that date, the hospital signed official partnerships with three members of The NYC Crisis Management System – King of Kings, Life Camp, and Rock Safe Streets as part of its commitment to end gun violence in our community. The objective of the landmark agreement is for all involved to work together to prevent violence and assist in protecting the health of patients and community members.

According to the formal collaboration, Jamaica Hospital will designate employees who will support the provision of anti-violence and violence interruption services by responding to referrals of traumas associated with gun violence. These designated employees will also assist in coordinating the visitation of Responders (individuals appointed by Cure Violence groups) with patients and loved ones, with their consent and as authorized by the law.

Responders’ duties include conducting follow-up visits during the inpatient stay with identified hospital patients, upon a determination by Jamaica Hospital that the patient is stable. Responders will provide supportive services such as mediation, conflict resolution, and service referrals to assist in the prevention of re-injury to these patients or to prevent retaliation connected to gun violence incidents.

Participating in the event were many local elected officials including Congressman Gregory Meeks, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Senator Leroy Comrie, and Chief Kevin Williams, NYPD Patrol Borough Queens South. Each official praised both Jamaica Hospital and the three members of The NYC Crisis Management System for working together to help end the gun violence crisis.

In addition, Dr. Katherine McKenzie addressed the audience to share information about Jamaica Hospital’s existing Violence Elimination and Trauma Outreach (VETO) program, which aimed to provide support for victims of gun violence as well as the hospital’s plans to create a dedicated center where gun violence victims can have all their clinical and social needs met as part of our Trauma Healing & Recovery Integrative Violence Elimination (THRIVE) Survivor Center.

After the presentation, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center President & CEO, Bruce Flanz signed formal Memos of Understanding to officially mark the occasion.

The event received significant media attention. To see the press clips, please click on the links below:

Flushing Hospital Shares Information About BRAAVR Program

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Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a significant increase in the number of verbal and physical acts of violence against members of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. According to a recent NYPD report, there were 131 hate crimes targeting Asians in New York in 2021 as compared to only 28 in 2020 and only one in 2019.

This dramatic rise in racist attacks prompted the wellness team at Flushing Hospital Medical Center to create the BRAAVR (Building Resilience Against Anti-Asian Violence & Racism) program.  This community wellness program was designed to help people who have been impacted, either directly or indirectly, by anti-Asian racism, receive counseling and support from culturally competent, multi-lingual mental health professionals. The program is available to all, regardless of their ability to pay. Services are provided in-person, through the mobile crisis intervention program, or virtually through the telehealth program.

On Monday, May 23rd, in recognition of Asian American Heritage Month, Flushing Hospital held a press conference to officially launch the BRAAVR program and invited Congresswoman Grace Meng to join them for the announcement. The Congresswoman has been a strong advocate for addressing anti-Asian hate and mental health awareness in the Asian community. Among Congresswoman Meng’s many accomplishments to combat anti-Asian hate was the enactment of her COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act. The bill was overwhelmingly passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives and signed into law by President Biden in May of 2021.

During her remarks, Congresswoman Meng pledged her continued support for Flushing Hospital and thanked the wellness team, led by Dr. Daniel Chen, Chairman of Psychiatry. After the program, Congresswoman Meng was given a tour of Flushing Hospital and was very impressed with all the modernization projects taking place, including the New Beginnings Mother-Baby Unit.

The event was well covered by multiple Asian media outlets including The Korean Channel, Sino Vision, and NTDTV.  In addition, New York 1 News covered the BRAAVR program in their “Around the Boroughs” segment. To see the clip, click the following:

Congratulations to the wellness team on their efforts to provide this important service to our community.

Jamaica Hospital Shares Information With The Public During Baby Formula Shortage

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The national baby formula shortage has forced mothers and families of infants to inquire about other ways to feed their babies. One such option is receiving breast milk from local trusted milk banks.

Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, which operates the only milk depot in Queens, was asked to discuss this topic with the media in an effort to provide important information about how women can donate (and potentially receive donor breast milk) and provide safety tips on substitute feeding methods. Ivis Penalver, a certified lactation consultant and Assistant Director of WIC conducted two separate interviews, one with Spanish broadcast television station Univision and the other with WPIX 11 news.

The first and most important point Ivis wanted to convey was the difference between a milk bank and a milk depot.  Milk banks can collect, process, and redistribute breast milk to hospitals and individuals, while milk depots, like the one at Jamaica Hospital, work with milk banks as a location where breast milk can be collected and stored, but cannot process and distribute.

In addition, Ivis advised mothers not to dilute baby formula, avoid substituting it with other types of formula without checking with their doctor, and refrain from accepting donor breast milk from anywhere but a milk bank as these practices can be dangerous for babies.

Lastly, Ivis shared information about the increase in milk donations from women in the community. One such woman explained in her interview with WPIX how her desire to help those in need inspired her to become a donor.

To see the full WPIX interview, click below:

Jamaica Hospital and Flushing Hospital “MedTalk” Podcasts Now Available For All

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Podcasts have become an increasingly popular medium to distribute information about a variety of topics. Millions of people listen to them to learn about many things including politics, entertainment, sports, and health. For this reason, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center recently began producing and distributing podcasts to help our community learn how to better manage their health as well as how our hospitals can provide valuable services to assist them.

The first podcasts, which are named Jamaica Hospital MedTalk and Flushing Hospital MedTalk began production earlier this year. Each episode is approximately 15-minutes-long and features providers from various medical specialties discussing a wide range of topics. 

The podcasts can be found on multiple podcast platforms including Apple, Google, iHeart Radio, Spotify, and Stitcher and others.  In addition, those interested can listen to or download the podcasts on each of the hospitals’ websites. Episodes are also being shared on our social media platforms, including Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

The MediSys Health Network is dedicated to providing important information about health and wellness to our community. We are excited to utilize our podcasts as a new way to engage everyone.

To listen to any of the Jamaica Hospital podcasts, please click the link below:

https://jamaicahospital.org/podcast/

To listen to any of the Flushing Hospital podcasts, please click the link below:

https://flushinghospital.org/podcast/

Jamaica Hospital Cuts The Ribbon To New Orthopedic Surgery Center

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Jamaica Hospital Medical Center cut the ribbon for its new Orthopedic Surgical Center not once, but twice on Thursday, November 11th.

Due to COVID sensitivities, festivities for the new orthopedic surgery center, located on the ground floor of the hospital’s Axel Building, were broken down into two separate events to allow for a maximum number of participants.

Those in attendance listened as Jamaica Hospital CEO, Bruce Flanz congratulated current and past Chairmen, doctors Sanjit Konda and Nader Paksima for their dedication to building one of the premier orthopedic surgical programs in the area and remarked on how proud he is to finally fulfill a promise made 23 years ago to build an ultra-modern facility to match the world-class care offered by our orthopedic surgeons.

Mr. Flanz went on to thank Jamaica Hospital’s Engineering team, who did an amazing job in completing the construction of the center using entirely in-house talent. Dr. Konda and Dr. Paksima echoed their appreciation of not only our Engineering Department but also hospital administration, finance and supply chain departments, as well as the many others who helped make their dream of building this center a reality.

After the speeches were over and the ribbon was cut, guests had an opportunity to tour the 4,800 square-foot facility, which features eight exam rooms, two procedure rooms, a cast room, and a state-of-the-art imaging room which will allow our orthopedic surgery team to provide on-site treatment for adult and pediatric patients seeking care for hip and knee replacements, sports-related injuries, upper extremity injuries, fractures, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome and arthritis, just to name a few. 

The new orthopedic surgery center is scheduled to officially open to patients in the very near future.

To see a montage of remarks from both ceremonies, click here:

MediSys Health Network Employees Organize Relief Efforts to Help Those in India

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Jamaica Hospital and Flushing Hospital Medical Center were located at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic last March and April. During that time, our hospitals were fortunate enough to receive support from multiple individuals and organizations.

Thankfully, positivity rates are declining in our area, but in other parts of the world people are still contracting the virus at alarming rates. One such country is India where hundreds of thousands of people are becoming infected and thousands are dying daily. Many are in desperate need of assistance.

Through two separate initiatives, employees within the MediSys Health Network answered the call to help by coordinating the delivery of much needed equipment to help those most in need.

One such effort was coordinated by Dr. Abhujeet Kaur, who works in Jamaica Hospital’s Emergency Department. Dr. Kaur also volunteers for Khalsa Aid, a global humanitarian organization that generously provided Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and meals to our employees while they bravely treating an extremely high volume of COVID patients last year. With the global focus now on India, Dr. Kaur, with the assistance of Ray Fredericks Jr. and his staff were able to coordinate the purchase and shipment of 500 oxygen concentrators, along with the transformers needed to operate them. These vital pieces of equipment were stored in the Network’s warehouse and delivered to JFK International Airport by our employees before safely reaching India earlier this month.

In a separate relief effort, Dr. Dakshayani Guttal, a pediatrician for the MediSys Health Network and a volunteer with the non-profit organization Kannada Koota (KKNY) collaborated with respiratory care leadership at both hospitals to secure five manual ventilators. The life-saving devices arrived in India on May 25th.  Like Khalsa Aid, KKNY also supported the MediSyS Health Network by raising $5,000 to assist our efforts and donated meals to our employees.

We thank all those individuals who give so selflessly of themselves to help those most in need.

Highlighting the Achievements of the Division of Cardiology

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Dr. Aditya Mangla

The MediSys Health Network is focused on providing the highest quality, cost-effective care to our patients. We continually assess the needs of our community and offer new services.  Over the last few years, we have added a group of talented, sub-specialty trained physicians who have made significant advancements in their respective departments.

We would like to introduce some of our new team members and the services they have added to our network. Today we are highlighting the achievements of our Division of Cardiology.

Under the leadership of Dr. Aditya Mangla and Dr. Zoran Lasic, the Network’s cardiology service has maintained a robust, high-quality coronary intervention program throughout the COVID pandemic and is now back to pre-pandemic volume. They have created a comprehensive cardiogenic shock program to diagnose and treat patients who suffered a catastrophic heart attack. This treatment is achieved by quickly reestablishing blood flow to the heart, and, if necessary, inserting support devices to patients who experienced severe shock.

Additionally, the Pulmonary Embolism Response Team (PERT) has been working with the national registry for pulmonary embolisms and over the past two years has further developed their ability to perform pulmonary embolism catheter-based therapy. This is important because pulmonary embolisms have been recognized as significant causes for patient mortality and our ability to quickly and effectively provide this service will save countless lives.

Lastly, the cardiology division is collaborating with the Division of Vascular Surgery to begin an endovascular deep venous thrombosis program as an extension of their existing pulmonary embolism program.

The Cardiology Division has also received many accolades for its high-quality care, including being ranked as one of the “Top 100 Hospitals in the U.S. for Coronary Intervention” by Healthgrades. They also received the Gold Plus award for Heart Failure management and the Bronze award for NSTEMI management from the American Heart Association.

Congratulations to The MediSys Health Network’s Cardiology Division for these many achievements.

 

 

 

MediSys Partners With Queensboro FC, N.Y.C.’s Newest Soccer Club

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The MediSys Health Network has recently been named as the official and exclusive Founding Medical Partner for Queensboro FC (QBFC), New York City’s newest soccer team, which is premiering in the United Soccer League this season. According to the partnership, our orthopedic surgical team, led by Dr. Sanjit Konda, will serve as the medical services provider for the team.

To announce themselves, Queensboro FC held a virtual event to reveal the new team jersey.  Unlike most soccer teams who reserve the front of their jerseys for sponsorship opportunities, Queensboro FC instead donated the front of their jerseys to honor the healthcare heroes of Queens.

The logo features the hybrid of the Queensboro bridge and an EKG across the top with the words “healthcare heroes” encased in a protective shield.  Written around the perimeter of the shield are the Flushing and Jamaica Hospital names, along with the names of the other Queens hospitals that were at the epicenter of the pandemic. Members of the MediSys Health Network took part in the development of the logo.

The official launch of the jersey took place on March 23rd and was accompanied by a “hype video” featuring many Jamaica and Flushing healthcare heroes unveiling the jersey.  To see the full video, click here:

Queensboro FC has also generously agreed to donate 100% of the net proceeds from jersey sales that will benefit the healthcare community which has been essential to the care and well-being of NYC residents throughout the pandemic and beyond. To purchase a jersey, please visit the QBFC Shop

“It is incredibly inspiring to see QBFC, a brand-new player in NYC’s pro sports scene, already working closely with the local community,” says Dr. Sanjit Konda, Chairman of Orthopedic Surgery at Jamaica and Flushing Hospital, “Sports can have a wide variety of healing powers and we are excited to bring this partnership to life with programs that will benefit Queens residents, now and for generations to come.”

 

 

Jamaica Hospital Trauma Service Highlighted By Local Media

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Dr. Katherine McKenzie, Medical Director of the Trauma Program at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center recently shared her experiences over the course of the last year with a reporter at NY 1 News.

During the interview, Dr. McKenzie explained how Jamaica Hospital, like many other hospitals in New York City was confronted by two health crises in 2020.  The first is obviously COVID-19, but the other that had a major impact on Level 1 Trauma Centers such as Jamaica Hospital’s, is the drastic rise in gun violence.

Dr. McKenzie explained how she, and her fellow trauma surgeons were deployed during the height of the pandemic to treat COVID positive patients in Jamaica Hospital’s ICUs, a job that they were able to perform due to their critical care training.  As the first wave subsided and fewer patients were hospitalized due to the virus, the trauma team then refocused their attention to treat an increased amount of patients suffering from penetrating wounds, such as stabbings and gun violence. Since the late spring, the number of trauma patients with such injuries at Jamaica Hospital has nearly doubled.

During the interview, Dr. McKenzie took the reporter on a tour of the Emergency Department’s trauma bay and one of the O.R. suites dedicated to the trauma service.

Thank you to Dr. McKenzie and the entire trauma team for the valuable service they provide to our community.

To see the full segment, click here:

Flushing Hospital Unveils A “New Beginning” For Mothers And Babies

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Flushing Hospital Medical Center is delivering a series of brand new, state-of-the-art in-patient upgrades to benefit women and newborns.

LDR Rendering

The hospital recently unveiled its plans to expand and modernize the entire 5th floor of the hospital, including its Labor Delivery and Recovery (LDR) suites, Mother-Baby Unit, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and newborn nursery to provide the ultimate mother-baby experience.

Flushing Hospital’s project, which has been named “New Beginnings,” will feature an expansion of the hospital’s current LDR suites from eight to 11 and converting the existing triage space from one large semi-private area to four completely private rooms. In addition, the hospital is increasing the number of recovery rooms on the unit from three to five and adding one additional delivery room to accommodate more Cesarean section deliveries.

LDR Rendering

On the Mother-Baby unit, Flushing Hospital will now offer exclusively private rooms to our patients.  Each of the 28 remodeled rooms will feature many amenities including ADA compliant private bathrooms with showers, sleeper beds to accommodate a designated support person overnight visitation, and an electronic information board and bedside tablet for mom.

Flushing Hospital also relocated the newborn nursery to a more convenient location in closer proximity to the Mother-Baby unit and remodeled its neonatal intensive care unit, where premature babies or babies born with complications receive expert care.

The entire floor will also receive an enhanced air circulation system, with all rooms having the ability to provide negative pressure. This is extremely important for patient safety, especially during the COVID pandemic.

The name “New Beginnings” was given to this project not only because it marks a new beginning for Flushing Hospital, but more importantly, it also provides the families in our community an ideal environment to welcome a new addition into their world, which signifies a new beginning for them as well.

“Flushing Hospital Medical Center wanted to create an atmosphere that matches the high-quality care our team has always offered our patients” stated Dr. Hajoon Chun, Chairperson of Ob/Gyn, who added, “The completion of our New Beginnings project will ultimately provide a birthing environment that focuses on comfort and safety and we are excited to offer it to our community.”

Flushing Hospital anticipates the first two model rooms to be finished before the end of the year and will work tirelessly until each aspect of the project is completed.