MDNews - Long Island

that was hosted by the hospital. St. Catherine of Siena hosted a complimentar y Men's Health Event about stroke and aor tic aneur ysms on July 26 at the Old Street Pub in Smithtown. The evening event was followed by a question and answer session with St. Catherine's Director of Vascular Surger y, Wound Healing Center and Hyperbaric Medicine Morad Awadallah, MD, RPVI. Northwell Health, Island Harvest Food Bank, and other community organizations and food suppliers announced the launch of the Food as Health program. The program, which is a partnership that also includes Long Island Cares Inc., the Harry Chapin Food Bank, God's Love We Deliver, US Foods and Baldor, is unique in addressing the full range of factors that can lead to food insecurity, including affordabil - ity issues, a lack of nutritional awareness, transportation and mobility problems, and difficulty in pre - paring meals. The program is piloted at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream, where 1 in 5 patients are food insecure, meaning that they do not have reliable access to adequate amounts of affordable, nutritious food. Starting this fall, the Food as Health program will be rolled out to other Northwell Health hospitals. St. Joseph Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center, both members of Catholic Health Services (CHS), were named by the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS) as winners of the 2018 HANYS Pinnacle Award for Quality & Patient Safety. This is the second consecutive year that two CHS hospitals have earned this presti - gious recognition in their respective categories. St. Joseph Hospital was again recognized in the "Hospital with Fewer than 200 Beds" category this year for its safe patient handling initiative. In the "Hospital with 200 to 500 Beds" category, Good Samaritan's focus on avoiding blood culture con - tamination outperformed the national benchmark. HANYS presented CHS and hospital leadership with the awards at its 50th Annual Membership Conference held in Saratoga Springs. Amidst a sea of American flags, proud veterans and members of the community assembled on a quiet street in Melville to celebrate the completion of a "smart" home for Long Island Army veteran Christopher Levi. Northwell Health is one of several contributors to the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which spearheaded construction of the 2,800-square-foot house. Among those on hand to wish CPL Levi well was Juan Serrano, Director of Military and Veterans Liaison Services for the health system. The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation cre - ated its Smar t Home program to give back to catastrophi - cally injured ser vice members who have paid an enormous price for America's freedom. Tunnel to Towers has either given the keys to, is currently building, or is in the advanced plan - ning stages for 75 smar t homes nationally. St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center's Community Outreach Program hosted its quar terly Emergency Medical Ser vices (EMS) Dinner and Lecture Series at Stonebridge Countr y Club — an initiative that fosters excellence in healthcare ser vices through improved communication and education to suppor t quality patient outcomes. The event was attended by local emergency responders and each attendee earned 1.5 CME hours. The summer event drew 87 EMS personnel from 21 fire depar t - ments from across the island due to the engag- ing topic, EMS Assault and Self Defense presented by Suffolk County Police Academy EMT Unit's Emergency Training Officer Peter A. DiPrima Jr., CCEMTP/CIC. In addition, St. Catherine's Stroke Program Coordinator Catherine Videtto, MSN, RN, ANP, CCRN, CPHQ, provided a lecture on Updates on New York State Depar tment of Health required for Pre-Hospital EMS Communication. Researchers at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and Nor thwell Health's Depar tment of Radiation Medicine have identified methods to increase use of the cutting-edge cancer radiation therapy hypofractionation in breast cancer patients. These findings, recently published in Advances in Radiation Oncology, demonstrate that most patients with breast cancer can be treated with a type of radiation therapy that is as effective, but has lower toxicity levels, compared to current treatments. ■ Launch of the Food as Health program Christopher Cells, Peter Scaminaci, Barbara Gibbons, Thomas Ockers, Patrick M. O'Shaughnessy and Robert Ehlers with their HANYS Pinnacle Awards Christopher Levi and Juan Serrano St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center's quarterly EMS Dinner and Lecture Series St. Catherine of Siena's Community Outreach Program at Pep Boys M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S L O N G I S L A N D ■ 2 018 2 9

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