Hartford Business Journal

18 Hartford Business Journal • April 16, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com 26 HARTFORD BUSINESS JOURNAL • April 16, 2018 www.HartfordBusiness.com SPONSORED CONTENT It was over breakfast in 2007 that The Mandells, Gerrol, Dr. Lo, Dr. Ed Johnson, the president of Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital at the time, and Dr. Robert Krug, the hospital's current president, put the plans together for the center. As many have said, the stars were aligned that day and with the generosity of the Mandell family, history was made. A Model for Care The comprehensive MS center bearing the Mandell name celebrated its 10- year anniversary in February. "The Mandells' vision of a comprehensive, all-inclusive and integrated approach to MS care is a reality," says Dr. Krug, who oversees the center as Mount Sinai's president and medical director for physical medicine and rehabilitation and vice president of rehab services for Trinity Health Of New England. "We serve the multiple and complex needs of patients with cutting-edge equipment and therapies and specialists in the areas of neurology, physiatry, neuropsychology, urology, pharmacology, counseling, social services/case management, nursing, integrative medicine and physical, occupational and speech therapy." "There are significant moving parts here that allow a center of this size to operate efficiently," said the center's manager, Matthew Farr. "Our model is not readily available. People have sought us out for expertise and input into care." But that doesn't mean that the staff at the Mandell MS Center will ever rest on its laurels. Dr. Peter Wade, medical director for neurology, says the facility continues to seek out and add treatments, equipment and services to benefit patients. "Most recently we added acupuncture, which can help with pain," he said. "It's community acupuncture, so [the specialist] treats five or six people at the same time," giving patients the added value of built-in support and camaraderie. In 2011, five-thousand square feet was added to the center to accommodate more offices, treatment rooms, more infusion space, a neurorehabilitation gym and a "cool pool" for patients. Dr. Lo, who moved his research with Ruiz from Yale to the MS Center and is the center's director of neuroscience research, notes that the center is not only a leader in clinical care, but in research concerning the results of the disease as well. "Research being conducted right on-site; research that is being published and we've hosted two international symposiums with speakers from around the world. Those are great accomplishments and we'll gain more momentum as we go." A Better Prognosis Plans are in the works for the opening of two new centers, duplicates of the Mandell MS Center in Hartford. One, in Waterbury, which will be embedded in Saint Mary's Hospital, is slated to open this spring. The other, at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Mass., is still in the planning stages. "The centers will work together and help one another," said Dr. Krug. There will be regional opportunities to collaborate, with neurologists working together on cases. "MS is no longer the diagnosis it once was," says Dr. Wade, and the center is buoyed by progress. "There is a sense of optimism — there are so many options, treatments are so effective, decreasing the chance of the next attack, quieting down inflammation — it's a better prognosis." "MS is no longer the diagnosis it once was," says Dr. Wade. "There is a sense of optimism – there are so many options, treatments are so effective." " "MS is no longer " "MS is no longer „ so effective." „ so effective." In 2012 and 2016, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Mandell MS Center partnered to offer an international symposium, which attracted the world's leading multiple sclerosis researchers, clinicians, educators and others.

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