Councilman Mark Gjonaj recently met with seniors at the Sue Ginsburg Senior Center
and the students, faculty and staff at the I.S. 192 campus, including the Bronx Delta
School, Mott Hall Community School and Urban Institute of Mathematics, to share
the great news of funding allocations. An allocation of $10,000 was funded to the
Sue Ginsberg Senior Center for senior programs, events and classes, while a total of
$275,000 was allocated to the I.S. 192 campus for technology improvements.
Photo courtesy of Councilman Mark Gjonaj’s offi ce
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, O 56 CTOBER 18-24, 2019 BTR
Saving a limb in
patient with gangrene
The infection on Ruben Medina’s
right foot was not responding to the
over-the-counter ointments he had
been applying. Although it caused him
little pain, the small sore had grown in
size, turned darker and become foulsmelling
from the pus leaking from it.
His sister put her foot down – she
insisted he see a doctor. So in early
September, the 43-year-old Bronx man
called an ambulance that took him to
the emergency department at St. Barnabas
Hospital.
“His foot had gangrene and if he had
waited another day, half his foot would
have needed to be amputated,” says Dr.
Emilio Goez, director of podiatry at
Hyperbaric oxygen as a therapy for infected
wounds was laughed at 20 years ago. However,
newer research has proven its effi cacy and the
entire team at SBH is now certifi ed in Hyperbaric
Osygen Therapy and members of the Undersea &
Hyperbaric Oxygen Medical Society.
Dr. Emilio Goez
SBH, and the doctor who met Mr. Medina
that day in the OR. “If he waited
two days, he probably would have
ended up with a below-the-knee amputation.
And, if he waited any longer, he
might have needed an amputation at
the hip and, possibly, could have lost
his life from diabetic ketoacidosis.”
Mr. Medina was diabetic – even
though he didn’t know it. High blood
sugar levels found in diabetics can
eventually damage blood vessels, which
can lead to decreasing or interrupting
the blood fl ow to a part of the body. Dr.
Goez says patients like this are not unusual.
He sees on average two adult patients
a week who have foot problems
– typically a toenail that hurts, a rash,
or pain in the heel, not typically a foot
that is gangrenous) – who are shocked
to learn they have diabetes.
After consulting with the hospital’s
infectious disease specialists, Dr. Goez
removed the patient’s big toe that day
and made a drainage incision that allowed
the pus from the wound and
the gas in the soft tissue to emerge.
He prescribed an oral antibiotic and
started debridement. Initially considering
a skin graft, he chose to see how
the patient did on a more conservative
regimen – hyperbaric oxygen therapy
(HBOT) – before recommending the
surgery.
HBOT involves administering 100
percent oxygen to the patient while
immersed in a pressurized chamber
(about three times higher than normal
air pressure). HBOT works by improving
the oxygen concentration in the patient’s
blood, thereby increasing the
amount of oxygen reaching the areas
that need to heal.
“This results in the formation of
new small blood vessels that bring
the blood and nutrients necessary for
the skin structure to regenerate and
shrink the wound,” says Dr. Goez.
Although the clinical use of oxygen
therapy to facilitate wound healing of
diabetic ulcers began in the 1960s – the
fi rst controlled trial was reported over
20 years ago – Dr. Goez says that he
never studied it as a podiatry student
or resident and knew little about it until
the hospital opened its Hyperbaric
Oxygen and Wound Center in 2011.
“Hyperbaric oxygen as a therapy
for infected wounds was laughed at 20
years ago,” says Dr. Goez. “However,
newer research has proven its effi cacy
and the entire team at SBH is now certifi
ed in Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
and are members of the Undersea &
Hyperbaric Oxygen Medical Society.”
Dr. Goez is also certifi ed and a fellow
of the American Professional Wound
Care Association.
In addition to recommending daily
“dives” for three months (two hours per
session) for Mr. Medina, Dr. Goez has
performed debridements on a weekly
basis to remove small amounts of dead
and calloused tissue from the patient’s
foot to further promote healing.
The results have been extremely
positive. A wound that was 7 centimeters
long by 4 centimeters wide shrunk
to 1.3 centimeter by 1.6 centimeters a
month after treatment began. Now, in
his last week of therapy, the patient’s
foot looks virtually healed.
“Part of the healing process is due
to the patient being compliant,” says
Dr. Goez. “He now understands his disease
and has been a big part of the solution
by doing the daily dressings, taking
his medicine, seeing his primary
care provider, staying off his foot as
much as possible, and going to his therapy
sessions. He even lost some weight.
There’s been good care all around and
it’s made a difference.”
FUNDS TO IS 192, SUE GINSBERG SENIOR CTR.
Our annual Throggs Neck Merchants
Dinner Dance will be on
Thursday, October 24 at 6:30 p.m. at
the Villa Barone Manor. Enjoy dining
and dancing with fellow merchants,
members of the community,
friends and family while we honor
businesses, business people and residents
for their commitment to our
local businesses and community in
your favorite Roaring 20s style.
This year our honorees are Anthony
Mameli of Bronx CRE for
Businessman of the Year, Melissa
Liebman of Tosca Marquee for Businesswoman
of the Year, Maddalena
and Salvatore DeSieno of SDS Electronics
Plus, Inc. for Business Couple
of the Year, David Flannery of
Flannery Hardware for our Lifetime
Achievement Award and our Veteran
Honoree is Roberto Oviedo. Tickets
are available now. Get ten tickets
and receive a free full page journal
ad (white page only, $150 value). Our
journal is a great way to congratulate
our honorees and advertise your
business.
We have still have some ad space
available from $100 and up. Call Gerri
Colon at (646) 334-0127 or email Angela
Molinini at info@throggsneckmerchants.
com for more information.
You can also purchase tickets
on our website at www.throggsneckmerchants.
com.
The Northeast Bronx Community
Farmers Market at Preston High
School is open. The Farmers Market
is every Tuesday from 4 to 7 p.m. until
October 29. Preston High School
is located at 2780 Schurz Avenue.
Please stop by and say hello and pick
up some delicious goodies.
St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf
Children’s Fund is having their annual
Dinner and Auction on Saturday,
October 19 from 7 to 1 1 p.m. at
the Con Edison Learning Center located
at 43-82 Vernon Boulevard,
Long Island City, NY. Tickets are
$125 per person. Contact St. Joseph’s
School for the Deaf at (718) 828-9000
for more information. If you can’t attend
but would like to donate to the
St. Joseph’s School for the Deaf Children’s
Fund, please email executive
director, Debra Arles at darles@
sjdny.org.
Do you have an upcoming sale,
product or service you would like to
promote? As a TNMA member, we
will announce any upcoming promotion,
sale, product or service in this
column, as well as, posting it on our
TNMA social media. It’s another benefi
t of being a TNMA member. Please
email your information to info@
throggsneckmerchants.com or call
Angela. This service is at no extra
cost to our TNMA members.
Not a TNMA member yet? Become
a member of one of the largest merchants
associations in the Bronx. Go
to www.throggsneckmerchants.com.
/www.throggsneck-merchants.com
link
link
/www.throggsneck-merchants.com
/www.throggsneck-merchants.com
link
/www.throggsneckmerchants.com
/sjdny.org
/throggsneckmerchants.com
/www.throggsneckmerchants.com