Fighting infections and
superbugs at Montefi ore
Montefi ore Health System
has promoted Dr. Theresa
Madaline to the position
of Hospital Epidemiologist, a
role dedicated to safeguarding
the hospital and its patients
against infectious diseases.
At age 36, she is among
the youngest physicians to
ever hold this position. Dr.
Madaline, assistant professor
of Medicine, Albert Einstein
College of Medicine, will lead
Infection Prevention and Control
efforts at Montefi ore and
serve as its point person with
the New York State Department
of Health and other public
health authorities.
“This is an amazing opportunity
to work with the
incredibly talented infectious
diseases physicians in our
division, as well as hospital
leaders, providers in other
specialties, nurses, and other
associates who care for and
support our patients,” said Dr.
Madaline. “Being the daughter
of a nurse, I understand
the importance of a multidisciplinary
approach to process
improvement and patient
safety at every level. Meaningful
progress can only be
made when we work together
under the guiding principle of
protecting patients before all
else.”
Dr. Madaline’s fascination
with infectious disease was
sparked by the 1995 fi lm “Outbreak,”
a fi ctional account of
how a monkey smuggled in
from Africa carrying a deadly
tropical disease, threatens the
health of a California town.
The fi lm captured her imagination
but also got her thinking
practically about the effect
of disease on populations and
what can be done to control it.
“Dr. Madaline’s fi rsthand
experience caring for our patients,
and success in driving
down preventable infections,
combined with her
passion and ingenuity, made
her hands down the best person
for this job,” said Dr. Peter
Shamamian, vice president
and chief quality offi cer, Montefi
ore Health System and professor
of surgery, Einstein.
“You can count every infection
and pull together the
most sophisticated methodology
to do so, but without the
frontline perspective of how
things work, we’ll ultimately
fail. That’s what Dr. Madaline
brings in spades,” said Dr.
Shamamian.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, F 38 EBRUARY 22-28, 2019 BTR
Dr. Madaline, who was selected
after a lengthy national
search among infection prevention
leaders, has a track
record of bolstering quality
improvement and bridging antibiotic
stewardship and infection
prevention.
After joining Montefi ore in
2011, she created its Outpatient
Antibiotic Therapy (OPAT)
program with Dr. Priya Nori,
medical director, Montefi ore’s
Antibiotic Stewardship Program,
which reduced readmissions
by 15 percent among
patients who were discharged
from the hospital on IV antibiotics.
Dr. Madaline and Dr.
Nori led the team of physicians,
infusion companies, administrative
staff, nursing facilities
and a bilingual nurse
coordinator to accommodate
the needs of people undergoing
treatment for infectious
conditions, ranging from common
skin infections to complicated
joint replacement infections.
OPAT patients, who
often have complex chronic
infections, can experience 30-
day hospital readmission at
rates of up to 50 percent.
She has also been named
VALENTINE’S WINTER MARKET HELD
Northeast Bronx Community Farmers Market Project hosted a Valentine’s
Winter Market on Tuesday, February 12 at Confetti Party
(Above) Chrys Napolitano (r) from Two Wrasslin’ Dogs Farms
made a sale to Bob Bieder, 45th Precinct Community Council president.
Photo by Fernando Justiniano
to the Quality Improvement
Committee of the Infectious
Diseases Society of America,
and is leading efforts to present
a new performance improvement
workshop for infectious
diseases leaders at
IDWeek 2019.
Dr. Madaline previously
served as co-director of the
microbiology and infectious
diseases course at Einstein
and the director of Clinical
Infectious Diseases Services
at Montefi ore’s Weiler campus.
Since 2016, she has been a
member of Montefi ore’s internal
quality department, the
Network Performance Group,
focused on infection prevention
and safety.
In her new role, Dr. Madaline
plans to develop and expand
Montefi ore’s infection
control team, including additional
certifi ed infection
prevention nurses, infectious
diseases physicians and data
analysts, furthering Montefi
ore’s commitment to providing
the very best care to its
patients.
BY MARY JANE MUSANO
I guess some of you noticed
the misprint in last week’s
column. I received a few hysterical
(laughing) phone calls
asking if our dues has really
increased to $100! Well,
we all had a good laugh. Of
course, our dues is still only
ten dollars and it is due now.
Please send your check to
1145 Hobart Avenue, Bronx,
NY 10461. Your dues helps us
do wonderful things for our
community.
Some of our members have
already received a call from
our phone broadcast for the
rally outside of Montefi ore’s
Weiler Campus, so it is up
and running. Yay! And thank
you again to John Cerini for
helping us with this.
Yes. We are still working
hard to get Montefi ore to step
up and be the hospital we deserve.
One of the reasons we are
doing the phone broadcasts is
to try to get our community
involved in events and issues
that will improve our community.
We must all work
together to have our voices
heard if we expect our community
to be the best it can
be. The fi rst step toward that
end is to make sure that everyone
in our community is
informed.
If you did not receive a call
it means that we do not have
your phone number. When
you send in your dues please
include your phone number
so that we can put you on the
broadcast list. You can also
e-mail your phone number
to waterburylasalle@yahoo.
com.
You will receive a phone
call reminder for our next
membership meeting which
is on Tuesday, March 26 at 7:30
at the First Lutheran Church
on Baisley and Hollywood
avenues. Our guests will be
John Cerini, our Bronx Tax
Man and staff from Ridgewood
Savings Bank. They
will be speaking about taxes,
banking and ways to improve
your fi nancial situation.
There’s nothing more important
than that.
I will end by telling you
that I recently came across an
old Bronx Times Reporter issue
from 1994. In our next column
I will discuss a column
written by Patrick Collins,
the gentleman that wrote our
column in 1994. It is just so
interesting how some things
never change even after 25
years. Patrick, if you are still
in the neighborhood, you
wrote some good columns.
Remember, it is not good
enough not to be part of the
problem. You must get involved
and become part of the
solution.
We had the World War
1 Doughboys here at Sam
Young Legion Post 620 last
weekend for their annual
presentation and swap meet.
As usual they had all kinds of
vintage and authentic items
from that era.
If you have never checked
it out put it on your calendar
for next year.
Remember we are still
commemorating World War
I, the ‘war to end all wars’.
One day we hope that will
happen.
This year also marks the
75th anniversary of World
War II, it is said often, let us
never forget ever.
Upcoming in March, the
American Legion has a campaign
to bring former members
back to their post that
haven’t been heard from in
a while. It’s called Call A
Buddy.
If you know of someone
that has been a member and
hasn’t been seen or heard
from in a while, give him or
her a call. Sometimes that’s
all it takes to let them know
they are missed.
Every post has contact information
on their members,
so swing by your post and
lend a hand, does not take that
much time to let a brother or
sister veteran know we are
still here for them.
I am sad to announce the
passing of Ed Shipp, Legion
member of the Hawkins Post,
City Island. Arrangements
will be passed down through
command, please offer your
thoughts and prayers to the
family.
We are stronger as one.
Let’s work together.
God bless America!
Place.
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