HospiceCare of Southeast Florida recently celebrated National Hospice Month at their new Miami-Dade facility. Guests were serenaded by a guitarist and a violinist as they entered and shared in the celebration of the new location in Doral, FL.

Jose Pagan, Hospice Board member; Susan G. Telli, Chief Executive Officer; Juan Milian, Miami Administrator; Zoie Watson, Miami Director of Development.

“We welcomed the entire community to partake in an enjoyable event, filled with music, great food and drinks. It was a huge success especially in recognizing the importance of end-of-life care and to appreciate the meaningful and lasting impact HospiceCare makes on residents and their loved ones.”, said Zoie Watson, Director of Development of Miami.



Patrick Maloney, CEO of Broward Health Coral Springs Medical Center has been named co-chair for the March of Dimes WalkAmerica 2008 campaign.

“I am honored to participate in leading the race to raise funds for such a worthy cause,” said Maloney. “It can’t get more rewarding than knowing these efforts are for the continued improvement of the health of babies.”

As co-chair of WalkAmerica 2008, Maloney’s responsibilities include developing a strategic plan to meet the fund-raising goal, leading efforts to increase new team participation, generating new sponsorships, and conducting evaluations and making recommendations. The goal of this year’s campaign is approximately $1,163,000.

The mission of the March of Dimes is to increase awareness of the problem of prematurity while decreasing the rate of premature birth. To accomplish this, funds are raised to expand research on prematurity and genetics, and to increase the number of newborn screenings required by states so that serious metabolic disorders can be diagnosed and treated early. The ability for the March of Dimes to raise funds is dependant on the support of volunteers and influential leaders such as Maloney, and his co-chair, Curt Nichols of City Furniture.

Maloney has an MBA in Finance from Temple University and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Widener University. He is a past-president of the South Florida Healthcare Executives Forum and is a past chair of the Tamarac Chamber of Commerce. Maloney is a Fellow in the American College of Health Care Executives (ACHE) and a previous recipient of the prestigious ACHE Southern Florida Regent’s “Early Career Healthcare Executive Award.”

The March of Dimes is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. Founded in 1938, the March of Dimes funds programs of research, community services, education, and advocacy to save babies and in 2003 launched a campaign to address the increasing rate of premature birth. For more information or to get involved with WalkAmerica, visit the marchofdimes.com or walkamerica.org or call (954) 772-2290.



Dr. Richard Goldman

Dr. Richard Goldman is a Board-Certified cardiologist working in the local community for 15 years. He is a partner in the Broward Heart Group that serves North Broward County. He has served as the Chief of Medicine at Northwest Medical Center for the past 5 years and Chief of critical care medicine at NWMC for the past 10 years. He has a special interest in the primary care prevention of cardiovascular disease such as atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure and ASHD. Dr. Goldman completed his medical degree and a Ph.D. in Cardiovascular Medicine at University of Florida followed by his internship residency in internal medicine and fellowship in cardiology at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York.

Dr. Craig Hostig

Dr. Craig Hostig is a Board-Certified cardiologist working in the North Broward community for 15 years. Dr. Hostig trained at prestigious faculties such as Cornell University Medical College where he obtained his fellowship in Cardiovascular Diseases, and Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center where he did his residency. He is on staff at Northwest Medical Center.

Dr. Eduardo Sabates

Dr. Eduardo Sabates, an interventional Cardiologist, graduated from the Cayey School of Medicine in Puerto Rico, and did his internship and residency at Bridgeport Hospital in Connecticut, an affiliate of Yale. Dr. Sabates has been a partner in the Broward Heart Group since 1989. He is fellow of the American College of Cardiology, and the Chief of the Cardiac Cath Lab at Northwest Medical Center. More recently. Dr. Sabates played a critical and fundamental role in helping Northwest Medical Center obtain the authorization from the State of Florida to perform Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (Emergency Angioplasty).

Dr. Mazhar Majid

Dr. Mazhar Majid obtained his fellowship in interventional cardiology at Maimonides Medical Center in New York. Dr. Majid has been practicing interventional cardiology in South Florida since 2001. He was instrumental in helping Northwest obtain the authorization from the State of Florida to perform Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (Emergency Angioplasty).



South Florida patients suffering from diseases of the retina, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), benefitted from advanced therapies and original research that took place right in their backyard in 2007. AMD is the leading cause of blindness in Americans above the age of 60.

New treatments being administered through clinical trials are now showing evidence of reversing the onset of blindness from diabetic retinopathy, which is the second leading cause of blindness in people aged 60 and over.

Ellie Yano, a 67-year-old woman from Boynton Beach had vision loss so severe that she became legally blind due to diabetic retinopathy. Yano was treated with a drug called Lucentis, which was originally approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2006 for the treatment of macular degeneration.

The treatment involves the patient receiving one injection in the eye each month. Yano began receiving the Lucentis treatment 10 months ago prior to the study as an off-label usage. Within two months, her vision was better and continues to improve with each treatment. She is no longer legally blind and has been cleared to drive again. She is also able to read her daily newspapers and books, which she was unable to do prior to the treatment.

(l-r) Dr. Mark Michels and Dr. Adrian Laviña

This year looks even better not only for AMD and diabetic retinopathy, but also for patients suffering from venous occlusive diseases.

“Retinal medicine is changing rapidly,” said Adrian Laviña, M.D., of Retina Care Specialists in Palm Beach Gardens and Stuart. “We now have new medicines that are proving to be more effective in the treatment of retinal diseases. There is a lot at stake for physicians and for our patients.”

In 2008, Dr Laviña and his practice partner, Mark Michels, M.D., F.A.C.S., are offering three new clinical trials to their patients with wet AMD. All three trials are designed, in part, to reduce the frequency of use of expensive medication and to provide some competition in the marketplace.

Both physicians hope that encouraging early data may prove that new treatments will offer a 50% greater chance of achieving 20/40 vision – the number required to hold a Florida driver’s license – than current treatment.

“Our goal is to deliver advanced therapies today through clinical trials that someday may become the standard of care. At the same time, we are trying find out how medicines used in combination may further help our patients,” said Dr. Michels. “We are concerned about the viability of our health care system as we learn about how new, but potentially expensive, treatments benefit our patients. We feel that it is in our patients’ best interest to practice evidence-based medicine, which is why we continue to utilize advanced medications and to participate in promising clinical trials.”

In December, Drs. Laviña and Michels were invited to present their original research at the 25th annual meeting of the American Society of Retina Specialists (www.asrs.org), which is the largest gathering of academic and private practice retina specialists in the world. They shared early and promising results from a new approach to treating extensive bleeding under the macula in the wet form of AMD. In addition, they discussed results from their study on venous occlusive disease and diabetic macular edema, which are the second and third leading causes of blindness respectively.

In addition to wet AMD patients, new trials are open for diabetic macular edema and edema associated with BRVO and CRVO. For more information or to inquire about participating in a clinical trial, please visit www.retinacarespecialists.com.

Mark Michels, M.D., F.A.C.S. and Adrian Laviña, M.D. of Retina Care Specialists are board certified and fellowship-trained ophthalmologists who focus in diseases and surgery of the retina, vitreous, and macula.



Baptist Health South Florida Foundation named Betty Anne Schilling Volunteer of the Year for Mariners Hospital.

Perhaps best known throughout the Florida Keys for her boundless energy as co-chair of the Bougainvillea Ball, Mariners Hospital’s largest annual fundraiser, Schilling is also a member of the Mariners Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, the Mariners Hospital Auxiliary and the Mariners Hospital Center for Excellence in Nursing Committee.

A graduate of Mildred Elly Accounting School in Albany, N.Y., and a former comptroller, Schilling said she gives so much of her personal time to Mariners Hospital because “I want to make a difference. Mariners Hospital is such a tremendous resource for the community that I’m willing to do anything I can to help the hospital achieve its goal of providing excellent healthcare.”

“There is no doubt that Betty Anne has made a difference here at Mariners,” said Nelson Lazo, Mariners Hospital CEO. “I don’t think Betty Anne relaxes for a minute during the weeks before our annual 5K Walk/Run, which benefits the Center for Excellence in Nursing, and the weeks before the Bougainvillea Ball. She is a dynamo, and her willingness to give so much of herself is an inspiration to all of us. Betty Anne is truly a remarkable woman.”