Jamaica Hospital and Flushing Hospital recently jointly celebrated World Breast Feeding Week with several wonderful events promoting breastfeeding in our community. This year’s theme was “Breast Feeding, a Winning Goal-for-Life.”

World Breast Feeding Week is celebrated every year during the first week of August. The goal of this campaign is to promote exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant’s life. This has been shown to yield tremendous health benefits such as providing critical nutrients, better immune responses, and protection from deadly diseases such as pneumonia.

Some of the events that were sponsored by the hospitals were baby showers where mothers were given gift bags with literature on the benefits of breastfeeding. Healthy snacks and drinks were provided and many raffle prizes were won by those in attendance.

Another event that took place during the week was a joint health awareness day held at the YMCA in downtownJamaica. Breastfeeding consultants attended this event and spoke to many of the women who came to the event. Healthy snacks were provided and participants were able to have their blood pressure and BMI checked. 

A Breast Feeding symposium was also held for our staff at which Dr. Virginia Robertson, medical specialist for provider education at the NYC Department of Health.  The topic of Dr. Robertson’s presentation was “The Role of Multidisciplinary Collaborations in Promoting Breast Feeding.”

All of these events were organized by staff from the Women’s Health and the WIC departments at bothJamaicaHospitalandFlushingHospital. The breastfeeding campaign is all throughout the year. The events that we participate in during World Breast Feeding Week show the importance of this initiative and serve to educate women of the benefits to their children and to themselves.

In celebration of National Nurses Week, held from May 6^th to May 12^th, Jamaica and Flushing Hospitals organized a wide variety of events to show their appreciation to their dedicated nursing staff.

At Jamaica Hospital, the week began with an award ceremony to recognize nurses of distinction and continued with a wellness fair and cake and ice cream party. Nurses Beth Palmas , CNM (St. Albans), Darshani Singh, RN, (ER), Ruth Pido (Pediatric ER), and Anna Nicdao (4 North) were awarded. Team awards were also distributed to 6 South (Royal Award), PACU (TeamSTEPPS Award), 3 North and ED (Skin Care Team Award), Maternal Child Services (Quality Improvement Award) and the Stroke Unit (Gold Achievement Award).

There was also a staff appreciation day and a movie night.  The week ended with a cultural diversity luncheon and fashion show, filled with delicious food, music and dancing, and an award ceremony organized by the American Nurses Association.

“Nurses are an integral part of patient care and we are always excited about the opportunity to acknowledge and show our nurses just how much they mean to the health community,” said Salve Torres, Director of Nursing at Jamaica Hospital.

Flushing Hospital held a cultural diversity luncheon as well, where an assortment of delectable dishes was on display.

“Flushing represents one of the most diverse towns in the borough of Queens, and we are very pleased that our nursing staff reflects this diversity,” said Ruben Silvestre, Director of Nursing and Patient Services at Flushing Hospital.  “It was important to organize an event that honored their commitment to our institution, as well as celebrate their diversities.”

To all of our nurses, your work is appreciated and we thank you!!

The Department of Psychiatry and Addiction Services at Jamaica and Flushing Hospital is raising awareness about a potential problem for an increasing number of Americans – internet addiction.

Last year, the Psychiatry Department hosted a symposium and invited leading researchers in the field, who educated the MediSys staff on this growing, yet not officially recognized, condition.

The idea that someone can be addicted to the internet or other electronic mediums, such as gaming consoles or hand-held devices, has not always been fully accepted by everyone in the psychiatric community. In recent years, however, more and more mental health professionals are beginning to see similarities between internet addiction and other addictive activities.

Internet addiction can affect children and adolescents, as well as adults because of how pervasive the technology has become in our everyday lives. According to Dr. Fermin Gonzalez, Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, “we use technology for work and school, and we rely on it to connect with others socially, which makes it hard to avoid.”

Persons addicted to the internet often share the same traits as other addicts, including:
• Prolonged time away from friends and family
• Preoccupation with the internet
• Increased time spent to feel “satisfied”
• Failed attempts to limit internet usage
• Hiding or lying about the amount of time spent on the internet

As Dr. Gonzalez explains, “the dangers of internet addiction don’t pose the same physiological dangers as drug or alcohol addition, but they can affect the individual psychologically. Internet addiction poses similar characteristics to a gambling addiction.”

Dr. Gonzalez shared his thoughts about internet addiction in a recent interview with the Queens Chronicle. To read the full article click here:
http://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/internet-addiction-a-real-growing-problem/article_b4e0caf8-5f08-5008-91fc-53f5165dbffa.html

The Department of Psychiatry recently held its fifth annual child and adolescent psychiatry symposium, which focused on “The Impact of Computer Addiction and Online Social Media on Youth Mental Health.”

The purpose of the seminar was to educate the healthcare community about internet and video addiction among youth and how the prevalence of online social networks affects their mental health. Specifically, participants learned how to identify the symptoms of behavioral addiction to video games and the internet and how to screen for problematic video game play or internet use.

The uses of social media, as well of the risks and benefits of online social media on youth and their families were also discussed. 

“This year’s conference was extremely important to the mental health community,” explained Anthony Maffia, Vice President, Department of Psychiatry, MediSys Health Network. “The prevalence of internet use and social media has not only raised concerns for our youth but for mental health care professionals as well.”

He added, “our hope is that everyone who attended this conference now has a better understanding of computer addiction and received practical clinical tips for promoting safety and healthy development in online spaces.”

Speakers for the event included Dr. Paul Weigle, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Natchaug Hospital and Dr. Nicholas Carson, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School.

In an effort to identify and implement ecological initiatives that have a positive impact on the environment and to create a cleaner and better world for our patients and the community, the MediSys Health Network recently developed “ecoMediSys.”

The ecoMediSys initiative is a multi-faceted, network wide program with several components created to help reduce waste, increase recycling, and conserve energy. Some of the changes Flushing and Jamaica Hospitals have made include:

• The conversion to a paperless electronic medical records (EMR) system throughout the hospital and our ambulatory care centers. This drastically reduces the amount of paper that was previously used in patient charts. The EMR includes ePrescribing of medications and a patient portal to allow for physician/patient information exchange.
• The implementation of a digital radiology system that eliminates the use of chemicals associated with conventional x-rays.
• The elimination of blood pressure machines and thermometers that contain mercury.
• The installation of energy efficient boilers and chillers, and a conversion from oil to gas.
• A transition to energy efficient LED lighting and the implementation of a fluorescent tube and bulb recycling program.

Other ecoMediSys initiatives include the use of more environmentally safe cleaning and building supplies, the replacement of high mpg hospital vehicles, the use of auto-off light switches in hospital offices, the replacement of old PCs with energy star-rated computers, and the implementation of a no-idling program for all hospital vehicles.

In addition to these changes, both facilities have further developed their existing “green” efforts. There has been an increase in the paper, bottle, and can recycling programs and additional shredding and recycling containers have been added throughout the campuses in both offices and patient care areas.

As a major healthcare provider to millions and employer of thousands, Jamaica Hospital understands the impact of these environmental initiatives and embraces its role as a leader in any efforts to improve the well-being of the community we serve.

On Monday, May 20^th, Jamaica and Flushing Hospitals held their 15^th Annual MediSys Golf Classic at the Old Westbury Country Club. The event was attended by 123 golfers and five tennis players.

After a day of golfing and tennis, participants attended a cocktail/dinner reception, where remarks were made by  Bruce J. Flanz, President and CEO of the MediSys Health Network and the event’s honorary chairman, Dr. Cono Grasso, Chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology. Prizes were awarded to the highest scoring players/foursomes and a wide variety of raffles prizes were given away.

The highly anticipated raffle drawings included prizes donated by several departments at Jamaica and Flushing Hospitals. Some of these prizes included a spa gift basket, AMEX gift cards, Hickey Freeman neckties, a “Casino Night” basket, a Lenox giftware basket, Beats by Dre, and much more. The top three prizes included tickets to a Mets vs. Yankees game, an iPad mini, and a Broadway Theater package for two. The grand prize was two Jet Blue tickets and a Sony camera. In total, over $13,300 worth of prizes were donated by employees.

The event raised slightly over $180,000 and will be used to benefit Jamaica Hospital’s Trauma Program and to help finance the renovation of Flushing Hospital’s Cardiac Care Unit.

Administration at both Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center are urging their medical staff to nominate their colleagues for this up-coming year’s edition of Castle Connolly’s Top Doctors Guide.

Voting is now underway for the 2014 edition and leadership at both hospitals believe that we have many excellent physicians that are deserving of this recognition.  Any physician with an NPI number can log on to the Castle Connolly website, www.castleconnolly.com/nominations to vote for their fellow physicians. Doctors can nominate up to 10 colleagues in their specialty. In addition, they can nominate five Family Medicine physicians, Internists, and Pediatricians. They can also vote for a total of three physicians from other specialty groups.

Mailings have gone out to the medical staff at both institutions and the campaign to nominate is being urged at meetings as well.  “We feel it is important that the community is aware of the quality physicians at both Jamaica and Flushing Hospitals,” said William Lynch, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Jamaica Hospital. “The Top Doctors Guide is read by many and considered a resource by both those in the medical community, as well as those in the general public. By having a strong presence in the guide reflects positively on our physicians as well as the hospitals.”

Voting is now underway and will continue through the remainder of the year.

For more information about voting, please contact the Public Affairs Department at 718-206-8739.