30 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • FEBRUARY 2021
BETHPAGE BEST OF LONG ISLAND
BY MICHELLE GABRIELLE
CENTAMORE
Many hospitals on Long Island were
inundated with Covid-positive patients
after the pandemic hit the region in
March. Of those healthcare heroes who
answered the call—putting their own
lives at risk to help others—the 2020
Bethpage Best of Long Island winners
distinguished themselves.
The winners include Stony Brook University
Hospital, which won the title
of Best Hospital on Long Island, NYU
Langone Hospital—Long Island in Mineola,
which won Best Maternity Ward
on Long Island, and ProHEALTH Urgent
Care, which won Best Urgent Care.
Each of these establishments exhibited
an extraordinary response to COVID
from the get-go and their medical and
professional staff proved their remarkable
skills, strength, and character.
Healthcare practitioners rose to the
daunting occasion and used both their
interpersonal and professional skills
not only to save lives but to touch lives.
So, what defines a healthcare hero?
Read on to see what these standout
facilities and their first-rate staff have
in common.
BEST HOSPITAL
STONY BROOK
UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
LEADS PATIENTS AND
STAFF THROUGH THE
STORM
Stony Brook University Hospital was
quick to respond to the needs of the
community, and all hospital staff—
physicians and nurses, radiology, and
housekeeping—united to assure that
each patient had their best chance at
recovery and that colleagues felt supported
in the process.
Spearheading efforts to increase
capacity at Stony Brook’s Intensive Care
Unit (ICU) was James Vosswinkel, M.D.,
FACS; Chief, Trauma, Emergency Surgery
and Surgical Critical Care; Medical
Director, Trauma Center, and Surgical
ICU, Stony Brook Medicine.
Stony Brook’s medical team collaborated
with other healthcare professionals
on a local, nationwide, and international
level, Dr. Vosswinkel said. Hospital
departments worked to ensure they had
an adequate supply of oxygen, ventilators
and other respiratory supplies, PPE
and more.
“We were a really well-oiled machine
where each department put their best
foot forward and was integrated at a
very high level together to truly address
the pandemic,” the doctor said.
Stony Brook tripled its entire ICU capacity
in an effective, safe fashion.
“We provided patients with the best that
modern medicine could offer to try to
get them to recover,” he added.
“We came together and really supported
one another and worked together
toward a common goal of keeping each
other safe but also doing the best we
possibly could do for our patients,” said
Dawn Teer, RRT, NPS, CPFT, a respiratory
therapist at Stony Brook University
Hospital.
Teer was a lead therapist and staff supervisor
at the height of the pandemic.
She also took regular assignments,
making herself available and present
to patients and staff as much as possible.
Teer recalled a young patient who was
intubated for months and came very
close to losing his battle more than once.
“We never gave up on him,” she said.
“We kept trying different kinds of ventilator
strategies, we wouldn’t give up
and he wound up coming off and living.”
Strong leadership offered staff and
patients the support needed to get them
through a most challenging time. Sofia
Marie Reyes, staff and relief charge
nurse at Stony Brook, assumed responsibility
as a relief charge nurse in the
first pop-up COVID Intensive Care Unit
at Stony Brook University Hospital.
Reyes was responsible for training
other nurses from non-ICU units who
had little to no experience in an ICU.
Some of the nurses hadn’t set foot in
a critical care unit in up to 15 years if
at all—and they were understandably
initially intimidated, recalls Reyes.
“I wanted to help alleviate their fears. I
couldn’t imagine what they were going
through—dealing with the machines
and the ventilators, the IV pumps, and
just how sick these patients were,”
Reyes said.
She took the time to get to know her
staff, learn all their names and get them
to a place of confidence. She patiently
explained to them how to run an IV for
intravenous therapy, administer medications
and use the ventilators. Reyes
said she was able to lead by example due
to the tremendous collaboration and
support from all at Stony Brook.
She praised her ICU’s strong teamwork
between the nurses, attendings, fellows,
respiratory therapists, ancillary staff,
clerks, and nursing assistants. “I had—
still have—an amazing and supportive
nursing leadership—my nurse manager
and clinicians—who assured we had
adequate PPE and as much staffing and
resource supplies as we could get.”
BEST URGENT
CARE CENTER
PROHEALTH URGENT CARE
HEALS AND EDUCATES
ProHEALTH Urgent Care’s Long Island
facilities were exemplary in meeting
their patients’ needs safely and
effectively.
“The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic
changed medicine for the urgent care
clinicians,” recalled Physician Assistant
Kevin Patel, of ProHEALTH Urgent
Care in Jericho. “At its peak, the hospitals
were at maximum capacity and
general clinicians were unable to care
for patients in an outpatient setting. We
were overwhelmed with high volumes
daily throughout the months of March,
April, and May.”
The facility received support from
providers from different departments
of ProHEALTH.
“It became a group effort to make sure
the community was tested and contact
tracing was done by the department
of health to stop the transmission and
lower the rate of infection,” Patel said.
Patients were doing everything they
could to avoid a trip to the emergency
room and ProHEALTH medical staff
were doing everything they could to
support those patients who would
otherwise have taken their symptoms
to the hospital.
“It became our jobs to make sure these
patients got the best care necessary,”
Patel said.
“We developed a very effective system
for evaluating Covid patients in a safe
manner,” said Diane Peterman, M.D.,of
ProHEALTH West Islip Pediatric Urgent
Care. At the pandemic’s peak, patients
were treated in their cars. Dr. Peterman
says, “We were able to obtain vital signs,
test and evaluate individuals without
exposing them to other ill patients. The
entire staff remained positive, professional
and cohesive while maintaining a
safe environment. We were very fortunate
to receive support from our fellow
colleagues from other departments. It
was a unique opportunity to work with
a wide variety of specialty groups who
offered their time.”
Patient education was also a priority,
noted Dr. Peterman.
“I would prescribe supportive medications
such as inhalers, nebulizers, and
supplements, and encourage patients
Nurses at Stony Brook Hospital support a recovering Covid patient. Photo
credit: Stony Brook University Hospital
Sophia Marie Reyes, R.N., stands in
the Stony Brook University Hospital
Intensive Care Unit. Photo credit: Stony
Brook University Hospital
Kevin Patel, Physician Assistant,
ProHEALTH Urgent Care, Jericho.
Photo credit: ProHEALTH Urgent Care
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