Neil Ericksen, a 61-year-old carpenter and Broadway set builder who lives in Hurley, is lucky to be alive. He credits his miraculous recovery to HealthAlliance Hospital and the doctors and nurses at Westchester Medical Center.
Neil suffered severe injuries when he fell off a neighbor’s roof while trying to fix a leak. He was initially brought to HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston and was then transported to Westchester Medical Center for treatment. Neil spent two months in a medically induced coma there due to brain injuries. He also had severe injuries to his shoulder and arm.
“I know that I fell 25 feet and that my girlfriend found me,” he said. “I don’t remember much else except waking up months later at Westchester Medical Center.”
What Neil does remember is the kindness and skill of the nurses at Westchester Medical Center. “The severity of the accident was such that I am very lucky to be alive. I can walk and talk, and that is a miracle. The nurses were very caring and experienced,” he said. “They were absolutely selfless and dedicated.”
Lisa Ricci is grateful to WMC Health’s Behavioral Health Center at MidHudson Regional Hospital for helping her to overcome mental health issues and giving her the chance to help others who struggle with addiction and mental illness.
Lisa, 38, of Pleasant Valley, was 14 years old when she began to feel the urge to harm herself. But it wasn’t until she was 24 and had a serious traumatic experience that she became unstable. She was first hospitalized in 2010 and over the next year was hospitalized three times. Eventually, Lisa entered an intensive outpatient program at HealthAlliance Hospital where she was able to get the help she needed to turn her life around.
Today, Lisa is a mentor and group leader with People USA and leads a peer group at MidHudson Regional Hospital three days a week. She recently earned her certification as a recovery peer advocate.
“I advocate for people with mental health issues and substance abuse. It’s very rewarding. What I have to offer is very special because I can say ‘I get it. I know what it’s like to be there.’”
Now, Lisa is the one who is helping others turn their lives around. Are there days when she feels down? Yes, she says.
“Recovery is not aways linear,” she said. “But now I have the skills to cope with the challenges.”
Michael Wartman said if there is one thing he has learned from his experience at Margaretville Hospital, it is that teamwork makes all the difference in a medical emergency.
“I can’t say enough about everyone who helped me,’’ said Wartman, 68 of Baltimore, MD. “From the exceptional healthcare team at Margaretville Hospital to the first responders who literally carried me across the field to the helicopter. I was very lucky.”
Wartman, who is an avid runner, was visiting his close friend in Margaretville on Columbus Day weekend when he went for a run. As he was running down a steep driveway, he suddenly felt dizzy and fainted. When he returned to his friend’s house, they took his blood pressure. It was so high that they immediately headed for the Emergency Department at Margaretville Hospital.
Wartman said that after doctors stabilized him, an ambulance took him to a field where they airlifted him to HealthAlliance Hospital in Kingston. There, doctors discovered that he had an arrythmia.
“My family has a history of heart disease, so I am glad that doctors were able to diagnose the problem,” said Wartman. He is now back home and is on medication, has returned to running, and says he feels healthier than ever.
“I’m very grateful,” he said. “I would urge anyone to donate to help the hospital. They certainly deserve it.”
Jessica Franjul-Pena is grateful for the care she and her twins, Ethan Lorenzo and Katalina, received at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, a member of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network.
Because Jessica conceived through in vitro fertilization, she was monitored closely from the start of her pregnancy. When she was eighteen weeks pregnant, Jessica was diagnosed with chronic hypertension. She was immediately referred to a maternal medicine specialist at Westchester Medical Center. Ultrasound monitoring also later revealed that one of the twins was not thriving as she should have been, and doctors decided to watch the babies even more closely.
“I had great doctors,’’ said Jessica. “They were really on top of my case, monitoring me and the babies every step of the way.”
Thirty-three weeks into her pregnancy, Jessica’s doctors discovered her liver enzymes were dangerously high. She had developed superimposed preeclampsia, putting both her and the babies at risk. At that point, her medical team decided it would be safest to induce labor even though the babies would be premature. The twins were born on December 21, 2023 and were sent to the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital. Ethan spent 11 days in the NICU and Katalina spent 24 days there.
“The NICU experience was amazing. Everyone was always so kind. It’s such a difficult job but they always remained friendly and helpful. There’s a lot to learn in caring for a preemie. They teach you so much,” Jessica said.
Now, Jessica, Ethan Lorenzo, and Katalina are all doing well.
Please give to Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital today!
This Mother’s Day when you shop at DeCicco’s & Sons you can support Critical Care Services at Westchester Medical Center Health Network. Funds from your donations go to support Women’s Health Services such as Maternity, Labor and Delivery services. These services are key to providing a healthy start for new moms and babies like Jessica Franjul-Pena who delivered her twins Ethan Lorenzo and Katalina at Westchester Medical Center.
“I had great doctors,“ said Jessica. “They were really on top of my case, monitoring me and the babies every step of the way.“
When you shop at DeCicco & Sons from April 28 – May 12, 2024 you can donate $1, $5 or $10 or more to WMCHealth’s Critical Care Services to help nurture new beginnings.
Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) is grateful for the support of longtime partner and sponsor ShopRite.
During its winter fundraiser, ShopRite collected more than $92,000 in donations from shoppers at its 27 area locations. The money will go to support programs and services throughout the WMCHealth network.
Fundraiser draws more than 400 and honors Elizabeth Bracken Thompson as Community Champion
VALHALLA, NY (March 14, 2024) – Girls’ Night Out, a heartwarming evening featuring tributes to heart disease survivors and their caregivers, was held Feb. 15 at The Sleepy Hollow Hotel in Tarrytown. WCBS-TV news anchor Mary Calvi emceed the event with proceeds benefiting the Westchester Medical Center Health Network’s (WMCHealth) Heart & Vascular Institute, which offers comprehensive cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery and vascular surgery services, as well as WMCHealth’s new five-story Critical Care Tower now under construction. A sellout crowd of over 400 attended.
Girls’ Night Out Emcee WCBS-TV Anchor Mary Calvi and Honoree Elizabeth Bracken Thompson with patients and healthcare providers featured in the event’s fashion show.
Foundation Board member Elizabeth Bracken Thompson received the WMCHealth Foundation’s 1st Community Champion Award. Bracken-Thompson is a partner with the award-winning public relations firm of Thompson & Bender in Briarcliff Manor and a long time WMCHealth supporter. The evening also included dining, dancing and a videotaped fashion show featuring healthcare providers and patients modeling fashions from fashion designer Beverley Olivacce, the event’s exclusive fashion partner. Other sponsors included Macy’s; Cross County Shopping Center and M&T Bank.
Heart disease is still the number one killer of women in the United States, causing 1 in 3 deaths or approximately one every minute.
Gabbie Fried, RN, Vice President of Cardiovascular Services with WMCHealth’s Heart & Vascular Institute said that 80 percent of heart diseases and strokes are preventable.
“Through education and screening and by developing a personalized plan to reduce risk factors and encourage exercise and healthy eating, our Cardiovascular Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Program works to head off potential heart problems. The program has seen successful results, and we are seeing more patients than last year,’’ she said.
This year’s fashion show featured patients that included Jake Amoroso, a New York Police Department officer, whose successful surgery allowed him to become a member of the force, 15-year-old Mia Santana who came here from the Dominican Republic with her mother to undergo lifechanging heart repair, and young siblings Gabriel (8) and Rei (4), who received treatment for congenital heart issues.
Read about their stories and see the fashion show video here.
Donations to support WMCHealth can still be made here.
About Westchester Medical Center Health Network The Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) is a 1,700-bed healthcare system headquartered in Valhalla, New York, with nine hospitals on seven campuses spanning 6,200 square miles of the Hudson Valley. WMCHealth employs more than 13,000 people and has nearly 3,000 attending physicians. The Network has Level I (adult and pediatric), Level II and Level III trauma centers, the region’s only acute care children’s hospital, an academic medical center, several community hospitals, dozens of specialized institutes and centers, Comprehensive and Primary Stroke Centers, skilled nursing, assisted living facilities, home-care services and one of the largest mental health systems in New York State. Today, WMCHealth is the pre-eminent provider of integrated health care in the Hudson Valley. For more information about WMCHealth, visit WMCHealth.org or follow WMCHealth on Facebook.com/WMCHealth or Instagram.com/WMCHealth.
Girls’ Night Out, an annual fundraiser for the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) Heart and Vascular Institute, will be held on Feb. 15, 2024 at The Sleepy Hollow Hotel in Tarrytown.
The event will celebrate the triumphs of heart patients and recognize the physicians and healthcare professionals whose compassion and skill save lives. February is Heart Health Awareness Month. Heart disease remains the number one killer of women in the United States, causing 1 in 3 deaths or approximately one every minute.
Girls’ Night Out will be emceed by award-winning, WCBS-TV news anchor Mary Calvi. Proceeds from the event will benefit the WMCHealth Heart and Vascular Institute, which offers a wide range of cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery and vascular surgery services — including heart failure and heart transplantation, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and more — to Hudson Valley residents.
To learn more about sponsorships for the event or to purchase tickets or make a donation here.
Farmingdale school Superintendent, Paul Defendini, will bring cards made by school students and their families to thank the doctors, nurses and staff who helped save the lives of students involved in a deadly bus crash in September.
What: The bus was transporting Farmingdale High School’s marching band from Long Island to a camp in Pennsylvania when it crashed on a New York highway. Two teachers died and dozens of children were injured. Survivors were treated at Westchester Medical Center.
Representatives from the Farmingdale School District, including district superintendent Paul DeFendi recently returned to WMCHealth’s Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital to thank doctors, nurses and support staff members for their work caring for young victims of the September bus crash involving Farmingdale High School students.
District representatives met with clinical and support staff members and presented thank you notes written/drawn by students in the district’s elementary schools. A total of 15 boxes filled with cards were presented.
WMCHealth’s Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, N.Y., and St. Anthony Community Hospital in Warwick, N.Y., also cared for bus crash victims and representatives from both hospitals were on hand and received boxes of thank you notes to bring back to their respective hospitals. Victims cared for at these hospitals were either treated and released or transferred to WMCHealth’s Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital and Westchester Medical Center for care. At one point, 12 bus crash victims were at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital/Westchester Medical Center.
Runners representing hospitals in the Westchester Medical Center Health Network run at the TCS New York City Marathon on November 5
A special group of Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) employees and families of patients raised $74,500 running in the TCS New York City Marathon on November 5 in support of WMCHealth facilities across the Hudson Valley.
The team’s 10 members ran in support of the life-changing and lifesaving care provided at each of WMCHealth’s 10 Hudson Valley hospitals. Family and colleagues of the runners gathered to cheer on the team.
Thanks to this year’s runners Stephen Baker, Irene Tsetsekos, Salima Choudrini, Anita Shah, Moira Mansfield, Adam Cox, Hillary Schneck, Fran Myrthil, Keri Decker and Mary Browne.
Dr. David Asprinio is Director of Orthopaedic Surgery at Westchester Medical Center and Chairman of Orthopaedic Surgery at New York Medical College. He completed his undergraduate studies at the College of the Holy Cross and medical school at the University of Vermont. He completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University. He then completed fellowships in orthopaedic trauma at the Hospital for Special Surgery and orthopaedic spine surgery at the University of Maryland. He is board-certified in orthopaedic surgery and a member of numerous sub-specialty organizations.
Dr. Asprinio joined the medical staff of Westchester Medical Center in 1995 and has been recognized as one of the “Top Doctors” in Westchester County and the New York metropolitan area in each of the last eight years. In 2012, he was named one of the top 29 orthopaedic trauma surgeons in the United States. He is Program Director for the Westchester Medical Center-based New York Medical College Orthopaedic Residency Program. He is involved in clinical and basic science research activities and has lectured nationally and internationally. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals including The Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma, The American Journal of Sports Medicine and The Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgery.
Dr. Asprinio lives in Greenwich with his wife and three children.
Jeremy Abramson is Vice President of The Premier Collection, a family-owned and -operated group of Volvo, Subaru, Lincoln, Mazda and Volkswagen dealerships in the region. Mr. Abramson started his career at 16 washing cars and worked his way up through the ranks to running the day-to-day operations of the entire dealership. After graduating from Towson University in Maryland, he moved to New York where he met his wife, Amy.
Mr. Abramson is deeply committed to community involvement, sitting on several professional and charitable boards including the UJA Business & Professional Division, Westchester Medical Center Foundation (Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital), Jewish National Fund and Young Israel of White Plains, where he and his family have been members since 2011. Mr. Abramson also serves on the board of Blankets for Cancer, an organization founded in memory of his nephew, Jordan, that supports patients and families battling pediatric cancer.
Mr. Abramson and his wife, Amy, reside in White Plains with their three children, Sydney, Alexander and Emma.
Foundation Board activities: Governance/Nominating Committee; Recruitment Committee; Events Committee
Kara Bennorth has nearly 40 years of experience in public affairs, marketing, communications and development in both healthcare and the public sector. A member of WMCHealth since 1995, she served as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer where she was responsible for overseeing in-network activities, driving organizational development and culture and inter-network and interdepartmental collaboration and coordination. With direct responsibility for the overall brand and image of the organization, Ms. Bennorth was in charge of communications, marketing and philanthropy/grants development for WMCHealth’s nine hospitals, six 501(c)(3) foundations, numerous ambulatory and community-based programs and several hospital-based practice locations.
During her tenure, the organization consistently ranked tops among hospitals in the region for image and quality and earned a national patient satisfaction award from Press Ganey, one of only two hospitals in the northeast to achieve this status. She also was part of the team that led the hospital’s first capital campaign to raise more than $25 million to build the region’s only children’s hospital. Ms. Bennorth holds a bachelor’s degree in English/Journalism from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and an MBA from Franklin Pierce University. Kara has two grown children, Melissa and Ian, and resides in Putnam County with her husband, Michael Hubertus.
Foundation Board activities: Chair, Campaign Committee; Chair, Special Events Committee; Recruitment Committee; Critical Care Tower Campaign Cabinet
Dr. Robin Altman is a board-certified pediatrician. She got her B.S. in Psychobiology from Yale University and her M.D. from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. She completed her pediatric residency at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center and joined the faculty at New York Medical College and Westchester Medical Center in 1991. In 1995, Dr. Altman became the Chief of General Pediatrics and Pediatric Hospital Medicine, a position that she maintains today. In 2012, she became the Medical Director of Quality and Safety for Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital, and in 2021 she was appointed Vice Chair, Quality and Safety for the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Altman continues to practice pediatrics in Hawthorne, NY, but her passion is quality improvement, patient safety and enhancing the healthcare experience for patients and their families.
