HEALTHCARE TOMORROW
Ribbon cutting for $47.7 million Northwell Health and NYC Health + Hospitals shared lab
STAYING UP TO DATE
Two Queens hospitals make investments to boost quality of care
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Two of Queens' biggest
medical networks are continuing
to modernize as
part of their effort to provide
the borough's residents
with easy access to top-of-theline
healthcare.
Over the past several years,
Northwell Health and NewYork
Presbyterian Queens have
made advancements within
their facilities, technology and
services. These two organizations
have grown to accommodate
a growing popular and
changing healthcare needs of
Queens residents.
According to Jackie Shutack
Wong, the senior media
associate of public affairs at
NewYork-Presbyterian, the
hospital has made advancements
in the neurological care
it provides to patients. In May
2019, the hospital celebrated
the one-year anniversary of
the Mobile Stroke Treatment
Unit (MSTU). Since its launch
in 2018, it has served more than
350 patients.
The hospital's MSTU emergency
vehicles provide immediate,
specialized care to
patients experiencing a stroke.
The highly specialized MSTU
team consists of two paramedics,
a computed tomography
(CT) technologist and a registered
nurse.
Advanced telemedicine
technology allows the team to
contact vascular neurologists
from Weill Cornell Medicine
and Columbia University Irving
Medical Center remotely
and at a moment's notice.
“As we continue to follow up
with stroke patients who have
been treated in the MSTU in
the outpatient setting, we have
seen significant levels of improvement
due to the fact that
we were able to treat their condition
so quickly in the MSTU,”
said Dr. Sammy Pishanidar,
NYP Queens site director for
the MSTU. “Our highly trained
and specialized crew have become
experts at delivering the
same high level of care as a patient
may receive in a standard
ambulance, with treatment
times up to 40 minutes faster."
Another advancement at
NYP Queens hospitals is the
Video Remote Interpretation
(VRI) service, which they
rolled out in 2019.
Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit vehicles at Flushing Meadows Corona Park
Lead photo courtesy of NewYork-Presbyterian Queens. Other photos provided by NYP Queens and
“Half of our patients prefer
to use a language other than
English," said Tena Vizner,
director of Patient Experience
at NewYork-Presbyterian
Queens. "These devices are
hands-free, and use audio or
video to provide non-English
speaking patients with language
interpretation. They are
user-friendly, and through the
human connection, they bring
a level of warmth to our patients
and their families.”
As of June 2019, NYP Queens
Northwell Health
has implemented over 50 of the
VRI devices for inpatient and
outpatient treatment.
Susan Browning, the executive
director of LIJ Forest
Hills, a Northwell Health
teaching hospital, said that
Northwell focuses on bringing
patient's medical treatment
closer to home. Although
Northwell has not yet publicized
where they are looking
to place medical facilities,
Browning said that the hospital
is currently "in the stages
26 QUEENS TOMORROW 2019