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Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai Unveiled

State-of-the-Art Medical Practice for Senior Healthcare to Open at The Mount Sinai Medical Center

(New York, NY - October 9, 2007) – Martha Stewart, and friends and staff of The Mount Sinai Medical Center today will unveil the new Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai, an outpatient facility for geriatric medicine.  Martha Stewart is dedicating the center to Martha Kostyra, her 93-year-old mother. Ms. Stewart donated $5 million to Mount Sinai to enable the hospital to build the center. The center will provide clinical care and education for patients, offer  training for physicians and coordinate healthy-aging research and practices. 

 In a youth-centric culture that often overlooks the elderly, there is an urgent need to change the way Americans view health and aging. As the first of the 76 million baby boomers turn 65 in 2010, it is important to educate and support those who find themselves assuming care giving responsibilities for older friends and family members, often at the same time that they are raising children, working at time consuming jobs, and coping with their own challenges. It is the mission of the Martha Stewart Center for Living to address these related issues to ensure that patients, caregivers, physicians and medical students understand how best to manage the aging process and preserve good health, vitality, and a high standard of living.

“It is my great honor to dedicate this center to my mom, Martha Kostyra, who has always inspired me to be physically active and mentally engaged,” said Martha Stewart.  “My sincere hope is that the center will encourage all people to embrace a healthier lifestyle so that they may continue to enjoy a productive and satisfying life as they grow older. We all want to live for many, many years but it’s important to have a good quality of life, too.” 

“From coining the term ‘geriatrics’ to founding the first academic department in geriatrics, Mount Sinai has played a defining role in what it means to grow older and demonstrating that aging need not mean decline,” Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and CEO of The Mount Sinai Medical Center.  “One of the goals of the center is to serve as a one stop location for medical treatment, education and services for older patients so they can make one visit and get all the care they need.” 

Every medical student who graduates from Mount Sinai School of Medicine will pass through the Center for Living so regardless of what specialty they ultimately choose, they will have an understanding of working with the aging population. Mount Sinai will train more fellows in the care of older adults than any other medical school in the country as well as house a training program for international fellows who want to learn to adapt these practice models in their native countries.

C.C. Pei, son of noted architect I.M. Pei, designed the project and brought valued experience in medical facility design, having recently completed the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.  He was encouraged by his father who, still active at 90, is a prime example of the kind of productive and successful aging that the center hopes to advance.
Working closely with Martha Stewart, the project was spearheaded by Brent Ridge, MD, MBA, Assistant Professor of Geriatrics and Adult Development and currently Vice President, Healthy Living of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. 
 According to Dr. Ridge, the Center will include:
• Exam rooms with hydraulic exam tables that can be lowered to floor level for easy access;
• Smaller, more intimate and tranquil waiting areas located next to exam rooms to help those who have mobility issues;
• Colors and finishes hand-selected by Martha Stewart, including stone flooring, wooden walls and large windows; and
• Special lighting that does not shine directly into patients eyes when on exam tables. 

The Martha Stewart Center for Living will open to patients in mid-November. 

The Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development
The Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development is the number one rated program for superior medical care for older adults on the Eastern seaboard. We are proud of our reputation as ‘the place to go’ for the best doctors and the best comprehensive medical care for persons over age 65. The Department’s faculty are national leaders in the study of aging and educate more physicians on the complex issues of aging than any other program in the world. State-of-the-art care of older adults has a long history at Mount Sinai. It was a Mount Sinai physician who coined the term “geriatrics” in 1909 and wrote the first textbook on medical care for older adults in 1914. In 1982, Mount Sinai became the first medical school in the country to establish a free-standing Department of Geriatrics. In 1998, The Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute was created within the Department to focus on the importance of expert pain and symptom relief to good health and quality of life. The Department is renowned as a Center for Excellence in education and patient-centered care. The creation of the Martha Stewart Center for Living at Mount Sinai will enable our practice, our programs, and our research to reach an ever-increasing number of people.

About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The Mount Sinai Hospital is one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. Founded in 1852, Mount Sinai today is a 1,171-bed tertiary-care teaching facility that is internationally acclaimed for excellence in clinical care. Last year, nearly 50,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients, and there were nearly 450,000 outpatient visits to the Medical Center.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine is internationally recognized as a leader in groundbreaking clinical and basic-science research, as well as having an innovative approach to medical education. With a faculty of more than 3,400 in 38 clinical and basic science departments and centers, Mount Sinai ranks among the top 20 medical schools in receipt of National Institute of Health (NIH) grants.



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