24 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 9, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
NICU at Cohen’s Children’s Hospital saving lives for 35 years and counting
BY KATHERINE NERI
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
As the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
(NICU) at Cohen Children’s Medical
Center marks its 35th anniversary, more
than 350 people — including former
patients, their families and staff — came
together for the celebration on Sunday,
July 29.
Th e children’s hospital, located in New
Hyde Park, is ranked among the best in
the country for their exceptional care,
technique and services and have been
on the U.S. News & World Report’s Best
Children’s Hospital list for 12 consecutive
years. Th e medical center’s NICU has
been giving seriously ill newborns the critical
care and treatment they require since
the center fi rst opened in 1983.
Over the years, the care unit has grown
from two neonatologists to 22 and has
treated 2,088 cases in 2017 alone using the
most advanced equipment in neonatology.
“All in all, we are very proud,” said
Joanna Beachy, associate chief of perinatal
medicine and neonatology. “It’s a team
eff ort — doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists,
physical therapists and nutritionists
— everybody is involved in making
sure that we have the best outcome that
we can.”
Th e unit houses a total of 57 beds and
uses a transport system that includes physicians
and nurses. If needed, they will
even use Northwell Health’s SkyHealth
emergency helicopter — which fl ies at
135 miles an hour over traffi c below and
can travel 25 miles in around 10 minutes,
whereas an ambulance may take an hour
or more along the same route.
Cohen Children’s NICU continues to
be an active participant in key national
research and “recently celebrated maintaining
a zero infection rate for central
line associated bloodstream infections
(CLABSI) for more than 400 days,”
according to the press release.
Everyone came together to celebrate
their numerous successes including
Carolyn Quinn, Morgan Saatchi, and
Tiff any Collado — all mothers who relied
on the medical center’s expert care to save
their children.
Quinn, Cohen Children’s deputy executive
director and former pediatric ICU
nurse, is thankful for the help the hospital
provided when her triplet sons were born
at 29 weeks gestation.
“I am proof that you can get through it,”
Quinn said. “Th ese are the best people in
the world to take care of your children. I
would not be doing as well as I did without
the nurses and doctors here. Th ank you for
helping me celebrate them.”
Her boys are now all 21 years old.
Saatchi’s son had been born at 31
weeks gestation, weighing a total of only
2 pounds, 4 ounces. Th e baby, Maverick,
also suff ered from tracheoesophageal fi stula
and underwent his fi rst surgery when
he was a mere 24 hours old. His fi rst stay at
the NICU was for more than eight weeks,
but he has since been back at the hospital
for nine more procedures and 15 hospitalizations
to treat a collection of conditions
that include staphylococcal scalded
skin syndrome (SSSS) and a collapsed
esophagus.
A healthy Maverick is now 4 years old
and cannot help but smile every time he
walks into the hospital.
“Th e fact that he’s happy to be here is a
testament to the people,” Saatchi said.
Collado’s son, Jacob, was born 10 weeks
premature at 3 pounds, 4 ounces, has
severe chronic lung disease and underwent
six surgeries, fi ve blood transfusions,
four rounds of high-dose steroids, a tracheotomy
with ventilator support and a
surgically placed feeding tube during his
11-month stay in the NICU. Jacob also
fought meningitis and hydrocephalus.
“My experience here was amazing,”
Collado said. “Before I came here I didn’t
know anything. We were so scared, but
the bedside manner here is incredible. I’ve
developed relationships here with everyone.”
Photo courtesy of Northwell Health
John and Jacob Oquendo at the 35th Anniversary celebration of the Cohen Children’s NICU on Aug. 1.
This Queens librarian gives inmates on Rikers Island the gift of the written word
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/ @jenna_bagcal
For the past year and a half, Nili Ness has
been working as Queens Library’s fi rst and
only correctional services librarian, a role
which has allowed her to serve Rikers Island
inmates.
Th ree times a week, Ness visits Rikers
ready to hand deliver carts full of books
and other reading materials to the eagerly
waiting individuals at the Queens prison
complex.
Ness became inspired to work as a librarian
aft er substituting for one at Hunter College
High School for a semester. Following that
experience, she applied to Queens College’s
Graduate School of Library and Information
Studies and explored the topic of services to
incarcerated youth. From there she said she
became drawn to learning about underserved
populations and served as a part-time
correctional services assistant, which eventually
led her to her current role.
When she fi rst started in the role, she
said there was a “big learning curve” since
she had to hand write everything instead
of using technology to do things like keep
track of the books and take requests from
inmates.
Her role as correctional services librarian
was created thanks to a grant from the
New York City Council, which allowed the
Queens Library to extend their services to
Rikers Island. In 2016, the NYC Council
issued a $600,000 grant to the three New
York City library systems to expand the
Video Visitation program.
Th e librarian said that the program was
created by former NYC Council Speaker
Melissa Mark-Viverito and Councilman
Jimmy Van Bramer and operates in 22
libraries across the fi ve boroughs.
Ness said that the video visitations do not
replace the traditional in-person visits, but
rather act as a supplement. She added that
travel to Rikers is sometimes diffi cult and
can oft en take family members an entire day
to get there.
Other money from the NYC Council
grant went to funding the Rolling Library
that Ness operates. For those who may not
have families to visit them or communicate
with, Ness said that the books are their
escape.
Ness serves inmates in the Anna M.
Kross Center (AMKC) and Otis Bantum
Correctional Center (OBCC) within the
complex. She serves 16 general population
houses at Otis Bantum, which hold about 40
to 50 inmates per house. At Anna M. Kross,
Ness visits 16 male-only houses with about
31 men per house, as well as a newer unit
for veterans that house about 20 individuals.
She added that there may be plans in the
works to open a standing library at the Otis
Bantum Correctional Center, which both
the Queens Library and Brooklyn Public
Library would share.
“Authors like Patterson are defi nitely popular,
but urban fi ction, like K’wan, is also in
demand,” she said. “Some people like physics
books, so you can put Stephen Hawkins
and Richard Feynman and people will pick
it up and want to read it. I also try to bring
specifi c books if there are any requests. For
example, I had one man who was hard of
hearing and he really wanted books on sign
language and I was able to bring him some.”
But Ness said that there are still large portions
of Rikers that do not receive any books
or educational materials due to a lack of
staffi ng and logistical challenges, including
lack of elevators to transport her book cart
to diff erent fl oors.
“It’s hard to see that people still don’t
get access,” Ness said. “When you work at
Rikers Island, you realize how large the need
is. Even with all three public library systems
involved, there are still large areas of the
jail complex that don’t receive any type of
library service, outside of perhaps, access to
the law library. Th ere are still plenty of people
who have no meaningful access to materials
to enrich their inner lives.”
In addition to the Rolling Library and
Video Visitation programs, Ness also conducts
outreach toward inmates’ reentry
into society, which involves putting together
a “Queens reentry guide” fi lled with
library-off ered resources and lists of other
Queens-based organizations that off er free
or low-cost services.
“I want people to know that it’s not out
of sight out of mind,” said Ness about the
people she serves at Rikers. “I believe in
the power of reading and what it can do in
someone’s life.”
Photo courtesy of Nili Ness
Nili Ness, Queens Library’s fi rst and only correctional services librarian
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