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Photo from Stony Brook Medicine

To kick off National Nurses week, Stony Brook University Hospital rolled out the red carpet for its nursing staff, cheering them on as they made their way into work.

On Thursday, May 6, the 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. shifts were welcomed into the hospital with a red carpet and balloons to thank them for their efforts — especially throughout the last year. 

Since the early 90s, May 6 through May 12 (ending on Florence Nightingale’s birthday), nurses across the country have been thanked for the work they do.

Photo from Stony Brook Medicine

But 2020 showed a new appreciation for nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. SBUH decided last summer to put out the red carpet, as nurses ventured into work during the height of the coronavirus crisis. 

And for the second year in a row, more than 3,400 RNs, LPNs, nursing assistants, nursing station clerks and more were thanked as they readied a 12-hour shift like a celebrity.

Carolyn Santora, chief nursing officer & chief of regulatory affairs, said the red carpet was just one way of saying thanks. 

“Our nurses are stars, and they’re wonderful,” she said. “We wanted to show our appreciation.”

Santora said that throughout the whole week, nurses and nursing staff were recognized for their hard work. One day they were delivered ice cream, another they were given awards. 

“The staff, I can’t say they’re not weary and tired — it’s been a long, long year — but they’ve been incredible,” she said. “They come to work dedicated every single day, take care of our community and support each other in the process.”

Santora said the staff were appreciative of the hospital’s efforts. 

“The importance of this is understanding and recognizing them for their skills, for their dedication, for their talents and for their heart,” Santora said. “Taking care of all of these patients every single day, it’s just remarkable what they do.”

Saline Atieno with her host mother, Kerri Tame, of Coram, outside Stony Brook University Hospital last week. Photo by Iryna Shkurhan

By Iryna Shkurhan 

Saline Atieno came to Long Island as a girl in 2012 from Kenya to receive transformative facial surgeries by Stony Brook Medicine doctors. On May 2, she returned home as a 19-year-old young woman with a whole new demeanor after 15 surgical procedures. 

Atieno developed a facially disfiguring bacterial necrosis called Noma as a child, which often occurs in young severely malnourished children. Dr. Leon Klempner, a retired orthodontist and professor at Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine, met Saline for the first time in 2010 on an outreach medical trip.

“She was beautiful on the inside and through the work of Dr. [Alexander] Dagum and the Stony Brook medical team, they helped match her inside and out,” said Klempner, a Poquott resident. “So, she now has a much stronger self-image.”

Through his charity, Smile Rescue Fund for Kids, Klempner brought Saline to the United States in 2012 until 2014, where she received 10 life-changing surgeries to improve the functions and appearance of her face. Klempner and Dagum, who is chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and their Stony Brook colleagues set a plan to reconstruct her face and mouth to improve her functions and look.

The doctors recount meeting a shy girl for the first time in 2013. Saline only attended school a handful of times because she got bullied too much. 

“She’s blossomed,” Dagum said. “Little by little, she’s gained confidence in maturation and she’s grown into a young woman that we’re all so proud of her.”

Following her return to Kenya, Saline developed recurring infections and scarring from the Noma infection and the healing process of the first 10 surgeries. The charity arranged for her to return to Long Island for additional treatment from February 2019 to January 2020. During this period, Dagum performed more reconstructive procedures to reduce the risk of future infections. He also removed a developing cyst from her cheek and scarring around her lips, face and forehead. 

Saline’s return to Kenya was interrupted when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Her stay with a host family on Long Island was extended indefinitely as travel was banned back to Kenya. 

During this extra stay, Saline had additional time to heal and recover with medical guidance from her Stony Brook clinical care team. She also took the time to perfect her English skills and enjoy her adopted home. 

“It’s almost the equivalent of sending your child to college,” Dagum said. 

When she returns home, Saline will attend a boarding school and in the future wants to receive training to become a hairstylist. This wouldn’t have been possible without the medical staff volunteering their time and the university volunteering its services. Smile Rescue Fund also has donated to help support her education when she goes back, find clean water and finance solar lights in her area. 

The pandemic has given Saline added time to heal, adjust and see her future. Now she returns home to Kenya as a young woman.

Saline’s host mom, Kerri Tame, of Coram, said that Saline adjusted well and became one of her children in the past two and a half years. Saline was enrolled at Newfield High School in Selden where she made friends and enjoyed attending classes in person. 

“She became Americanized,” Tame said. “Just like one of our children.”

“I’m not going to be able to do the things I do here, back home,” Saline said. When asked what she would miss most about Long Island, she said, “Everything.” 

Stony Brook Children’s Hospital Celebrates 10 Years with Long Island Aquarium Show. Photo from SBHU

For 40 years, Stony Brook University Hospital has been caring for kids, but 2020 holds an even more notable moment for Suffolk County’s sole children’s hospital. 

The outside of Stony Brook University Children’s Hospital. Photo from SBUH

Dr. Carolyn Milana, chair of the Department of Pediatrics and physician-in-chief at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, said this year is a very special one. 

The children’s hospital is celebrating its 10-year anniversary as a standalone hospital, after opening its new building last year. 

“Our brand-new facility allows us to continue to provide the same expert care to the children and adolescents of Suffolk County in a state-of-the-art environment designed to promote healing,” she said. “All of the space within the children’s hospital, and the programs we offer, are designed to support both the child and their family throughout their hospital stay.”

At the new building, live feeds from the Long Island Aquarium are shown in the lobby and throughout the pediatric floors.

An inside look at the Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. Photo from SBUH

To celebrate its decade-long care, the children’s hospital teamed up with the Riverhead-based aquarium for a sea lion show virtually shown to supporters, patients and their families. On Dec. 9, viewers tuned in as the sea lion balanced balls, did tricks and posed in a delightful routine that kids and adults enjoyed.

File photo

By Carol Gomes

Carol Gomes

Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH) continues to earn national accolades for the quality of care we provide to our patients.

The latest distinction comes from U.S. News & World Report, which has recognized us as a Best Hospital for 2020-21 for Neurology and Neurosurgery, and for Orthopaedics.

SBUH ranked No. 41 nationally in Neurology and Neurosurgery, and No. 49 in Orthopaedics. In the regional rankings, SBUH ranked No. 10 in New York State out of more than 200 hospitals statewide.

This is a true testament to the quality of care we provide to our patients. These types of recognitions do not happen overnight and they do not happen by accident. They involve a lot of hard work and dedication by teams that are committed to improving quality of care.

The rankings are based on a combination of factors, including staffing levels, whether a hospital has a Trauma Center, patient survival rates, physician ratings and patient satisfaction.

In addition to Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Orthopaedics, SBUH earned “high performing” ratings for six other adult specialties including Diabetes and Endocrinology; Gastroenterology and GI surgery; Geriatrics; Nephrology; Pulmonology and Lung surgery; and Urology.

To determine the national rankings, U.S. News evaluated more than 4,500 medical centers in 16 specialties, 10 procedures and conditions. In the 16 specialty areas, only 134 hospitals in the United States performed well enough to be nationally ranked in at least one specialty.

These accolades follow on the heels of SBUH being named one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals™ for the past two years by Healthgrades — the only hospital on Long Island to receive this distinction for two consecutive years. Stony Brook was also named one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals™ for 2020 by Healthgrades for stroke care, cardiac care and coronary interventions. The hospital has earned those honors for stroke care and coronary interventions for five consecutive years. It received the cardiac care award for the sixth consecutive year.

Our expert faculty and staff deserve credit for these impressive national recognitions, which demonstrate our commitment to providing world-class, compassionate care for our patients.

Carol A. Gomes, MS, FACHE, CPHQ, IS THE Chief Executive Officer AT Stony Brook University Hospital.

A view of the front entrance to Huntington Hospital on Park Avenue in Huntington. File photo

Hospitals across the North Shore and the country have been adapting to an entirely new set of medical codes over the last two months, completely changing the system in which a patient’s diagnosis is detailed.

As of October, all hospitals across the United States switched to the ICD-10 system, which allows for more than 14,000 different codes and permits the tracking of many new diagnoses. ICD-10, an international medical classification system by the World Health Organization, requires more specificity than the previous code system. Doctors at North Shore facilities said they agreed that although it’s time-consuming and has slowed productivity, it is more beneficial to patients in the end.

Dr. Michael Grosso, chairman of medicine at Huntington Hospital said these new codes should help make it easier for symptoms of various diseases to be tracked.

According to Gross, preparation for the new code started two years ago with a required education program for all physicians that described what all the new codes meant.

“Physicians are being called upon to provide more specificity and detail,” Grosso said in a phone interview. He described the codes as a “vast extension” to what the hospital was previously using and said it should “improve the quality of medical records and increase the amount of information that researchers can obtain and make for the best care for patients.”

Grosso also said that understanding and learning the codes was an important first step, but ongoing feedback on how the codes are being adopted is equally important. A feedback program has been created at each hospital.

John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson. File photo
John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson. File photo

John Ruth, director of revenue integrity and interim chief compliance officer at Stony Brook University Hospital, said Stony Brook used outside resource companies with online courses to teach the new code to their physicians and coding staff.

Ruth said that a new code system was necessary, as the previous system, ICD-9, was created by WHO in the 1970s. He called ICD-10 a natural progression.

“There are a lot more codes for specific organ systems, muscles, muscle tendons and nerves than were required with ICD-9,” he said in a phone interview.

Ruth also said that ICD-9 was mostly comprised of three- and four-digit codes, and ICD-10 is up to seven digits in length, which makes the new coding more challenging but more valuable.

“If a patient has PTSD, we can assign a code from where he got it from, not just that he has it, which is important for planning his future and ongoing care,” Ruth said.

Stacie Colonna, associate director of inpatient coding at Stony Brook University Hospital, said there has been approximately a 30 percent decrease in staff productivity with the changeover to ICD-10 and a shortage of trained staff.

“I get 10 questions a day just from internal staff,” Colonna said. But she also noted that staff frequently asked daily questions about the old system as well. She said she expects productivity to improve in the near future.

At John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson, Chief Medical Information Officer Dr. Joseph Ng said the staff went through web training, too. One-on-one training was also available if a clinician requested it.

Ng agreed specificity is both the pro and con of ICD-10. “Because it’s so specific, it really allows clinicians to hone in on what’s really going on with patients and be able to communicate better with one another,” Ng said in an email. “But because it’s so specific, sometimes it’s hard to find the right code, especially when it comes to procedures. The codes are not all inclusive.”

Looking forward, Grosso said the new system had a lot to offer for hospitals across the country because of the amount of information people could potentially learn from it.

“A number of private and government parties will benefit from the ability to look at more detailed hospital data,” Grosso said.

Stony Brook’s 100,000th baby Luca Michael Picarella cries in his mother’s arms at Stony Brook University Hospital. Photo By Giselle Barkley

It’s a boy. It’s also a major milestone.

Katie Picarella of Rocky Point was wheeled into the room with her new bundle of joy and her husband Mike and daughter Gianna, 5, to celebrate the birth of Stony Brook Hospital’s 100,000th baby, Luca Michael Picarella on Thursday, Aug. 20. And by the time she was wheeled out, she had much more than a new member to her family.

The hospital presented blue cupcakes surrounded several pink cupcakes that spelled “100K,” in the Stony Brook University Hospital’s lobby in celebration of the event.

Todd Griffin, chair of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive medicine, said he expected Katie Picarella to give birth near the end of August, and he was right. Attending OB/GYN and former Stony Brook student Julie Welischar delivered Luca the morning of Monday, Aug. 17.

Until a week ago the Picarella family was unaware of the news that Stony Brook was expecting its 100,000th birth.

Members of the hospital arranged blue and pink cupcakes to celebrate the 100,00th birth at the Stony Brook University Hospital. Photo By Giselle Barkley
Members of the hospital arranged blue and pink cupcakes to celebrate the 100,00th birth at the Stony Brook University Hospital. Photo By Giselle Barkley

“A friend of ours told us [that they] had been following this,” Mike Picarella said. “I started looking at it and [the friend] said, ‘you guys are getting close. It’d be funny if you guys are the couple.’”

But the expecting father said he was still surprised when the doctors informed him that his newborn son was the 100,000th baby.

The family didn’t just leave with their new baby boy, they also left with a gift basket, which awarded the Picarella family with $10,000 scholarship from the Island Federal Credit Union, a $2,500 scholarship toward tuition at the North Shore Montessori School, a $500 shopping spree among other gifts for the parents and their newborn.

Luca’s older sister Gianna, who was also delivered at Stony Brook, was also awarded with a brand new American Girl doll.

“Truly from the bottom of our hearts and all of our family’s hearts, we greatly appreciate it,” Mike Picarella said.

The entire Picarella family said they were thankful for the gifts and shocked by the news that they were the couple who birthed the 100,000th baby.

“Stuff like this doesn’t happen to us,” Katie Picarella said when speaking to the media. According to Picarella, the birth was scheduled for Friday after doctors realized Picarella’s baby would come before the end of August. But Picarella rescheduled the C-section delivery date because she wanted to have enough time to recover in order to attend her daughter’s Kindergarten screening.

The family of four also had the opportunity of meeting Jeff Solomon, who was the first baby born at Stony brook University Hospital on May 28, 1980 at 8:15 a.m. Solomon’s father Bob Solomon and step-mother Hope also attended the conference and met the family.

Before the family prepared to go home, Griffin highlighted the importance of the birth.

“For years the number of births on long island have been going down,” Griffin said. “We’re actually starting to see in the last year or two that the births have been going up.”

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File photo

Stony Brook Medicine announced on Friday that the Eastern Long Island Hospital board of directors has voted unanimously to approve an affiliation with Stony Brook University Hospital, subject to the successful completion of the definitive agreement and all regulatory and other approvals.

The decision was ruled an important first step toward advancing Stony Brook’s collaboration to ensure North Fork residents have greater access to high-quality care, according to Kenneth Kaushansky, senior vice president for Health Sciences and dean of the Stony Brook University School of Medicine.

“We are grateful to SUNY’s visionary leadership in its support of our continued work to establish agreements with community hospitals in Suffolk County for the care of Long Island residents,” said Reuven Pasternak, chief executive officer for Stony Brook University Hospital and vice president for health systems at Stony Brook Medicine.

Thomas E. Murray Jr., chairman of the Eastern Long Island Hospital board of trustees said his group had been deliberating over the past several months on finding a strategic partner. He said Stony Brook best fulfilled the board’s mission to best address what he called the evolving health needs of his eastern community.

State Sen. Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) said he could not be more pleased with the news, given his experience working to move the hospital forward.

“Throughout my tenure, I have worked hard to make certain that quality, affordable medical services are accessible to residents throughout my district,” he said. “This unanimous decision ensures that people on the North Fork and Shelter Island will continue to receive expert medical care close to home.”

Stony Brook and Eastern Long Island will immediately initiate a collaborative planning effort to develop a long-term strategic plan to ensure current and future health care needs are addressed.

“While the delivery of health care and especially hospital care is rapidly changing, becoming a part of Stony Brook University Hospital will allow Eastern Long Island Hospital to make this complex transition while continuing to carry out our long-time promise to the community. The hospital has been here for 110 years and this affiliation will ensure that the health care needs of the community are met for years to come,” said Paul J. Connor, III, president and CEO of Eastern Long Island Hospital.