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Information Systems Team is nearing the final stage of developing Data Learning Pathways tailored for different roles throughout Evergreen. These pathways were developed based on results from our most recent data engagement survey and content has been curated to strengthen vital data-related skills within each role. The pathways are also meant to have some overlap; it is our belief that many people will find more than one pathway useful to their job or making them curious. In fact, we hope they do! Each pathway will have multiple “lessons” within it, and you will also have the opportunity to engage with and access lessons that are outside of the main pathway(s) you pursue. After these are launched internally, there will be opportunities for feedback to ensure these resources mature and evolve along with the organization. Thank you to everyone who has and will participate! Here are the learning pathways:

DATA FOUNDATIONS | This pathway will offer an opportunity to make sure that people in a wide variety of roles have access to foundational data skills. This is valuable in supporting people who are just learning these skills, and to support us ALL in having shared language around data. From data collection and data entry to data quality and the ability to interact with data in our day to day lives; this is our data literacy “101”.

DATA INVESTIGATOR | There are people in many types of roles who need to find more information in their day-to-day work. Research, finding answers in unconventional places, following clues, and engaging with your curiosity and inquisitive nature will be part of this training. This pathway will include evaluating sources, interpreting data, and critical thinking.

DATA PROBLEM SOLVER | This pathway is designed to help people who use data to solve problems, gain more skill in drawing conclusions from data, and support data-informed decision making. It will include interpreting data, confronting inner bias, understanding data visualizations, aggregating data, and visualizing data.

DATA REPORTER | This pathway will strengthen skills around reporting data. It is geared toward people who access and read reports as well as those who create them, either internally or for external regulatory bodies. This pathway will improve your ability to prepare data as well as recognize problems in data. It includes skill development across different areas that impact reporting, such as working with data in Excel, data quality and validation, and preparing data for presentations.

DATA DESIGNER/VISUAL DATA STORYTELLER | This pathway is for anyone who communicates visually with data. It will include tools for designing infographics, learning about charts (and more charts), dashboards, and data visualization best practices.

DATA COMMUNICATOR | Presentation Data Storyteller – This Pathway will focus on skills needed to effectively use data to support data-informed presentations and meetings, or other less traditional situations you may need to present data to others. It will include communicating with data, criteria, interpreting metrics and visualizations, and inspiration from other data communicators.

DATA LEADERSHIP | This pathway is for people who are data-based decision makers and need to be able to trust and interpret the data they are using to forge paths and develop policy. It will include communicating with data, interpreting metrics and visualizations, data culture, data-informed decisions vs instinct-based decisions, high level dashboards, and inspiration from other data leaders.

This month's Wellness Challenge winner is Susan Hanner, a Registered Nurse in Primary & Specialty Care. Why did Susan participate in the WC? "I love a challenge," she said. "I love contests and chances at winning. I'm more excited about winning than the prize." Susan says becoming healthier is her goal for the year. "Hydrating is so important. At work it's easy because it's a routine, but being busy on weekends makes it a challenge." Susan offers encouragement to anyone who wants to join the WC: "Take little steps and realize we all need encouragement." Great job, Susan, and stay hydrated!

The following story originally appeared on the Evergreen Health blog. Click HERE to visit the blog and see a video of Kim's speech at the Huddle.

THISyear Evergreen Health is celebrating our 40th birthday. In four decades of serving our community, we’ve grown from a small but mighty team of volunteers to a multi-service healthcare organization with over 500 employees, 6 service locations, 11 buildings and over 28,000 patients. This year, we’re taking a moment (or many moments!) to look back at our history and celebrate how far we’ve come, and to look forward as we continue to grow.

Evergreen’s birthday celebrations started at our annual Huddle in January, where we celebrated the big 4-0 with cake and balloons, and with words from some of the people who have been a part of Evergreen’s history for many of our 40 years.

One of those folks is Kim Lombard, Evergreen’s longest-standing employee, who was hired in 1993 when Evergreen was still known as AIDS Community Services (ACS). At that time, Kim was looking for “a job that meant something.” She applied for an administrative assistant position with ACS, who then had about 25 employees working on the front lines of the HIV/AIDS crisis in Western New York.

Kim recalls how in the 80’s and 90’s, ACS was entrenched in preventing the spread of HIV, treating health complications due to AIDS, fighting stigma and making people who were dying of AIDS-related complications as comfortable as possible in their last days.

This early work was heartbreaking and difficult, and from it emerged Evergreen’s mission to provide people in need with health and supportive services that are accessible, unconditional, and judgmentfree.

“No matter how much we’ve grown, the spirit of who we were in our beginning has carried over into who we are now,” Kim said.

As the needs of people living with HIV and at risk of acquiring HIV became better understood over time, we expanded our services to provide specialized care for communities who are disproportionately affected by HIV like communities of color, LGBTQ+ communities, and people who use drugs.

As medical breakthroughs in the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS were made in the mid-90’s, we were able to begin offering services to anyone in need of care, not just the populations who were most affected by HIV. In 2011, we adopted the name Evergreen Health to reflect this growth.

In the last decade, Evergreen has continued to adapt to new health needs in our region as they’ve emerged. While ending the HIV epidemic is still central to our mission, we’ve also answered the call to address other urgent health issues that have since arisen in WNY, like the opioid use epidemic, the mental health crisis and the COVID pandemic. As Kim said at the Huddle: “No matter how much we’ve grown, the spirit of who we were in our beginning has carried over into who we are now.”

Evergreen’s roots are in serving those who were rejected by the health care system during the AIDS crisis, and we'll always prioritize caring for the health and wellness of underserved communities. Forty years since our beginnings as AIDS Community Services, we’re able to do so much more: Evergreen is a place where anyone can get unconditionally non-judgmental and affirming medical, behavioral and supportive care under one roof.

The 40 years of history that have brought us to where we are today, and the many people who have been a part of that history, deserve to be celebrated! Our organization-wide birthday party was just the beginning – keep an eye out for more celebrations to come throughout 2023. - by Jean Conway

You can alert your fellow employees of an on-campus emergency by dialing x2222 on your desktop phone. This paging system should only be used in true emergencies such as code blue (overdose response), medical emergencies for patients or staff, fire alarms, active attackers or any other true emergency. Dial x2222 from your desktop phone at Evergreen, the Pride Center or Community Access Services. The phone line will be silent; you won't hear a dial tone. Don’t worry, the phone is recording!

Say your message loudly and clearly into the phone receiver. Make sure to include the location of the incident. Repeat your message one more time, then hang up the phone. Your recorded message will be heard over the intercom system for all buildings. Your message will not play until after you hang up the phone.

If you have any questions regarding this system or any other safety protocol, please reach out to Robert Moore. You can also check out the Safety & Security section of the Hub on Blink. Stay safe, Evergreen!

Publisher/Layout

John Carocci

Copy Editors

Jean Conway

Kristy Mangel

Contributors

Jean Conway

Megan Fagyas

Marcia Derby

Eric Poniatowski

Tiffany Valentin

Nancy J. Parisi

Connections is the official monthly newsletter for employees and board members of Evergreen Health and its affilliates, the Pride Center of Western New York and Community Access Services. You can submit photos, comments or a "hello" via Outlook at Evergreen Connections.

ADP now provides a Total Rewards Statement to show the full value of your compensation beyond gross pay. While your pay is the largest portion of your compensation, this statement is a great tool to help you better understand the full value of the varied compensation types provided by Evergreen, such as your benefits and retirement plan investments. The 2022 statement is now available when you log into ADP and go to Myself > Pay > Total Rewards. Check out the new feature to learn more, and contact Human Resources with any questions.