Diwali is a five day Hindu celebration which occurs on the fifteenth day of Kartika and is often referred to as the Festival of Lights.  This year, the festival of Diwali is celebrated on Friday, November 05.  By far the most enthusiastically enjoyed festival in India, Diwali is also celebrated by people of different nationalities, races, religions and backgrounds.  

During this time, it is tradition to clean the home and open windows to welcome Laksmi, goddess of wealth. Candles and lamps are lit, gifts are exchanged, and festive meals are prepared during the celebration.  Traditionally, a variety of sweets are also made specifically for this festival.

In honor of this special holiday, Mountainside Hospital held a festive Diwali luncheon.  The event featured traditional Indian fare prepared by Mountainside Hospital's Executive Chef, Richard Sutton as well as customary desserts.

Mountainside Hospital would like to wish everyone a Happy Diwali!

Mountainside Hospital's Hyperbaric Oxygen (HBO) Therapy Center is expanding its services with the addition of a third state-of-the-art hyperbaric chamber. 

The new chamber was installed last week and is anticipated to be in use by November 18.  Patients are already being scheduled for the new chamber.

The Wound Care Center treated its first Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy patients in May of this year.  By the second week of operation, the center's first two hyperbaric chambers were already running at 100% capacity.  The overwhelming success of the HBO therapy program has created a backlog of patients awaiting therapy.  The addition of the third chamber will provide the HBO Center with greater scheduling flexibility and the ability to serve more patients. 

The addition of HBO therapy to Mountainside's service line has significantly enhanced our ability to treat patients with chronic non-healing wounds.  These chambers offer our patients the most cutting-edge treatment to promote healing, relieve pain, and reduce the risk of wound-related complications.

Chronic wounds are an escalating health concern for diabetics, patients undergoing radiation therapy and people with certain skin diseases, peripheral vascular disease and other conditions.  HBO therapy is also beneficial to the treatment of many acute conditions such as decompression sickness and emboli. 

The Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Center is located on the third floor in the Wound Care Center and is open Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and on Saturday by appointments only. 

For further information about its services, call (973) 429-6119.

To schedule patient appointments, call Central Scheduling at (973) 873-7787.

Colleen Smorra Appointed Director of Radiology and Imaging Services

We are happy to announce that Colleen Smorra has been appointed Director of the Radiology/Imaging Services Department, effective November 1.

Colleen brings over 25 years of experience in multiple disciplines of diagnostic imaging and healthcare management. Most recently, she served as the Director of Diagnostic and Imaging Services at St. Clare's Health Systems in Denville where she managed 4 sites including the hospital service and 3 additional sites.

Prior to that, Colleen spent almost 20 years in increasingly responsible positions in the Department of Radiology at Pascack Valley Hospital.

Colleen is an excellent match for Mountainside Hospital. She has experience ensuring productivity targets, installing new equipment and implementing new service lines, IT systems and business processes. Over the course of her career, she has been actively engaged working with physicians in both hospital and office settings.

Outpatient services are increasingly important to the health and survival of hospitals. At Mountainside, we have excellent technology and board-certified radiologists with stellar credentials. Under Colleen's leadership, we areconfident that our outpatient diagnostic services will continue to grow and provide outstanding service and convenience for our physicians and patients.

As we welcome and offer our best wishes to Colleen, we ask you to join us in thanking Don Vardaro for his service as interim Director of Radiology. Don stepped in during a critical time and provided outstanding leadership while continuing to manage the Cancer Center.

In recognition of American Diabetes Month, Mountainside Hospital will be conducting free glucose screenings at select locations throughout the month.  Nearly 24 million children and adults in the United States live with diabetes, including an estimated 700,000 adults in New Jersey.  In fact, the incidence of diabetes in New Jersey has increased by an astounding 64% in the past decade according to state health officials.  If current trends continue, one in three children born today will face a future with diabetes. 

Understanding Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic disease marked by high levels of sugar in the blood.  There are three major types of diabetes:

• Type 1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in childhood, although many patients are diagnosed after the age of twenty.   In this form of the disease, the body makes little or no insulin. Daily injections of insulin are needed. The exact cause is unknown.

•  Type 2 diabetes accounts for the vast majority of of all cases of diabetes.  Almost 90 percent of people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese, according to the American Diabetes Association.  In this form of the disease, the pancreas does not make enough insulin to keep blood glucose levels normal.  Type 2 diabetes usually occurs in adulthood, however the number of young people being diagnosed with this disease has been on the rise due to an increase in obesity and failure to exercise. 

• Gestational diabetes is high blood glucose that develops at any time during pregnancy in a woman who does not have diabetes. Women who have gestational diabetes are at high risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life.

In addition to smoking and lack of exercise, certain health problems that can lead to Type 2 diabetes include high blood pressure, high cholesterol and obesity. 

Diabetes prevention, treatment, and self management education at the Mountainside Hospital Diabetes Center

The Mountainside Hospital Diabetes Center offers comprehensive care including support groups for patients, parents, caregivers and other family members; training in self-monitoring of blood glucose; medication management and nutrition counseling.  The Mountainside Hospital Diabetes Center helps patients address the physical, emotional and lifestyle concerns associated with a diagnosis of diabetes. 

Free glucose screenings sponsored by Mountainside Hospital:

November 12: 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Toni's Kitchen
St Luke's Episcopal Church,
73 South Fullerton Avenue
 Montclair, NJ 07042

November 13: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

West Essex Health Fair
James Caldwell High School
265 Westville Avenue
West Caldwell, NJ 07006

November 23: 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Montclair Health Department
205 Claremont Avenue
 Montclair, NJ 07042

For more information about the Mountainside Hospital Diabetes Center call 973-429-6305 or visit www.mountainsidehosp.com

Good things are happening at Mountainside.  Come learn about the excellent progress being made as a result of the outstanding collaboration between the hospital's highly skilled employees and a talented medical staff.

We look forward to seeing you there.