• Press Release

Mount Sinai Queens Marks 15 Years of Service to the Community

  • ASTORIA, NY
  • (June 26, 2014)

With a construction site for a new, six-story building nearby, serving as a reminder of the many positive changes happening at Mount Sinai Queens, staff and executives celebrated 15 years of service as Mount Sinai Queens, providing care to New York City’s second most populous borough. The special anniversary event was held under a tent where attendees gathered to celebrate the day and each other. Awards were handed out to Mount Sinai Queens staff for Manager of the Year; Team of the Year; Freshman of the Year; Employee of the Year; Service Excellence; and Physician of the Year. Three EMS Person of the Year awards were also given to members of the New York City Fire Department’s EMS Division.

Councilmember Costa Constantinides spoke at the event and awarded the honorees City Council Certificates. Representatives from the offices of New York State Assembly member Aravella Simotas and New York State Senator Michael Giannaris, also presented the honorees with certificates.

“The growth of Mount Sinai Queens over the past 15 years is rivaled only by its accelerated progress over the last 15 months. The construction of our new state of the art building will allow us to expand our commitment to provide the best possible patient care and to continue earning consistent high marks on patient satisfaction surveys. We are very proud of the progress that Mount Sinai Queens has made in the past 15 years, and we have our hard working staff, who are being honored here today, to thank for that,” said Executive Director Caryn A. Schwab.

Nearly 100 guests joined Ms. Schwab and David Reich, MD, President of The Mount Sinai Hospital, who provided welcome remarks. “The passion, dedication and team work that I witness day in and day out by our staff, are only a few of the reasons that we continue to grow and raise the bar for patient care in the city of New York.”

This year’s award winners included:

  • Manager of the Year: Lily Kanjanapatee, RN, MSN, CNOR
  • Team of the year:  The Food & Nutrition department, including Food Service Director Chet Ostrowski, Manager of Nutrition, Allison Amores, RD, CDN, Dieticians and Food Service Workers
  • Freshman of the Year: Shatrudeen (Ajay) Ramnarine, Clerk, Patient Financial Services
  • Employee of the Year: Xiomara Montanez, a Caseworker in Social Services
  • Service Excellence of the Year: Lucy Fortuna, Certified Pharmacy Technician
  • Physician of the Year: Daniel Bunker, MD, who specializes in Internal Medicine

Three people from the three EMS battalions stationed at Mount Sinai Queens, received the EMS Person of the Year award in recognition of EMS week 2014.

They were:

  • Station 45: Kenny Cheng, Paramedic
  • Station 46: Sandra Butler, EMT
  • Station 49: Brian Morrissey, EMT

Sharing in the festivities to honor the EMS Persons of the Year along with the Mount Sinai Queens staff were the FDNY Queens Division Commander, Chief Rosario Terranova, FDNY EMS Office of Medical Affairs, Queens Medical Director, Dr. David Ben-Eli and the President of Uniform EMTs, Paramedics and Inspectors Union, Izzy Friedman.

A celebration with cake and ice-cream was held from 12 Midnight to 1:30 AM for those physicians and staff working the overnight hours.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with 48,000 employees working across seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 600 research and clinical labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians and 11 free-standing joint-venture centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals, Best in State Hospitals, World Best Hospitals and Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2024-2025.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.

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