28 THE QUEENS COURIER • HEALTH • APRIL 1, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
health
NewYork-Presbyterian Queens physician recognized
as ‘shero’ for leadership during COVID-19 pandemic
“I’m truly in awe of all my
colleagues’ resilience and
strength and the ones
on the front lines in
the critical care units
and emergency room.
I honestly don’t think
I did more than any
of them. It was a
time where people
stepped forward
and it was just an
incredible experience
and we gave
each other strength.”
—Dr. Sorana Segal Maurer
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Dr. Sorana Segal Maurer, the director
of Infectious Diseases at NewYork-
Presbyterian Queens Hospital in Flushing,
is being hailed as one of many “sheroes”
during Women’s History Month for her
leadership in guiding and advising her
colleagues on navigating the COVID-19
pandemic.
Maurer had made herself available to
her colleagues 24/7 for many months, and
strived to portray a daily sense of composure.
However, she credits her colleagues
for the remarkable work they have done
together in helping to save lives during the
global health crisis that ravaged Queens a
year ago.
“I’m truly in awe of all my colleagues’
resilience and strength and the ones on
the front lines in the critical care units and
emergency room,” said Maurer, who has
been the head of Infectious Diseases at
the hospital since 2011. “I honestly don’t
think I did more than any of them. It was
a time where people stepped forward and
it was just an incredible experience and
we gave each other strength.”
As National Doctors’ Day is also around
the corner on March 30, Maurer said it’s a
day to say “thank you” to everyone.
“You cannot care for a patient without
the support of everyone — the nurses,
the people who bring food, wash your
patients, clean the rooms, the lab technicians
… the list is endless,” Maurer said.
Maurer’s career trajectory was strongly
infl uenced by her strict Eastern European
upbringing. She had immigrated to the
U.S. at the age 11 and her parents were
engineers. Her role models were her
mother and grandmother — two strong
women who played an important role in
her life, she said.
“My mother was hardworking and
high-achieving — I felt she could ‘do it
all.’ She pushed me to achieve my best
and eventually I internalized her high
standards,” Maurer said. “My grandmother
was a steady and gentle force in my
life and taught me how to laugh and be
patient. I have never struggled to wake up
in the morning, because I love what I do.”
In early 2020, Maurer and her colleagues
were watching developments on
COVID-19 and were certain they would
get hit, but they did not anticipate the
velocity, sheer numbers and overwhelming
mortality of their sickest patients,
she said.
“We were humming and buzzing 24
hours a day, seven days a week with
a lot of collaboration, coordination and
communication,” Maurer said. “We were
meeting several times a day to review
what we had done in the last few hours,
and what was needed to take care of
patients and resources and staffi ng.”
As the hospital’s infection control offi -
cer, Maurer’s responsibilities included
making NewYork-Presbyterian Queens
as safe as possible for healthcare workers
to care for patients; helping disseminate
pertinent information to staff in real
time; limiting panic and avoiding dangerous
behaviors; coordinating with colleagues;
and functioning as a resource for
hospital leadership.
“I was making sure the staff had the
proper knowledge and how to protect
themselves with PPE and also speaking
about all of the latest guidelines and new
information, and answering any kind of
misconceptions,” said Maurer, who has
been at the hospital since 1993.
According to Maurer, she had never
been as personally and professionally
challenged by circumstances in the past
few months,in spite of providing care
during the earliest days of the AIDS epidemic,
caused by HIV (human immunodefi
ciency virus).
“Th is was diff erent in that the numbers
of patients and the rapidity of the spread
of illness was remarkable, and I think
what we all found incredibly traumatic
was our desperate eff orts to save lives,”
Maurer said. “In the old days of AIDS, the
information was not as rapidly evolving
or the guidelines.”
Although the hospital staff had frequent
and thorough updates from NYPQ as well
as NYP Enterprise leadership, Maurer
said she felt the need to connect with as
many healthcare workers on the front
line as she could to make sure she understood
their concerns. Amid growing fear
and uncertainty about COVID-19, hospital
staff members became worried about
their families and patients. According to
Dr. Sorana Segal Maurer, director of Infectious Diseases at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital
in Flushing
Maurer, they found comfort in each other
while meeting in small groups.
“It was that unity, when you’re all
together, it helps to share the burden a little
bit,” Maurer said. “I hope it was helpful
to the people I huddled with, but it was
certainly helpful to me because you bring
back humanity, and you also talk about
what it’s like to lose a patient, but also all
of the lives we saved.”
Like many healthcare workers, the
events that unfolded psychologically
impacted Maurer, but the support she
received from her colleagues and family
was invaluable and helped her to restore
herself, she said. It was also the kindness
and generosity of the community delivering
food and fl owers to the hospital.
“Th e entire community was behind us.
We coped because we knew people were
relying on us, and you had to do it for them
and their family members. I have never
had anything like that ever,” Maurer said.
One year later, as she refl ects on
COVID, Maurer said in spite
of the surge and some of the
variants in the community,
they are in a much
diff erent place now
compared to last
March.
“We are better
prepared from
supplies to our
knowledge. We
know what it
means when
a patient
comes to the
emergency
room and
what treatments
they
need,”
Maurer
said.
As the
COVID-19 vaccinations
symbolize
a ‘shot of hope’ as
the world
moves
Courtesy of NewYork-Presbyterian Queens Hospital
into a post-COVID world and retaining
some sense of normalcy, Maurer said the
vaccine is a “tremendous game changer.”
“I joke around with my patients and
tell them, ‘Don’t walk to get the vaccine;
run to get the vaccine if your opportunity
comes,’” Maurer said.
In Maurer’s personal life, she has found
great satisfaction in her family, cooking,
being with her dogs, and toiling in her
garden.
While international travel may not
be in the cards for a family vacation
this year, Maurer is looking forward
to visiting a state in celebration of her
daughter’s graduation from medical
school and her son’s graduation from
law school in May.
“World travel with my family reminded
me that there is much joy outside
work,” Maurer said. “I have optimism that
we will be able to experience the world
again.”
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