There are only 73 lung transplant centers in the United States and, until recently, none on Long Island. As a result, many have fought an uphill battle waiting for transplant, including Lindsay Salguero-Lopez, 40. In late January, end-stage heart and lung failure left her near death, with transplant as the only treatment that could save her life. Fortunately, Northwell had just launched its program days prior. Even more fortunate, donor organs became available just three days later and in the early morning hours of February 5, Lindsay became the first person to receive a lung transplant on Long Island.

Register to be an organ donor.

On this special episode of 20-Minute Health Talk, listen to the delicate and life-giving sounds of Lindsay's landmark surgery, and hear from the medical team who saved her life. They include:

• Aldo Iacono, MD, medical director of advanced lung failure and lung transplantation

Chapters:

• 00:44 - Lindsay in crisis 

Millions of Americans live 30 miles or more from the nearest hospital. Not just an inconvenience, this access issue known as “care deserts” affects a shocking 80 percent of counties in the United States and can exist in both rural and urban areas. A scarcity of medical resources, however, does not have to doom the health of entire communities, says Onisis Stefas, PharmD, Northwell’s chief pharmacy officer and CEO at Vivo Health Pharmacy. He joins Alex Hellinger, DPT, MBA, FACHE, Northwell's senior vice president and regional executive director for the Brooklyn region, who shares his experiences working to fill the care desert in lower Manhattan's west side following the closing of St. Vincent's in 2010. Then the executive director of Lenox Health Greenwich Village, he and Dr. Stefas talk types of care deserts, re-imagining what care looks like, the role pharmacists can play, and what to do if you live in a care desert.

Chapters:

00:54 - Care deserts: types and causes

01:54 - Physician shortages

02:37 - Hospital closures and finances

03:35 - Pharmacy deserts

04:48 - Rural vs. urban

08:15 - Rethinking health care

09:15 - An equitable approach

12:46 - A snowball effect

14:38 - Helping Brooklyn

15:32 - Covid-19's impact

18:29 - Transforming medical deserts

Researchers have identified more than 200 symptoms associated with the long-term effects of Covid-19, but much remains unknown. Peter Silver, MD and Sonali Narain, MD shed light on some of the mysteries that surround long Covid, also known as post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC). They offer context to the current state of the disease and actions being taken by the medical and research communities to combat and better understand it.

Meet the experts

Peter Silver, MD is the Chief Quality Officer at Northwell Health. He is responsible for system-wide initiatives in care quality and patient safety.

Sonali Narain, MD is a Director of the Scleroderma and Raynaud Treatment Center and the Epidemiology division of Rheumatology. She is also an assistant professor at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and Director of the Northwell Health CARES Learning Collaborative.

The CARES program is model designed to increase patient access across treatment areas and amplify a patient-centered experience. 

A group of medical professionals arrived in Guyana this week to deliver care, exchange knowledge and develop a plan to support the more remote areas of the South American country. This work is part of a five-year medical partnership between the Ministry of Health of Guyana and Northwell Health, through its Center for Global Health (CGH). Daniel Leon is among those who traveled 2,500-plus miles for the three-week trip. He shares his experiences and connection to Guyana, as well as his passion for global health and the critical role the CGH plays. Also joining the show is Launette Woolforde, EdP, DNP, chief nursing officer for the Northwell's Western Region, who was part of the CGH's prior trip to Guyana in November 2021. Born and raised in Guyana, the chief nursing officer for Northwell Health's Western Region explains the benefits of clinicians broadening cross-cultural understanding, particularly for the communities of Little Guyana in Queens, as well as surrounding neighborhoods that makeup the fifth largest immigrant population in New York City.

Donations to the Center for Global Health will benefit Northwell's Ukraine relief fund.

Chapters:

• 01:08 - Daniel Leon on returning to Guyana

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With the goal of cutting cancer deaths in half by 2047, the White House's Cancer Moonshot initiative is pumping $1.8 billion into cancer research over the next seven years. Achieving this goal, however, will require clearing research hurdles — including the lack of diversity in clinical trials, say Richard Barakat, MD, and David Tuveson, MD, PhD. They discuss the exciting research being funded by the Moonshot initiative, describe efforts to improve and diversify clinical trial recruitment, and explain the fruitful collaboration between Northwell Health and Cold Spring Harbor.

Chapters:

• 01:33 - What is the Cancer Moonshot?

Meet the experts

Richard Barakat, MD, Physician-in-Chief and Director of Cancer, Northwell Cancer Institute

David Tuveson, MD, PhD, Professor, Director, Cancer Center, Cold Spring Harbor

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This Valentine’s Day we're celebrating a love for science and a special bond between two scientists. Kim Simpfendorfer, PhD, and Michael Ryan built a relationship while pursuing a career at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. They also discuss their experience of going through in-vitro fertilization, pregnancy, and the crucial role the Covid vaccine played in building their family.

Sarah Pachtman, MD, a maternal/fetal medicine doctor explains what other couples should know about IVF and how partners can provide support.

Demand for mental health services for children has once again accelerated as the latest Covid-19 surge impacts daily life. Lack of resources in the community have resulted in delays in care for children experiencing anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation. Vera Feuer, MD, talks about the challenge of expanding mental health care access, and how health systems can partner with school districts to bridge that gap.

She shares the success of the Northwell School Mental Health Partnership, which contracts with 30 school districts in Nassau and Suffolk counties, to bring mental health care services directly to the places where kids and families revolve. This has resulted in a significant reduction, she says, in schools referring students to the emergency department, as well as increasing rates of follow up care.

Vera Feuer, MD, is AVP for School Mental Health for Northwell Health's Behavioral Health service line. She is also the Director for Pediatric Emergency Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Urgent Care, part of Cohen Children's Medical Center; and Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.

Chapters:

• 00:42 - Omicron and kids mental health

Kicking off Heart Health Month in February, we sat down with Stacey Rosen, MD, and Jennifer Mieres, MD, two leading experts and patient advocates in the field of cardiovascular disease in women. They highlight the importance of partnering with your doctor — as well as family, friends and colleagues — to identify and maintain heart healthy habits. They discuss the impact of access issues in health care and the history of bias in sex and gender research, and the work they are doing to change that through the Katz Institute for Women's Health and Center for Equity of Care.

During Heart Health Month, Katz is hosting several events, starting with its Go Red for Women Celebration on National Wear Red Day Feb. 4 at 12 p.m. 

Both Dr. Rosen and Dr. Mieres are spokeswomen for the American Heart Association, and co-authors of the new book, "Heart Smarter for Women," due to be released in March 2022. In it, they outline the barriers to heart health and simple steps every woman can take to start their journey.

Meet our guests:

Stacey Rosen, MD, Senior Vice President, Women's Health, Katz Institute for Women’s Health.

Jennifer Mieres, MD, Senior Vice President, Center for Equity of Care at Northwell.

Chapters:

• 01:23 - Sex and gender research bias

In addition to Covid case counts, the need for testing has skyrocketed since the arrival of the omicron variant. With demand outpacing supply throughout most of December and January, labs nation wide have struggled to keep up. Dwayne Breining, MD, executive director of Northwell Health Labs, shares how his team was able to double their testing capacity using a new technology called LabGold. He explores how this highly reliable, low-cost testing platform — capable of processing up to 100,000 specimens per day — could help labs across the country quickly scale when facing a public health crisis like Covid-19.

Chapters

01:37 - Doubling Covid testing capacity

02:47 - Distinguishing omicron from delta

03:57 - Expanding access to Covid testing

06:24 - Developing "LabGold"

07:42 - A self-swab PCR test

09:55 - A new, scalable Covid test 

11:42 - A national strategy

15:11 - Omicron's long tail

16:30 - Testing in pro sports

Charles Schleien, MD, describes the effect the omicron variant has had on children amid the recent surge of Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. In addition, Dwayne Breining, MD, joins the podcast to answer common questions about Covid-19 testing.

Meet the experts:

Dr. Schleien is senior vice president and chair of pediatric services at Northwell Health and chair of pediatrics at the Barbara & Donald Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell

Dr. Breining is executive director of Northwell Health Labs and Pathology

Chapters:

00:38 - Covid-19 antigen test vs PCR test

02:47 - What to do if exposed to Covid-19

03:58 - Testing for variants

04:32 - Using a Covid-19 at home test

05:00 - False negative rapid covid test

05:50 - Covid-19 at home test recommendations

06:21 - Omicron's impact on testing

07:41 - How omicron impacts kids

10:01 - Hospitalizations

11:10 - Omicron on Long Island

13:24 - Pediatric vaccination rates

15:28 - Kids and long covid

16:51 - Protective measures for kids, families