MC News February, 2015 Celebrating Black History Month Dear Friends, Happy February! 2015 has so far been an active year at Mary s Center as ACA enrollment and the resumption of many programs and classes, have kept us quite busy. Our hope is that this newsletter will give you a taste of the energy that thus far has characterized the new year. The year has started busy albeit without much turbulence coupled with lots of renewed energy from staff and friends alike. The tremendous feeling of support, guidance and innovation at Mary s Center never ceases to amaze me. It is a dream team as my colleague Lynne Zaris reminds me every time we speak. From the Board to the staff to our volunteers there is a spark that figuratively sets this place on fire everyday. One vivid example is our volunteer Lisa Chapin who on her own decorated for Valentines Day the Women, Infant and Children reception area with flowers, colorful decorations and the most elegant stuffed elephant for children to admire. There is our Board Member, Matt Klinger, who had a dream to establish a wonderland for our children in the waiting area at our Georgia site and this month that project will become a reality. Another one of our Board Members, Edward Mariga, encouraged us to work on a Mary s Center App and in the next few weeks we will be launching it. The Chair of our Board, Andrea Lindemann, saw an opportunity to bring beauty and joy to Mary s Center by inviting the lead harpist at the National Symphony Orchestra, Adriana Horne, to perform at Mary s Center in January. There are numerous acts of love that keep us caring and encourage us to do more, do it better and to do it because it is the just thing to do. Have a wonderful Valentines Weekend and surprise your loved ones with many acts of kindness! Warmly, Maria Gomez President and CEO Happy Valentine s Day! Monday, th: President s Day (Enjoy your day off) NEW Technology in 2015! Very soon we will have 2 awesome improvements in technology at Mary s Center: A mobile app with all these great features (pictured left), and a new and fresh website with more options to highlight our outcomes, accomplishments, and stories. We expect to have these new tools available very soon. Stay tuned! PS did you know that we also have a Patient Portal where patients can go online and look at their lab results and summary of their visits, and send messages to the nurse? This is HUGE! Our partners from CCIN have just launched a Health Information Exchange called Capital Partners in Care (CPC-HIE). The new system will connect the electronic medical records from five community centers, including Mary s Center, and Providence Hospital to give medical providers across the District of Columbia immediate access to information about their patients care received at other clinics. This will allow them to provide more timely and effective treatment while avoiding expensive duplication of services. Congratulations CCIN for your tremendous achievement, and Kudos to our colleagues Gina Pistulka, Anne Sclater, David Tatro, and the entire CCIN team.
February, 2015 2 Tips to Meet Your New Year s Resolutions From our very own Alis Marachelian, Senior Director for Health Promotion Just click on Alis s picture and enjoy her recommendations on how to accomplish your 2015 resolutions. She will also tell you about her wonderful department. This is a video, click on it Kudos to the ACA Team! Our ACA enrollment team in DC and MD has been working diligently weekdays, evenings and weekends to support various enrollment activities before the Open Enrollment ends on February 15th. Their knowledge of the community and the trust they exude is the key to the successful enrollment of 1,150 new insured members. According to our latest report, more than 60% of our patients now have health insurance, evidence that the ACA is getting people into care. 2 In DC, left to right: Dina Bayou, Grizelda Mejia, Andres Cruz, Gerardo Cruz In Maryland: Jesus Martinez, Karla Bonilla, Jose Almanzar Because of the excellent performance of our DC team during the first and second Open Enrollment seasons, DC Health Link (the ACA administrator for DC) presented our In-Person-Assisters with this Certification of Appreciation last month. Congrats! As recognition of the amazing work done by Grizelda Mejia (Bilingual Health Access and DC Health Link Program Manager) in leading the Open Enrollment efforts at Mary s Center, the White House invited her to attend the Healthy Young American Conference on January 15th. Best WIC Program in DC Because of our great performance in enrolling moms and children to the program, Mary s Center s WIC program has been recognized by the WIC State Agency as the best WIC agency in the District of Columbia. Congratulations to the entire team for such a wonderful achievement. Akua Boateng, WIC Program Director
On Saturday, January 10th, Adriana Horne, lead harpist of the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) performed at our Georgia location. Our families loved the concert and the children enjoyed the interactive participation. Art and Culture February, 2015 3 Thank You to our Board Chair, Andrea Lindemann Gilliam for connecting Mary s Center with the NSO, and for her commitment to promote cultural activities among our community! In the News Domestic Violence Help Line On January 22nd, Mary s Center was invited by Telemundo and Verizon to be featured as the organization to support their Domestic Violence Help Line. From 6 pm to 9 pm, the telephones didn t stop ringing, and Telemundo did several live series with interviews and information for victims of domestic violence. Maria Andreina Vethencourt, family support worker (FSW s) did a great job as spokesperson talking about the support provided by Mary s Center to victims of Domestic Violence. Our FSW s are now doing follow up appointments with the callers. If you missed it, you can watch it here. During 3 hours, Mary s Center team answered Telemundo s help line on domestic violence issues. Mary s Center in the media once again! Early Intervention Rocks! The Office of the State Superintendent (OSSE) which funds our Early Intervention Program (EIP) published an uplifting message in their newsletter recognizing Mary s Center s Dedicated Service Coordinator, Veronica Samayoa, for being a role model in ensuring that all families stay in compliance. Congratulations Veronica! Rosalia Villalta, Director of the EIP, also highlighted the deep commitment of her team: Recently, Laura Heller, Patricia Sanyer, and Luz Torres have helped covered 17 additional families until new staff is hired. I want to thank them for going the extra mile to ensure our participants receive the care they need, said Rosalia. We always love to hear about the great work of your staff. Supervisors: we encourage you to share the good news with all by sending information to the Advocacy and Communications department.
February, 2015 4 SAVE THE DATE: Taste of Adams Morgan: May, date TBC 4th Annual Golf Classic: May 19th Noche Tropical Annual Gala: October 16th Don t miss the opportunity to sign up for payroll deduction to attend our gala. Don t wait! Contact Sofia Morales, Development Manager x 7002 1 ticket is only $12.50 per payroll 2 tickets: $25 3 tickets: $37.50 4 tickets: $50 Please join us in congratulating the following staff members for their anniversary of work at Mary s Center during the months of January and February. Thank you for these years of service. Community Activities at Mary s Center Cooking Matters Our interactive cooking and nutritional classes sponsored by Share Our Strength and led by our nutritionist Mabel Hernandez, will begin February 26th at our Georgia location. They are FREE, in Spanish, and open to the community. For more information, contact Mabel at (202) 420-7011. Family Yoga Classes Thanks to our friends from Yoga Heights, we are providing FREE yoga classes for the entire family. Classes are held on Saturdays at 10:30 am at the Kalorama Conference Room (Ontario location). Anyone in the community can attend. No need to register. Pop Up Shop Thanks to the success of our first Pop Up Shop held on January 29th, we will continue to hold this event the last week of every month. At the Pop Up Shop we sell new and lightly used items received from donations at affordable prices. At our first one, we raised $300. Energy Assistance Thanks to a grant from Pepco, we are still providing energy assistance to families in Prince George s County (only). To make an appointment families should call (202) 545-2024. 16 years of service Christie McKay Lorie Preheim Berta Perez Silvia Arias 13 years of service Lyda Vanegas Mirna Guardado 11 years of service Wendy Guardado Pilar Nunez 10 years of service Gloria Cruz Rosalia Villalta Rosemarie Rollins-Folks 9 years of service Bethany Sanders 8 years of service Rosa Goyes Curt Cupid Bethlehem Muleta Carlos Carcamo Nancy Joya Escobar Silvia Llanos Maria Portillo 7 years of service Rosa Martinez Ruben Reyes Lidia Argueta 6 years of service Julie Law Anne Sclater Josephine Morris-Young Vanessa Cordova 5 years of service Andrea Arias Walter Castillo 4 years of service Cristin Reeder Kathleen Shannon Elizabeth Morales Carla Cornejo Faiza Ismail Sidney Knight Robert Guevara 3 years of service Mable Dunne Karen Grace Marleen Aldana Nury Sandoval Ingrid Flores Sandra Kim Sulma Villalta 2 years of service Tawny Bush Jennifer Cisneros Courtney Hinton Diana Miranda Julius Suku Gregory Brown David Dzidzienyo Noris Gonzalez Paulette Johnson Andrea Lozada Vilma Veliz Alison Coleman Adrienne Collier Jairo Rodriguez Maria Turcios 1 year of service Darryl Besley Nathalie Gonzalez Boris Venegas Stephanie Mints Denise Feliz Marissa Parella Jennifer Vargas Rebecca Cruz Melissa Estrada Janelle Priestly Jose Sandoval Candy Cannon-Monk Martha Hernandez Jose Palacios Eliza Ruggiero Maiyu Fernandez Mia Morrison
February 1 February 1 February 3 February 3 February 4 February 4 February 5 February 7 February 8 February 9 February 11 February 12 February 14 February 14 February 17 February 18 February 19 February 19 February 20 February 25 February 25 February 26 February 26 February 27 Happy Birthday -February Gretchen Gates (Mental Health) Martha Hernandez (Front Desk) Jose Majano (Health Promotion) Juan Pablo Munoz (IT) Victoria Carbajal (Front Desk) William Smith (Nursing) Lissette Amparo Javier (CCIN) Michelle Singleton (BFSWC) Carlos Munoz (Administration) Lourdes Benavides (Briya) Nury Sandoval (Briya) Cindy Flores (Mental Health) Lauren Reay (Medical) Shiela Escamilla (Briya) Yolanda Sauls (Briya) Treon Baird (Medical Records) Jennifer Velasquez (FSW) Yesenia Palacios (MA) Veronica Nunez (Mental Health) Jennifer Vargas (Mental Health) Josephine Morris-Young (CFO) Lindsay Comstock (Nursing) Alejandra Granados (Briya) Edward Mariga (Board Member) Darryl Besley (Facilities) Victor Claros (Dental) Wendy Zelaya (Dental) Maria Ramos (Home Visiting) Shauna Stupart (Medical) Angelica Alvarez (Dental) Thank you Facilities! Once again, big Thank YOU to our Facilities team for their hard work in keeping our buildings clean and safe, and for putting beauty to our walls. Keep up the good work! Welcome February, 2015 A warm welcome our new family members. Cristina Moyer, Administrative Medical Director, MD Katie Gass, Digital Literacy Instructor David Loeser, HIT Implementation Specialist Andrea Morris, Mental Health Therapist Raquel Farah, Student Services Coordinator Maria Bhatti, Post Release Services FSW Nayeli Mendoza, MA Instructor Eunice Espinal, Adelphi Patient Support Manager Isolina Joya, Mental Health Program Assistant Yael Kiken, CCLP Program Coordinator Jane Luceno, Life Cycle Health Educator Elizabeth MacLaughlin, HR Generalist Jorge de Campos, Front Desk Receptionist Georgia Ingrid Andersson to Director of Nursing Ingrid Y. Flores to Medical Assistant II Kathleen Metcalf to Senior RN Care Coordinator Nurse Excellence Award of the month: January: Will Smith MA of the Month: November: Claribel Salgado (Georgia), Pilar Nunez (Ontario), and Esperanza Montes (Adelphi) December: Karina Calix (Georgia), Marta Claros (Ontario), Elizabeth Bonilla (Flower) January: Cindy Reyes (Georgia), Eulalia Gonzalez (Ontario), Glenda Corado (Adelphi) 5