MDNews - Lower Hudson/Bronx

When Lynn Rosen's husband, Mike, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, a loving wife instantly became a caregiver. In her new role, Rosen researched how to find help while tending to her husband's healthcare needs. She will now use her experience to serve others, as a volunteer at the new Marsal Caregiver Center at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, the first caregiver center at a rehabilitation hospital in the United States. Most family members are not prepared for the intense physical, mental and emotional responsibilities associated with being a full-time caregiver. Up to 70 percent of caregivers have symptoms of depres - sion. Studies have also found that caregivers have diminished immune responses, due to stress-related disorders. Carla Assenza, LCSW, will be the Director of the new Caregiver Center. Assenza will be joined by a team of highly trained volunteers — Rosen included — who will undergo training that will focus on active listening and rapport building. Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) has expanded its telemedicine program to include a teletrauma ser vice at the network's Kingston and Margaretville hospitals, bringing the immediate care that traumatic injuries require to communities where access to Level I trauma care is limited. The teletrauma program connects providers at HealthAlliance Hospital: Broadway Campus in Kingston and Margaretville Hospital in Margaretville, both members of WMCHealth, with the advanced care trauma expertise of specialists at WMCHealth's flagship Westchester Medical Center and member Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla. Both Valhalla hospitals are home to Level I trauma centers verified by the American College of Surgeons. A Level I trauma center provides the highest level of care to trauma patients. Through the teletrauma program, an emergency department physician or other acute care clinician in Kingston or Margaretville can initiate a video connection with the trauma team in Valhalla, allowing the specialist there to see the patient and discuss the pa - tient's immediate needs with the bedside team. The remote trauma team can advise on the severity of the patient's condition and deter- mine with the local team whether the patient would best be treated where they are or transferred to Westchester Medical Center or Maria Fareri Children's Hospital. Westmed Medical Group has announced the acquisition of a new nuclear medicine camera — the GE Discovery NM630 — to benefit patients, physicians and clinicians. The camera is SPECT-optimized, which means the images are processed with the use of a computer like a CT scan. A nuclear camera is used in a diagnostic imaging study that uses a radioactive tracer to produce images of the heart muscle. When combined with stress either through exercise or injection of a drug, the nuclear scan helps determine if the heart muscle is getting the blood supply it needs. This imaging test allows the physician to compare the amount of blood flow - ing through the heart muscle during stress and at rest. The new nuclear camera at 210 Westchester Ave. is accredited by the American College of Radiology's Committee on Nuclear Medicine. Calvary Hospital hosted a joyous celebration to dedicate a new mantle cover for a sacred Torah scroll. This 135-year-old scroll — dating from the 1880s — is originally from the town of Taus-Domazlice in what is now known as the Czech Republic. Since 1988, it has been on permanent loan to Calvary from the Memorial Scrolls Trust (MST) in London. Of the more than 1,400 MST scrolls currently on permanent loan around the world, Calvary's scroll, No. 515, is one of only 20 in the greater New York area today and one of just a handful that have gone to non-Jewish recipients. During World War II, the Nazis confiscated Jewish ritual items and sacred Torah scrolls from Jewish communities of Bohemia and Moravia, then known as Czechoslovakia. In 1964, the Westminster Synagogue in London received 1,564 Torah scrolls from Prague and established the MST to restore the scrolls and distribute them to com - munities throughout the world. Thanks to the significant support from the Charles R. & Winifred R. Weber Foundation, Calvary launched the restoration in November 2015. By the time this project was completed in November 2016, more than 200 donors had made gifts that amounted to more than $111,000. Once all restoration expenses were covered, the remaining funds benefited all patients and families under Calvary's care. ■ Opening of the new Marsal Caregiver Center at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital The GE Discovery NM630 nuclear medicine camera Rabbi Rachmiel Rothberger, Rabbi Jeffrey J. Sirkman, Michael J. Brescia, MD, and Rabbi Shmuel Zuckerman M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S L O W E R H U D S O N / B R O N X ■ 2 018 2 1

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