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GREATER MIAMI CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 2018 HEALTH CARE HEROES ®

NURSES

CHERYL COTTRELL, BRIDGET PELAEZ,
MS-HSA, BSN, RN, NE-BC MA, BSN, RN, EMT-P
Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer, Academy for International
Mariners Hospital and Fisherman’s Disaster Preparedness,
Community Hospital Florida International University Robert
Baptist Health South Florida Stempel College of Public Health
and Social Work
Cheryl Cottrell’s selfless dedication was evident
when she put the well-being of others before her- Bridget Pelaez is a licensed registered nurse, certi-
self to quickly bring medical care back to two fied paramedic and emergency management coordi-
Florida Keys’ hospitals after Hurricane Irma swept nator for the FIU-FAST (Florida Advanced Surgical
through the area on September 10, 2017. Transport) team. In August 2017 following the dev-
The day after the storm, she boarded a helicopter “It’s as if everything the long- astating floods in Texas, she deployed to Houston as “Bridget Pelaez’s main
with other hospital executives and flew over the time Key Largo resident has a member of the National Disaster Response
Upper and Middle Keys to assess Mariners Hospital done in her life was in prepara- Medical System’s Trauma Critical Care Team. She passion and objective in life
and Fisherman’s Community Hospital. She was on tion for the challenge of served as the team’s deputy commander and nurse is serving as a public health
the ground Sept. 11 to gear up Mariners Hospital— Hurricane Irma. In her role and was deployed for approximately two weeks disaster response
working with a minimal staff without air-condi- as chief nursing officer at treating flood survivors. professional.”
tioning to clean up water from overactive fire sprin- Mariners Hospital in A day after that deployment ended, she was back Ruben D. Almaguer
klers, setting up fans to cool CT and X-ray Tavernier and Fisherman’s in Florida responding to the state of emergency in Assistant Vice President Disaster
machines, and teaching young nurses how to write Community Hospital in response to Hurricane Irma, assisting the surge of Operations & Emergency
on paper charts. Marathon for Baptist medical patients at West Kendall Baptist Hospital. Management/Executive Director
On Sept. 12, the hospital was able to treat walk- Despite arriving at 1 a.m., Ms. Pelaez and her team
ins with storm-related injuries; three days later, it Health South Florida, saw 92 patients by morning’s end. Days later, she Florida International University
was up and running, able to treat all emergencies. Cheryl kept patients first and was off to the Florida Keys with a small team to set
Water damage prevented Fisherman’s Hospital in foremost on her mind.” up a medical field hospital shelter for Baptist Health Mariners Hospital, which had
Marathon from opening, so instead, Ms. Cottrell Joe Natoli been badly impacted by the hurricane.
and her team worked alongside doctors in a mobile Executive Vice President and Chief A humanitarian health care practitioner, she has also served in Haiti treating sur-
field hospital in the hospital parking lot amid Administrative Officer vivors of the Haitian earthquake, running a clinic that served 125 survivors a day, and
debris. Baptist Health South Florida helping to rebuild an orphanage; and in 2018, she traveled to Guatemala as part of
The medical teams were able to treat patients and Continuing Promise 2018 to treat families and individuals with little or no health
evacuate the more severe cases, providing top-level care.
care with only basic equipment. To date, the field
hospital has treated more than 2,100 patients.

INDIVIDUALS OF MERIT

JAYNE S. MALFITANO SANJAY RAZDAN, MD
President, Harcourt M. Professor, Chairman and Founder,
and Virginia W. Sylvester International Robotic
Foundation; Member, Prostatectomy Institute;
University of Miami Board of T rustees; Director, Urology Center of Excellence;
Vice Chair, Sylvester Comprehensive and Director, Robotic Urology,
Cancer Center Board of Overseers; MiVIP Center of Miami;
Chair, University of Miami School of Nursing Director, Endourology and Robotic
and Health Studies Visiting Committee Fellowship Program, Larkin Hospital;
President and Founder, Prostate Awareness
As president of the Harcourt M. and Virginia W. Research and Treatment (PART)
Sylvester Foundation, Jayne Malfitano has worked “Jayne Malfitano’s leader- “Dr. Sanjay Razdan is an
tirelessly to carry out the legacy her father began in ship and longtime commitment Dr. Sanjay Razdan is a practicing urologist based out outstanding surgeon, a prolif-
1986 when he pledged $27.5 million to the have helped Sylvester of Doral, FL, who has dedicated his career to diagnos- ic researcher, a knowledge-
University of Miami to build the cancer center in Comprehensive Cancer Center— ing and treating prostate cancer without compromising able teacher, and a communi-
honor of his parents. Beginning with Sylvester at the only university-based cancer on functional outcomes. For the last 14 years, he has ty activist and volunteer. We
Deerfield Beach, Ms. Malfitano has pushed the center in South been treating patients with high-risk disease, often should all aspire to be as
expansion of the cancer center to satellite facilities Florida—transform cancer accepting patients who have been denied by other motivated and willing to
throughout South Florida, bringing the most research and care.” providers due to the sheer complexity of their cancers. serve our community as Dr.
advanced academic cancer care to all corners of the He founded the nonprofit Prostate Cancer Awareness Razdan has been, then only
center’s diverse communities. Edward Abraham, MD and Treatment (PART) organization in 2009 with the can we effect change in the
In December 2016, the sixth Sylvester satellite Executive Vice President for goal of offering monthly robotic prostatectomies to
opened at The Lennar Foundation Medical Center Health Affairs low-income and at-risk men with prostate cancer at no way health care is practiced
on UM’s Coral Gables campus. Ms. Malfitano has CEO, UHealth—the University of and help the greatest number
cost. Over the years, PART has been involved in local
dedicated herself to the UM Board of Trustees, the Miami Health System prostate cancer awareness and screening events, and of patients.”
Visiting Committee of the UM School of Nursing Dean and Chief Academic Officer, through PART, Dr. Razdan has also performed cutting- Gloria Barbier
and Health Studies, and served as a director of The University of Miami Miller edge research on how to improve functional outcomes Principal, AXA-Advisors/
Children’s Place at Home Safe. She is also a past School of Medicine after surgery, specifically on how to improve urinary PCG/Private Client Group
president of the Junior League of Boca Raton and
continence and erectile function. Dr. Razdan has suc-
director of the Boca Raton Community Hospital cessfully conducted over 5,000 procedures, and in addition to helping all segments of the
Foundation. South Florida community, has opened his doors to international patients, especially those
Thanks to Ms. Malfitano and her sister, Laura Sylvester, the foundation’s commit- in Latin America. To further educate patients on prostate cancer risk factors, prevention,
ments to cancer research and care at the University of Miami have grown to nearly
diagnosis and management, Dr. Razdan also authored the first textbook in the world
$54 million, including a pledge of $2.5 million to establish the W. Jarrard Goodwin,
covering the consequences of prostate cancer treatment and outlining the latest
Jr., MD Endowed Chair in Head and Neck Oncology Surgery.
research in the field of robotic prostate surgery.
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6 May 2018 - Health Care Heroes southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News