By Rebecca Henely
After 12 years in Astoria, Mount Sinai Queens Hospital honored its employees and looked toward the future at its anniversary celebration last Thursday.
“It’s hard to believe that it’s been a dozen years,” said Caryn Schwab, executive director for the hospital.
The hospital, at 25-10 30th Ave. in Astoria, is the Queens campus for Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, created when Mount Sinai had bought a previous hospital, Astoria General Hospital, on the site in 1999. The Queens campus specializes in acute adult care, but takes adults and children in its emergency room, said Shelly Felder, director of marketing and communications for Mount Sinai Queens.
“They wanted a footprint in Queens, and it’s really grown,” Felder said of Mount Sinai.
More than 80 people showed up for the hospital’s birthday celebration, which took place at its annex courtyard on Crescent Street between 30th Avenue and 30th Drive. A tarp was set up to protect celebrants from the rain while they munched on pieces of three large cakes and ice cream from two Mister Softee trucks, which parked by the courtyard and gave out their wares for free during the event.
Schwab said they were planning to expand the hospital, offering more specialized care. She said the hospital has continued to do so despite the challenges of the 2010 federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, state cuts to Medicaid and the closings of three borough hospitals — Forest Hills’ Parkway, Elmhurst’s St. John’s Queens and Jamaica’s Mary Immaculate — over the last four years.
“We’ve made a pledge together that we won’t be joining those ranks and I stand behind that pledge,” Schwab said to the applause of the crowd.
As the hospital does every year, five awards were given out to employees in the categories of Service Excellence, Employee of the Year, Manager of the Year, Team of the Year and Freshman of the Year, which is given to employees who have been there a year or less.
Many winners, such as Ana Rodriguez, director of community relations and volunteer services, thanked their colleagues at the hospital and credited them with their win.
“I thank God every day I walk into the hospital wearing an MSHQ ID badge,” said Jessy Augustine, a critical care nurse who won the hospital’s Employee of the Year award.
The other winners included surgical physician assistant Meghan O’Donogue, who won Freshman of the Year; wounds care nurse practitioner Evelyn Alcontin, who won Manager of the Year; and the Post Anaesthesia Care Unit, who won Team of the Year.
Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
