Jamaica Hospital Lupus Clinic Open

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Jamaica Hospital Lupus Clinic Open

 
The services offered at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center are inscribed on the door from family practice to radiology, but the newest service is yet to be emblazoned.

Patients afflicted with lupus – an autoimmune disease in which the immune system, for unknown reasons, becomes hyperactive and attacks normal tissue – don’t have to make a trek to Nassau County or a neighboring boroughs to get treatment. Four weeks ago a lupus treatment center opened inside the medical center.

“This is the only lupus center in Queens,” Dr. Meggan Mackey said. She added that because of the demographic affected by lupus, “we know that there are a lot of patients.”

Mackey said lupus predominantly affects minority women of child bearing age. According to WebMD, black and Asian females between the ages of 15 and 45 are most susceptible to the autoimmune disease.

Mackey, a rheumatologist by trade, said her interest in the area of lupus grew because of the demographic and the vehemence in which it attacks women. She said on average the disease afflicts nine women for every man affected. Mackey said there are approximately 100,000 new cases of the disease and that doctors are not sure if the new instances are better diagnosis or more cases.

Dr Betty Diamond, head of North Shore-LIJ’s Autoimmune Center at the Feinstein Institute, said that there approximately 5 million cases of lupus in the country.

She and her colleagues helped open the new lupus clinic in attempt to thwart the disease. Mackey and Aranow work out of the clinic treating and assisting patients manage their disease while Diamond and Davidson work in the lab on scientific research.

“When we came to Feinstein we wanted to look at how to better understand the disease,” Mackey said. “We wanted to know what makes it flare. What makes it better?”

Scientists have yet to hone in on what causes lupus, but they are making headway. Mackey said there might be a link between estrogen and lupus, along with a genetic component.

Lupus affects everyone differently.

“If you had 100 lupus patients sitting here they would all have a different flavor of the disease,” she said.

Symptoms can range from rashes on the face called a discoid or malar rash, while other patients may have kidney, arthritis or brain and central nervous system problems.

To treat lupus, patients are usually given a host of medications that can have adverse health effects. “There are only a handful that are out there to treat the disease,” Mackey said, adding that treatment is a double edged sword. The medications may force the lupus into reemission, but it may cause bone death, infertility and death from infection.

Through the lupus clinic, located at 111-20 Merrick Blvd., Jamaica patients will be able to participate in clinical trials of new medications that are not yet on the market. Mackey said there are six to 10 medications that are currently in clinical trial.

According to Mackey, the collaboration with Jamaica Hospital that started in February has been great; “Jamaica Hospital was very nice and extraordinary helpful.”

“There is a need for good care with lupus,” Diamond said. “Patients will get access to new nuclear studies that are being done.”

Building Supervisor Thalita Viruet said the lupus center benefits not only patients suffering from the ailment, but also those with rheumatism. The rheumatology clinic is always overbooked and since the doctors treating lupus may also treat rheumatism so it alleviates backed up logs.

The facilities housing the lupus center is modest in nature. It is on the ground floor of the two floor facility and it doubles as an OB/GYN facility.

Because the facility was recently introduced to the neighborhood it is lacking clientele, but is certain that the influx of people once people know of it. While the medical center is open from Monday to Saturday, the lupus center is only opened on Fridays.

Even though patients may only see the doctors once a week, Mackey said she is available 24 hours a day. Her patients have her beeper number in case of emergencies or they just need to talk.

“We want patients to understand that we are committed to their care and you cannot do that if there is no trust,” Mackey said.