According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), influenza or “the flu” is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. It can cause mild to severe illness. The flu infects the nose, throat, and lungs and in serious cases, the flu infection can result in hospitalization or in some cases death. Some people, such as the very old, young or infirmed are at higher risk ...

Before retiring in 2013, after 35 years of dedicated service to Westchester Medical Center, Registered Nurse and second generation graduate of the Grasslands School of Nursing, Mary Reiser, sat down for an interview and shared her story and her thoughts on nursing and her long career at the Medical Center where she cared for some of the regions sickest most critically ill patients for ...

Thanks to a surgical innovator, transplant recovery times at Westchester Medical Center are now among the nation's fastest. In late 2012, Ebony White, a hair stylist and single mother of three who lives in Brooklyn, noticed that her three-year-old son Laron Stevenson's eyes looked yellow. Suspecting jaundice, she took him to a local hospital, where tests were inconclusive. After a few ...

“When you're with a friend who makes your heart feel good, your body will often follow suit." -- Alan L. Gass, M.D. Heart transplant units are typically places where very sick people go to wait, hopeful that an organ will become available in time to save their lives. But for two recent Westchester Medical Center patients, such a unit became the birthplace of a close friendship that ...

One of the first senses affected by alcohol consumption is one’s sense of good judgment. The holiday season is traditionally a joyous time of year. Sadly, this time is often marred by unnecessary and preventable tragedies. Alcohol related fatalities claim the lives of nearly 12,000 Americans and injure nearly 600,000 more every year. The holiday season and New Year’s is a time for fun ...

Do you or a loved one have Sleep Apnea? If you do you are not alone... One out of every 15 people in the Unites States suffers from sleep apnea, a breathing disorder characterized by the cessation of breathing or abnormally shallow breathing during periods of sleep. These periods of apnea can last anywhere from several seconds to several minutes and often occur numerous times each hour. ...

Recent changes in recommendations have a lot of people asking... Should I be taking a statin? Statins are medications that are used to help lower your cholesterol. Studies have shown that elevated cholesterol levels increase the risk of having a heart attack or stroke. Recently, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology release new recommendations for ...