Martin Ehrlich, M.D.

Jamaica Hospital Medical Center is proud to announce that our Integrative Health Program has made tremendous strides in recommencing its operations. In order to reintroduce the importance of this field to our community, the upcoming Integrative Health Grand Rounds will focus on the philosophy of integrative health and its scientific basis.

This presentation will be led by Martin Ehrlich, M.D. who recently joined the hospital staff. Dr. Ehrlich is a general internist who practices within the fields of primary care, palliative medicine, and pain management. In addition to his extensive training in these fields, Dr. Ehrlich also possesses profound expertise in the subject of integrative medicine; and this knowledge will help the hospital advance the implementation of its Integrative Health Program.

Integrative Health is a progressive approach to healthcare in which Western scientific medicine is combined with a comprehensive understanding of the nature of illness, healing, and wellness. Rather than relying solely on conventional medicine to manage chronic health conditions, alternative therapies such as acupuncture, massage therapy, yoga, and other complementary treatment options are employed in conjunction with it to address existing chronic conditions, prevent the onset of new illnesses, and promote overall wellness.

The communities Jamaica Hospital serves are incredibly diverse, and each patient treated at our hospital is accompanied by their own unique values, beliefs, and needs. The Integrative Health Program seeks to equip our physicians with ample integrative care strategies to determine what truly matters to our patients, align care plans with each individual’s goals for life and healing; and help our patients derive the most value from the treatment we offer.  Dr. Ehrlich will help providers best apply these strategies in their own practices.

Jamaica Hospital plans include the development of a state-of-the-art Integrative Medicine Center. Dr. Ehrlich’s experience in the field will help the hospital reach this goal, which will ultimately benefit our community.

To learn more about the integrative care approach, please attend Dr. Ehrlich’s hybrid grand rounds presentation, Integrative Health, and Wellness: A New Paradigm on Thursday, July 30 at 8:00 a.m.

The benefits of breastfeeding are numerous. Breast milk contains nutrients that are vital to an infant’s growth and development and protects them against many childhood illnesses.

The MediSys Health Network understands the important role we play in providing breastfeeding education and support to our community. We have many programs and initiatives in place that encourage breastfeeding and skilled staff committed to helping new mothers through the breastfeeding process.

The network’s dedication to promoting breastfeeding was recently highlighted when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the results of their most recent Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) survey.

The mPINC survey is released every two years and is intended to highlight strengths and identify improvement opportunities in hospitals’ infant feeding practices. Over 2,000 hospitals across the United States participated in the most survey which contains many newborn feeding practice sub-categories including rooming-in, feeding education, and discharge support.

Each hospital that participated in the survey received a numeric grade as well as the average national and regional grades of other hospitals and the average grades of similar-sized hospitals, (hospitals with between 2,000 -4,999 births per year).

The average national score for hospitals was a 79, the average regional score (northeast) was an 84, and the average score for similar-sized hospitals was an 83. We are pleased to announce that both MediSys hospitals exceeded each of these rating categories with Jamaica Hospital receiving a total score of 93 and Flushing Hospital earning a score of 96. These scores demonstrate the network’s commitment to providing the highest-quality pre-natal and mother-baby care to families. Congratulations to all who helped us achieve this level of success

In times of crisis, it is common for healthcare workers to feel afraid and anxious. These emotions can become overwhelming and affect mental health. The emotional wellbeing of our employees is very important and it is our goal to provide support during difficult times.

Therefore, the MediSys Health Network’s Department of Mental Health Services has created a Wellness Support group telephone line. This program is staffed by a team of over one dozen wellness- support clinicians.

The Wellness Support group telephone line will allow our experts to monitor and assess the mental health and wellbeing of employees across the network and provide them with useful tips on how to get through this crisis. Employees will also be offered information about individual support services if needed.

The wellness support group line will be in place daily Monday through Friday, from noon to 1:00 p.m. Those interested can call 917-962-0650, and enter conference code 957954. Callers can remain anonymous.

We hope that this service will help our employees to deal with emotions that may develop as a result of the challenges they face each day, and give them strength as they continue to provide high-quality care to our patients.

There are over 5,000 hospitals in the United States, so to be listed as one of the top 250 in the country is quite an accomplishment.

Healthgrades, a leading resource that connects consumers, physicians and health systems, announced its list of America’s 250 Best Hospitals for 2020 and Jamaica Hospital Medical Center was one of only a select few in New York City to be recognized.

This accomplishment places Jamaica Hospital in the top 5% of hospitals in the nation, demonstrating the hospital’s commitment to delivering superior patient care outcomes year after year.

To determine America’s Best Hospital recipients, Healthgrades analyzed the performance of all participating hospitals nationwide. Clinical quality outcomes for 32 conditions and procedures, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, respiratory failure, sepsis and stroke were evaluated over a three year period. Healthgrades recognized only those hospitals that “consistently exhibit exceptional, comprehensive quality care.”

Healthgrades has concluded that hospitals receiving this award provide significantly better care and, the most important measurement of any hospital, superior outcomes to its patients.

In addition to the recognition as one of America’s Best Hospitals, Healthgrades also awarded Jamaica Hospital with the following:

• America’s 100 Best Hospitals For Coronary Intervention Award – 2020
• America’s 100 Best Hospital for Stroke Care Award – 2020
• Neurosciences Excellence Award – 2020, 2019
• Patient Safety Excellence Award – 2018, 2017

“We are honored to be recognized by Healthgrades as one of America’s Best Hospitals. This achievement signifies Jamaica Hospital’s commitment to delivering the highest quality care to our patients,” stated Bruce J. Flanz, President and CEO of Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. “Over the years we have initiated many programs and services that focus on providing patient-centered care to our community, knowing that it would ultimately lead to better patient outcomes.  This acknowledgment by Healthgrades reaffirms that we are on the right path to becoming a high-reliability organization.”

Every month, employees at Jamaica Hospital who go above and beyond to help coworkers, patients and visitors are nominated for the G.E.M award.

G.E.M stands for Going the Extra Mile and recipients are recognized for their hard work, team spirit, kindness, and professionalism.

This month’s G.E.M recipient is Jonathan Rohit- Case Manager

Congratulations Jonathan and thank you for everything that you do to help us serve our community.

Flushing Hospital employees who go above and beyond to ensure the safety of our patients are recognized and awarded a certificate of excellence for their Good Catch.

Good Catch nominees receive recognition based on their actions in preventing accidents from occurring. These actions may include correcting a medication order, preventing a patient from falling or reporting a significant change in a patient’s status.

Please join us in congratulating the following  employees on their  Good Catch:

Kwong Lau -Pharmacist

Qing Li -Physical Therapist

By identifying a problem before it became a patient safety issue, our nominees have helped Flushing Hospital to provide patients with excellent care.

To our Good Catch recipients, thank you for being exemplary members of our team and contributing to our goal of being a High-Reliability Hospital.

The MediSys Health Network is currently monitoring the emergence of the Coronavirus. It is important that our employees are informed about the details of the virus, and are aware of our level of preparedness and safety guidelines.

The Coronavirus is a new and potentially serious virus that originated in Wu Han City, in the Hubei province of China and is closely being monitored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other global health authorities.  The symptoms of the virus most closely resemble Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and include shortness of breath, cough, sputum production, fatigue, body aches and in many (but not all) cases fevers.  Many international airports are currently screening passengers from this region of the world for symptoms. However, because the incubation period for the Coronavirus can be up to 14 days, there is a possibility that infected travelers can pass through without being detected.

Both hospitals in the network are presented with unique challenges. Jamaica Hospital is the closest hospital to JFK International Airport and Flushing Hospital serves one of the most culturally diverse populations in the country, with many of its residents having close ties with the epicenter of the Coronavirus. These challenges place our hospitals in a constant state of readiness.

The safeguards we have put into place to protect everyone include closely monitoring updates and recommendations from the CDC and NYS Department of Health (DOH). We also created a new travel screening tool in Epic specific to 2019 NOVEL CORONAVIRUS. It asks all patients if they are experiencing symptoms consistent with this virus AND have been to Wu Han City within the last 14 days OR have come in contact with a person under investigation (PUI).

The MediSys Health Network’s Emergency Management and Prehospital Care Departments have also been working closely with authorities at JFK and the CDC to identify any potential patients that are brought to Jamaica Hospital from the airport.  In such a scenario, a fever travel notification will be triggered and a plan to safely guide patients into an isolation room will be activated.

In the event that one of our hospitals identifies a patient through the screening process, the following steps should be taken:

• “Mask first, ask questions later” (Provide a patient with a surgical mask)
• Have the patient perform hand hygiene with soap and warm water
• After performing hand hygiene employees should immediately don the following PPE: N95 mask, gloves, isolation gown, face shield or goggles
• “Don’t wait, isolate” – (Escort patient into an Airborne Isolation room. If one is not available, use a private room and obtain a HEPA filter from Engineering and keep the door closed).
• Use standard/contact/airborne precautions
• EVS will maintain the use of routine disinfectant and routine procedures

During this time, visiting may be restricted and all visitors will be required to wear a surgical mask along with isolation gown and be instructed regarding correct donning and doffing and hand hygiene. A visitor and staff log must also be maintained.

The MediSys Health Network has a great deal of experience providing care to potentially contagious patients.  The infection control and safety measures that we have put in place are a reflection of our dedication to providing a safe environment for our patients, visitors, and employees.

Jamaica Hospital employees who go above and beyond to ensure the safety of our patients are recognized and awarded a certificate of excellence for their Good Catch.

Good Catch nominees receive recognition based on their actions in preventing accidents from occurring. These actions may include correcting a medication order, preventing a patient from falling or reporting a significant change in a patient’s status.

Please join us in congratulating the following  employees on their  Good Catch:

Lavona Cassimy LCSW

Esther Desir LPN

Agatha Williams RN

Sita Khemraj  PAR

Jangchup Dolma RN

Dr. Mona Pourramazan

Leydiana Santana RN

Kevin  Gurdial Transporter

Jennifer Walker LCSW

Noel Hamilton  Transporter

Stephanie  Tandrian RN

Cynthia Bodh RT

Dr. Rahul Dadhwal

Prasad Dabbiru RT

By identifying a problem before it became a patient safety issue, our nominees have helped Jamaica Hospital to provide patients with excellent care.

To our Good Catch recipients, thank you for being exemplary members of our team and contributing to our goal of being a High-Reliability Hospital.

Every month, employees at Jamaica Hospital who go above and beyond to help coworkers, patients and visitors are nominated for the G.E.M award.

G.E.M stands for Going the Extra Mile and recipients are recognized for their hard work, team spirit, kindness, and professionalism.

This month’s very special G.E.M recipient is:

Geraldine Maffia- Human Resources Manager

Congratulations Mrs. Maffia and we wish you the best in your retirement.

The MediSys Health Network is proud to announce that we have earned “Age-Friendly Health System” status; a designation that less than 20 percent of the health care facilities across the country have yet to receive.

Receiving an Age-Friendly status demonstrates that Flushing Hospital, Jamaica Hospital, and the Jamaica Hospital Nursing Home are committed to this rapidly growing movement to improve the health care for older adults.

This initiative was a collaborative effort founded in 2017 by the John A. Hartford Foundation, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), the American Hospital Association (AHA), and the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) with the intention of helping hospitals and other care settings implement a set of evidence-based interventions specifically designed to improve care for older adults.

The initiative is guided by a framework of essential elements known as the “4Ms”, which include:

• What Matters – Communicating with our patients to better understand their personal and healthcare goals. This is achieved by asking a series of questions to the patient as well as family members or caregivers. Factors in what matters most to our patients could include end-of-life care, placement issues, or financial concerns.
• Medication – Prescribing age-friendly medications that do not interfere with the goals of our older patients. This includes not prescribing certain medications that can affect a patient’s mobility and using our electronic medical record system to identify potentially inappropriate medications.
• Mentation – Preventing, identifying, treating and managing mental health issues such as depression and dementia in our older patients. This involves conducting a mental health status examination.
• Mobility – Ensuring that our older adult patients move safely and maintain function. This is done by getting our patients to ambulate more while in our care and by conducting a Fall Risk Assessment and providing mobility devices if necessary.

Receiving this designation was a collaborative effort led by Dr. Angelo Canedo and Dr. Alan Roth and included a leadership committee comprised of physicians, nurses, and hospital administrators. After a rigorous nine-month process that included educating all of our providers and submitting data that demonstrated the 4Ms have been incorporated into our practices, the MediSys Health Network was recognized as an Age-Friendly Health System in November.

The 4M initiative for treating older adults is currently being practiced throughout our network, by providers in our Emergency Departments, Ambulatory Care Centers, Inpatient Units, and in our long-term care facility

“Older adults deserve safe, high-quality healthcare. The Age-Friendly Health System initiative is an important part of our vision to provide it to them,” stated Dr. Alan Roth. “We worked very hard to achieve this goal and are extremely appreciative of those who contributed to helping us attain it.”