MDNews - Long Island

OB-GYN Services at South Nassau IN A DDITION TO urogynecology and pelvic reconstructive surgery, South Nassau Communities Hospital offers many specialties within the obstetrics and gynecology department. They include: + Gynecologic oncology + Reproductive endocrinology and infertility + Maternal fetal medicine + Genetics + Minimally invasive surgery "We also have a Level 2 neonatal intensive care unit that is prepared to take care of infants who need intensive care after they're born," says Alan Garely, MD, Chair of OB-GYN and Director of Urogynecology and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery at South Nassau Communities Hospital. Surgery at South Nassau. "It may be embarrassing or hard to talk about, but we treat it every day. We can help." BUILT FROM THE GROUND UP After Dr. Garely joined South Nassau, he was asked to expand the hospital's urogynecologic capabilities and services. At the time, South Nassau was not considered to be an academic hospital. As the Chair of OB-GYN at South Nassau, Dr. Garely set out to create a new reputation for the hospital. "I recruited highly trained physicians from other hospitals and increased our affiliations with medical schools to attract more medical students," Dr. Garely says. "In 2016, we established one of only a handful of fully accredited OB-GYN residency programs in the country." Dr. Garely put Salma Rahimi, MD, the new Director of the OB-GYN Residency at South Nassau, in charge of building the program from the ground up. " When I joined the department, our OB-GYN re sident s ca me f rom d i f ferent hospit a l s ," Dr. Rahimi says. "I rea lized we had the volume, teaching experience and desire to have our own residency prog ra m . I took t he oppor t u n it y to spea rhead the approva l process a nd sta r t the program." Three residents are accepted into the program annually. The residency program is currently in its second year and allows South Nassau's physi- cians to pass on their knowledge of leading-edge research, techniques and new approaches to care. "The residency provides a learning environment for both residents and the faculty," Dr. Rahimi says. "It elevates the hospital and the OB-GYN department." ROLE OF RESEARCH The mu ltiple residency prog ra ms at South Nassau — there are residency programs in general surgery, family medicine and podiatry, as well as OB-GYN — have allowed the hospital to take a more active role in research, which creates a learn- ing env ironment that ex poses residents to leading-edge treatments and techniques. This, in turn, allows for the staff and physicians to stay informed about advancements in their fields. Patients at South Nassau have also embraced research opportunities at the hospital, which offers them access to treatment modalities that would otherwise be unavailable. "Getting involved with research helps patients gain a better understanding of their conditions," Dr. Rahimi says. "It gives them a sense of empower- ment because they're more involved in their care. They also feel like they're paying it forward because they're helping contribute to a larger understanding of the condition that's affecting them." In order to provide further research opportunities at the hospital, South Nassau announced a formal affiliation with Mount Sinai Health System. The agreement will allow South Nassau to grow its academic and clinical research programs while utilizing resources from Mount Sinai. These resources include access to Mount Sinai's genomics program — the leading program of its kind in the country — and the joint fetal surgery program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The fetal surgery program is available to South Nassau patients who require fetal surgery in utero. Dr. Garely performs a reconstructive pelvic surgery. 0 7 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 ■ 2 017

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