Maimonides Medical Center debuts revamped cardiothoracic intensive care unit

by Natalie Sachmechi

Maimonides Medical Center in Boro Park unveiled a newly renovated cardiothoracic intensive care unit for patients recovering from heart surgeries.

The unit was last revamped in the early 1990s, but a $6.5 million injection from local donors helped the hospital complete $15 million in improvements there, including advanced equipment, monitors and therapies, 14 larger private patient rooms, in-unit bathrooms, sofa beds for family members to spend the night, better lighting and aesthetic improvements, and a new room designed for visitors with comfortable seating and amenities.

The unit will serve more than 1,000 patients annually who come to Maimonides for procedures, such as heart surgery, cardiac bypass surgery, valve replacement and repair, aortic aneurysm repair, minimally invasive heart surgery, transcatheter aortic valve replacement, left ventricular assist device implantation, convergent atrial fibrillation ablation and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

“At its core it’s not a capacity upgrade, it’s a patient experience upgrade,” said Ken Gibbs, the hospital’s chief executive. “Our patients were asleep in the operating room and awake in a 30-year-old intensive care unit, and it was not a good experience.”

“We wanted to do it [the renovation] for a while,” Gibbs said, “but the critical aspect was the engagement of community donors. We had philanthropic leadership coming forward.”

The 10,000-square-foot center is staffed with 45 nurses, six surgeons, three intensivists, two associates and seven nurse practitioners.

The Karfunkel family, which dedicated the unit’s main entrance in memory of Michael Karfunkel, a former Maimonides board member, led the ribbon-cutting on Wednesday. Other major philanthropic leaders dedicated the unit’s 14 patient rooms, and the new family and visitors lounge was dedicated through the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

The cardiothoracic intensive care unit is on the fourth floor of the hospital where the original ICU was.