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Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson has received a 2023 Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ from Healthgrades. This distinction places Mather Hospital among the top 10 percent of hospitals nationwide for patient experience, according to Healthgrades, the leading marketplace that connects people with the right doctor and hospital. Mather Hospital has received the Outstanding Patient Experience Award for three consecutive years (2021-2023). 

The award recognizes hospitals that provide an overall outstanding patient experience and is based on ten measures related to doctor and nurse communication, hospital cleanliness and noise levels, and medication and post-discharge care instructions using data from surveys of the hospital’s own patients. Patient experience is the sum of all interactions, shaped by a healthcare organization’s culture, that influence patients’ perceptions across the continuum of care.

“It is our goal at Mather to constantly evaluate and improve every aspect of our patients’ experience from the moment they walk through our doors,” said Executive Director Kevin McGeachy. “This applies not only to the outstanding clinical care they receive but everything from the quality of the food to the cleanliness of their rooms. I am proud of our entire team for this recognition for the third consecutive year.”

 Earlier this year, Mather also received Healthgrades 2023 America’s 250 Best Hospitals Award™. In addition, Healthgrades awarded Mather the 2023 America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Gastrointestinal Surgery Award™, the 2023 Gastrointestinal Care Excellence Award™, the 2023 Gastrointestinal Surgery Excellence Award™, the 2023 Critical Care Excellence Award™.  Mather also received the Pulmonary Care Excellence Award™ for an 8th consecutive year (2016-2023) and the Bariatric Surgery Excellence Award™ for a fifth year in a row (2019-2023).  

For this annual analysis, Healthgrades evaluated 3,138 hospitals that submitted at least 100 patient experience surveys to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, covering admissions from January 2021 through December 2021. Of those hospitals evaluated, 419 hospitals outperformed their peers – based on their patients’ responses – to achieve this award.

Healthgrades evaluates performance by applying a scoring methodology to ten patient experience measures, using data collected from HCAHPS survey of the hospital’s own patients. 

Survey questions focus on patients’ perspectives of their care in the hospital, from cleanliness and noise levels in patient rooms to medication explanations and hospital staff responsiveness to 

patients’ needs. The measures also include whether a patient would recommend the hospital to friends or family and their overall rating of the hospital.

“We applaud all recipients of the Healthgrades 2023 Outstanding Patient Experience Award for putting patient experience front and center within their organizations,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Data Science at Healthgrades. “We commend these hospitals for their ongoing commitment to prioritizing an exceptional patient experience, while ensuring the health and safety of their patients.”

Consumers can visit healthgrades.com for more information on how Healthgrades measures hospital quality and access the complete methodology here. An easy-to-understand overview of Healthgrades’ complete patient experience methodology is also available here.

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From left, Dr. Eric Cioe Peña, Dr. Anas Sawas, Abit Soylu, Amen Alhadi, Dr. Onat Akin, the Consul General of the Republic of Turkey Reyhan Ozgur, Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling, and Dr. Banu Aygun stand next to medical supplies earmarked for Turkey and Syria. Photo courtesy of Northwell Health

Standing with medical providers of Turkish and Syrian descent, Michael J. Dowling, Northwell Health’s president and CEO, announced on March 3 that the health system is sending 22 pallets of needed medical and disaster relief supplies to the devastated regions after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake on February 6 that claimed more than 48,000 lives and left millions displaced.

With Reyhan Ozgur, Consul General of the Republic of Turkey, on hand at Northwell’s Integrated Distribution Center in Bethpage, this announcement comes a day shy of the one-year anniversary of Northwell sending humanitarian relief supplies in support of health providers in Ukraine at the start of a war waged by Russian forces. 

“We’re all part of one global family,” said Dowling. “And when there’s one part of the family in severe distress, we as a health care organization have to be concerned about people in other parts of the world.”

As with Ukraine relief, Northwell is working with longstanding partner Medshare to transport supplies from New York into the affected regions. In addition, Northwell’s Center for Global Health (CGH) is networking with local leaders on the ground to fund relief efforts where they’ll make the greatest impact.

“We are gathering specialized supplies that are difficult to procure locally, things like dialysis kits, trauma supplies that are now already strained in Europe because of the war in Ukraine,” said Eric Cioe Peña, MD, director of the CGH, who’s helping spearhead these efforts.

After the shock

Disaster relief efforts in Turkey and Syria have been continually plagued by high-magnitude aftershocks in already devastated areas, with the most recent 5.6 magnitude on Feb. 27, compounding the crisis.

Northwell has once again aligned with international relief partners, such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) — more commonly known in the U.S. as Doctors Without Borders — to provide direct medical care to survivors and people in need of basic care. The Northwell Health Turkey-Syria relief fund was also created to bring direct equitable financial support to the disaster areas.

This was welcomed news to Abit Soylu, a paramedic with Northwell’s Center for Emergency Medical Services, whose family lives in Turkey. Soylu lost his cousin and her son when their home collapsed in the initial quake.

“It’s hard for me because I’m not there and I’m heartbroken here not being able to help them,” he said. “It took five days for them to find them in the rubble.”

Mr. Soylu was joined by Amen Alhadi, a flight paramedic with Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) who has family in Syria and Anas Sawas, MD, an emergency medicine physician at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson, who spoke about the limited humanitarian access into Syria from the civil war, now strained by the earthquake.

Also at the event were Onat Akin, MD, a Northwell pathologist with family in Turkey, and Banu Aygun MD, a pediatric oncologist at Cohen Children’s Medical Center. The two discussed the medical risks children face in that region due to the lack of access to care and clean water. Scabies and cholera can spread quickly and other illness from lack of vaccinations.

“Aside from losing their homes, their schools, their friends, some of them are unfortunately orphans,” Dr. Aygun said. “The physical scars are very big, but the psychological scars are much deeper.”

“We’re a culturally dynamic health system,” Dr. Cioe Peña said. “Like in Ukraine, working with MSF and our teammates that hail from these regions will help us build sustainable relationships to get materials and funds to the right place and care for more people.” 

Disaster 24/7 on-call: 

In the weeks that followed the invasion of Ukraine, Northwell Health deployed its integrated telehealth service to provide 24/7 assistance to health care providers to consult and offer guidance on civilian and military patient care. The program has provided more than 350 consults to clinicians caring for patients of blast injury and gunfire, to women with perinatal care needs and patients awaiting organ transplant.

Northwell looks to deploy this same strategy in Turkey and Syria and offer 24/7 access to complement medical care there. “When we launched this program, we quickly realized that using this as a peer-to-peer platform offered the most benefit and impact to the medical community in Ukraine,” said Dr. Cioe Peña.

“We have an obligation and responsibility. It’s part of the culture of Northwell: Any time anyone is in trouble — whether it’s domestic or overseas — we do our best to help,” added Dowling. “If we have the ability and the resources to help — and we obviously have the will — then we should help. That’s why we’re in the health care business. … It’s something we’ve always done, it’s something we always do.”

To donate and support the Northwell Health CGH Turkey/Relief fund visit: https://support.northwell.edu/center-for-global-health

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Photo from SBU

Stony Brook Medicine’s Cardio-Oncology program is the first on Long Island to be recognized as an IC-OS Center of Excellence and awarded an IC-OS Gold Medal by the International Cardio-Oncology Society (IC-OS).

An IC-OS Center of Excellence is a program within a healthcare institution that is assembled to supply an exceptionally high concentration of expertise and related resources centered on a particular area of medicine, delivering associated care in a comprehensive, interdisciplinary fashion to afford the best patient outcomes possible.

The gold medal designation recognizes a commitment to multidisciplinary patient care, research and publications relevant to cardio-oncology, educational program, quality improvement, program building and cardio-oncology committee involvement.

According to the IC-OS, cancer and cardiovascular disease are the two most common causes of death and disease worldwide. The incidence of both cancer and cardiovascular disease increases with age. Stony Brook’s Cardio-Oncology Program is co-directed by Michelle Bloom, MD, (cardiology) and Lea Baer, MD, (breast oncology), with state-of-the-art cardiac imaging directed by Smadar Kort, MD, and just added cardio-oncologist Kristine Yang, MD. 

Stony Brook is the only program in the region to have a team of IC-OS-certified cardio-oncologists who closely observe and care for patients with cancer who have an existing cardiovascular (CV) condition or who may be at risk for developing a CV-related problem during or after the start of cancer treatment. 

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Are you at risk for developing type 2 diabetes? Mather Hospital, 75 North Country Road, Port Jefferson will host a FREE year-long diabetes prevention program designed to help you modify your lifestyle to prevent the disease.

The National Diabetes Prevention Program, led by a trained lifestyle coach from the Suffolk County Department of Health, will be held at Mather Hospital beginning Monday, March 20 from 6 to 7:15 p.m. The program meets weekly until July 24, then bi-monthly through Sept. 25, then monthly from October 2023 through March 2024. 

Participants are identified through their health care provider by either their fasting glucose 100-124 or their A1c 5.7-6.4. In addition, they must have a BMI of 25 or more and be over the age of 18. Participants cannot have diabetes or be pregnant. Participants may also qualify by taking either the CDC or ADA risk test at   https://www.cdc.gov/prediabetes/takethetest/ or https://diabetes.org/diabetes/risk-test

“We want to have them change behaviors to get these numbers back into the normal range,’ said Senior Public Health Educator Debora Rippel. “We do that by having them lose 5-7 percent of their body weight and increase their physical activity to 150 minutes per week. In addition, they develop new behaviors (weighing and measuring food, reading food labels, choosing low-fat, low-calorie options/substitutions, among other behaviors). We look at the environmental, psychological, and social aspects of their behaviors and help them identify ways to change them.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control 96 million Americans – or one in three adults – have prediabetes. Of those, more than eight in 10 are unaware that they have it. Without taking any action, 15-30 percent  of people with prediabetes could develop type 2 diabetes within five years. For every 2.2 pounds of weight an individual loses, their risk of developing type 2 diabetes is lowered by 13 percent, according to the national program.

More information on the program at https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/prevention/about.htm To register, contact Debora at the Suffolk County Department of Health at 631-853-2928 or [email protected] .

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Bad weather, cold and flu season and more are causing a drop in blood donations.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT

New York Blood Center (NYBC) declared the first blood emergency of 2023 on March 6. The blood emergency is due to several evolving factors, including recent poor weather, school breaks and cold and flu season. Last month, NYBC and its divisions across the nation received 6,000 fewer blood donations than the year prior and blood donations are 12% below hospital and patient needs.

The number of blood donations still are not back to pre-pandemic levels. Compounding the problem is a continued lag in first-time and youth donors, which remain about half of pre-pandemic levels.  And while New Yorkers are returning to in-person work, office and community blood drives and visits to NYBC Donor Centers are significantly down.  People working from home had an easier time donating in our donor centers, but we’re seeing a dramatic decrease at our centers.

“Each winter, we struggle to get folks to donate blood and this year is no exception. We need more New Yorkers to make blood donations, host blood drives and spread the word about the need for donations,” said Andrea Cefarelli, Senior Vice President at New York Blood Center.“Last year, we expanded our reach with a new donor center, and we recently announced new donor guidelines from the FDA; we are expanding in every way we can in order to reach new donors. This March, make a blood donation and tell a friend!”

In addition to whole blood donors, platelet donors are urgently needed. With a shelf life of just 7 days, NYBC relies on dedicated platelet donors to help patients undergoing chemotherapy, those with bleeding disorders, new mothers, and more.

CLICK HERE TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT

 

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Tara Matz

Tara Matz, RN, MSN, NEA-BC has been named Chief Nurse Executive at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson. She will begin her new role on March 6.

A resident of Holbrook, Ms. Matz comes to Mather from Cohen Children’s Medical Center, where she has held a variety of leadership roles since 2005. She currently serves as the Senior Director for Patient Care Services and was also the Interim Chief Nursing Officer for a brief period. Earlier, she served as Director of Patient Care at Cohen. Prior to coming to Northwell, Ms. Matz started her career as a staff nurse at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. 

“We are excited to have Tara join the Mather family and are confident in her ability to step into the Chef Nurse Executive role and contribute to our continued journey to excellence,” said Executive Director Kevin McGeachy. 

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Dr. Arif Ahmad, St. Charles and St. Catherine of Siena Acid Reflux and Hiatal Hernia Centers of Excellence Director Photo courtesy of Catholic Health

Catholic Health is expanding its service offerings with the opening of the Acid Reflux and Hiatal Hernia Centers of Excellence at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson and St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown. The Centers will offer minimally invasive surgical procedures as a permanent solution for acid reflux and repair of hiatal hernia. 

Heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), also known as acid reflux, is a chronic condition affecting 20 percent of people in the United States. Common symptoms include acid reflux, heartburn, nausea, persistent regurgitation, difficulty swallowing, chronic cough and chest pain.  

“We are delighted to provide this much-needed service in our community for those who are suffering from chronic heartburn and acid reflux, looking for a long-term solution,” said St. Charles and St. Catherine of Siena President James O’Connor. “Our goal is to improve the quality of life for patients suffering from heartburn and GERD, with an individualized treatment plan and successful outcome.” 

“Many patients want to eliminate dependence on medications and are concerned about long-term side effects,” said St. Charles and St. Catherine of Siena Acid Reflux and Hiatal Hernia Centers of Excellence Director Arif Ahmad, MD. “Most patients continue to regurgitate in spite of medications. Minimally invasive surgical techniques are safe alternatives that should be considered.”

For more information, call 631-474-6808 for St. Charles Hospital and 631-862-3570 for St. Catherine of Siena Hospital.

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METRO photo

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

One day, you’re playing with your twin sons at home, running around with a ball on the driveway, calling and waving to neighbors who pass by when they walk their dogs or take their daily stroll through the neighborhood.

The next day, your life changes.

You want to know why or how, but you’re too busy trying to apply the brakes to a process that threatens the nature of your existence and your current and future happiness.

Your son had some gastrointestinal issues for a few weeks. You took him to the pediatrician and he said he’s got to get over a virus.

You wait, hope, and maybe say a few extra prayers, because the hardest thing for any parent to endure is the sickness of a child.

You check on him, day after day, hoping he’s better, only to find that there’s no improvement.

Suddenly, three weeks later, you’re in the hospital, trying to keep yourself, your spouse, and your other son calm while doctors remove a malignant brain cancer in a 5-year-old boy who defines “goofy” and “playful.”

One of our close friends in our neighborhood just started this unimaginable battle against a disease many of us know all too well, although the specific form of cancer varies.

Their babysitter shared the horror of the prior weekend with me outside the window of her passing car, where she normally would have driven both the twins to school.

I heard the story because I asked about the empty car seat in the back, where both boys typically showed me whatever stuffed animals or toys they had decided to bring to school, either for show and tell or because they were carrying an object that began with a particular letter.

As I talked with the babysitter, who spoke in the kind of hushed and dramatic tones often associated with discussions about serious health crises, I thought about how hard it was and will be for the other son. I thought he needed the kind of 5-year-old normalcy that might become hard to find when he’s worried about his brother and the anxious adults around him.

I asked him to show me what he was holding. He had a pink llama, who he said wanted to poop on my head or on my dog’s head.

I told him that my dog wouldn’t appreciate the poop unless the stuffed llama somehow pooped pink marshmallows.

He laughed, flashing all his straight baby teeth.

As I walked home, I thought of all the things my wife and I planned to offer our neighbors. Maybe we’d babysit the healthy son, walk their dogs, help with house chores, bring over food, do anything to lighten the unbearably heavy load.

I also thought about all the scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University I have known who are working towards cures for cancer.

Many of them know someone in their family, their friend group, their neighborhood, or their schools who, like my daughter’s beloved first-grade teacher, suddenly were in a battle for their lives against a disease that steals time and joy from people’s lives.

Their labs often invite or include family members of people with cancer to staff meetings and discussions about their work, making the connection between what the scientists are studying and the people desperate for solutions.

It seems utterly cliche to write it, but I’m going to do it anyway: we should appreciate and enjoy the days we have when we’re not in that battle. The annoyance of dealing with someone who got our order wrong at a restaurant seems so spectacularly small in comparison. 

We can appreciate that the person who seems like a total jerk for cutting us off on our way home may also be the one racing back to hug his child or spouse after an impossible day that changed his life.

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Stony Brook University Hospital

Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH) has achieved the highest level of national recognition as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals for 2023, according to new research released by Healthgrades. This places SBUH in the top one percent of hospitals in the country.

SBUH has steadily increased its rankings — from the top 250 since 2015, to the top 100 since 2019, and now the top 50 — a reflection of its commitment to bring the best in care to its patients.

“I’m delighted with this significant accomplishment, which places us among the top one percent of hospitals in the country,” said Hal Paz, MD, MS, Executive Vice President for Health Sciences, Stony Brook University, and Chief Executive Officer, Stony Brook University Medicine. “It reflects the ongoing efforts of everyone across our hospital to continuously deliver outstanding clinical outcomes and an unwavering dedication to our patients.”

“The exceptional care found at Stony Brook University Hospital is only possible when a hospital commits to high standards of quality and continuous improvement throughout the organization,” said Carol A. Gomes, MS, FACHE, CPHQ, Chief Executive Officer for Stony Brook University Hospital. “I am grateful to our physicians, nurses and all staff for their tireless hard work, dedication and commitment to excellence.”  

“We’re proud to recognize Stony Brook University Hospital as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals for 2023,” said Brad Bowman, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Head of Data Science at Healthgrades. “As one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals, SBUH consistently delivers better-than-expected outcomes for the patients in their community and is setting a high national standard for clinical excellence.”

Healthgrades evaluated patient mortality and complication rates for 31 of the most common conditions and procedures at nearly 4,500 hospitals across the country to identify the top-performing hospitals. This year’s analysis revealed significant variation between America’s Best 50 Hospitals and hospitals that did not receive the distinction. In fact, if all hospitals performed similarly to America’s 50 Best, over 150,000 lives could have been saved*.

Cardiac Care: 

These newest national and state rankings come on the heels of Healthgrades naming SBUH as one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Surgery™, now for two years in a row (2022-2023). SBUH is one of only two hospitals in New York State to be named among America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Cardiac Care™ for nine years in a row (2015-2023). For more information, visit heart.stonybrookmedicine.edu/healthgrades. 

Stroke Care: 

SBUH is also proud to be the only hospital in New York State to be named one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Stroke Care for eight years in a row (2016-2023). In addition, Healthgrades 2023 rankings named SBUH as the #2 ranked hospital in NY for both Neurosciences and Stroke Care for 2023 — and one of only two hospitals on Long Island* in the top five. See other Stony Brook Neurosciences Institute-related Healthgrades achievements at neuro.stonybrookmedicine.edu/strokehealthgrades2023.

Hysterectomy Procedures: 

Additionally, for 2022 SBUH received a 5-star rating for Hysterectomy procedures, Healthgrades found that there is a significant variation in hospital quality between those that have received 5 stars and those that have not. For example, patients having a Hysterectomy in hospitals with 5-stars have, on average, a 65.1% lower risk of experiencing a complication while in the hospital than if they were treated by hospitals with 1-star. For more women’s health-related Healthgrades achievements, visit womenshealth.stonybrookmedicine.edu/news/healthgrades. 

“Year after year, our hospital’s Heart Institute and Cerebrovascular and Comprehensive Stroke Center continue to shine, providing a level of care few hospitals anywhere can match,” said Dr. Paz. “And our five-star rating for Hysterectomy places us among our nation’s Hysterectomy leaders.“

*Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of MedPAR data for years 2019 through 2021 and represent three-year estimates for Medicare patients only.

*Long Island is defined as Nassau and Suffolk counties.

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