Elisa Luciano recently celebrated 23 years with Evergreen! Elisa joined the agency (then known as AIDS Community Services) in 2000 as a medical assistant in the primary care practice. From there she moved to Supportive Services as a community follow-up worker, and now she works as an outreach and engagement specialist.
A typical day for Elisa involves reaching out to potential patients and, hopefully, enrolling them in the Health Home Program (HHP). "Contact can be made by phone or face-to-face with a home visit," Elisa explained. "Sometimes it's a cold call." Once she has made contact, Elisa tells the potential patient about the programs and services we offer as well as how to qualify for them. "Getting a person into the HHP means they can get assistance with so many things: transportation, housing, advocacy, help with navigating social services or the medical system, linkage to primary care, mental health care, harm reduction services, help with scheduling appointments and more."
Working closely with people and helping get them into care is very rewarding for Elisa. "When I have someone walk into my office feeling overwhelmed by all the things going on in their life, and I tell them, 'This is something care coordination could assist you with', I see their whole demeanor change and their mood improve. Simply lending an ear and listening in a non-judgmental way means so much to people."
Prior to joining Team Evergreen, Elisa worked for a dental practice. "I met a woman who was an Evergreen employee accompanying a patient. Seeing how she helped the patient, supported them and helped schedule upcoming appointments made an impact on me. I began asking her questions about Evergreen and she told me about their programs and the population they served." Elisa describes another encounter that pushed her toward a career at Evergreen. "A man came into the office, alone, for an extraction. He filled out
his medical history form and checked off that he was HIV positive. A coworker saw this and left the doctor to work by himself with both extracting and suctioning. The doctor kept asking where she was. I found her and she said to me, 'Did you see his form? He has AIDS. I'm not going to help.' I told her that didn't matter, there are universal precautions she could use and that she needed to get back to work with the doctor. She refused. I was a medical biller at the time but I grabbed some gloves and assisted the doctor myself. It was obvious to the patient what was happening. He was visibly upset and once out of the chair he left without making a follow up appointment. He started down the stairs with blood on his cheek. I grabbed a wet paper towel and chased him down the stairs. I went to wipe his face and he pulled back from me and said, 'Didn’t you see what I checked off? I have HIV.' I asked what does that have to do with me cleaning off your face and I began to wipe his face clean. He looked at me as if he wanted to cry, he said thank you so much and walked away with his head down. It was heartbreaking. Treating him with respect, kindness and compassion meant so much to him. I knew working with this population of people was what I wanted to do, so I applied at Evergreen. I saw this patient a few years later at Evergreen and when he saw me he screamed with happiness. I gave him a big
I tell them, 'This is something care coordination could assist you with', and I see their whole demeanor change. - Elisa Luciano
hug and he said to me, 'This is where you belong,' and I think he was right. Twenty-three years later I'm still here!"
"Evergreen has seen a lot of change and growth over the past 23 years," noted Angela Palmer, vice president of care coordination. "Care coordination served 400 patients, all living with HIV. Today we serve over 1,400 people who face a wide variety of health issues. Throughout this change and growth, Elisa has remained committed and dedicated to our patients. She continues to work diligently to get our patients the services they need and is always there to help them navigate a complicated health care system."
Elisa was born and raised on the lower west side of Buffalo. "I'm the youngest of eight children in a Puerto Rican and Italian family. I had the best of both cultures growing up. My father worked several jobs, a baker and a construction worker among other jobs. My mother was a stay at home mom. We would wake up to the smell of fresh homemade bread on a daily basis, and let’s not forget every Sunday the smell of slow cooked homemade sauce."
Elisa has changed a lot of lives in her 23 years at Evergreen. But her own life has changed, as well. "When I started working at Evergreen my children were little. I made sure that I educated them about HIV/AIDS early on, and I always made sure that they participated in every AIDS Walk, doing chalk art with inspirational quotes, handing out bottles of water to walkers and sometimes being cheerleaders at the finish line. My daughter (Jasmine Padilla) was always willing to help when it came to my work. When Evergreen was working on an educational video called HIV 101, of course Jasmine offered to be in the video. Even as a child she told me that when she grew up she was going to work at Evergreen and help people with HIV/AIDS. My daughter now works for Evergreen. She has been an employee for several years now. I'm so very proud of her."
The Pride Center's Pride in the Park event at LaSalle Park was another great success!
Publisher/Layout
John Carocci
Copy Editors
Jean Conway
Kristy Mangel
Contributors
Jean Conway
Megan Fagyas
Eric Poniatowski
Jason Surmaceviz
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.
Left: Team Evergreen at the 35th annual Developmental Disabilities Day Conference in Niagara Falls. Right: at the Disability Pride Festival at Canalside.
Mark your calendar! The submission deadline for the September 2023 issue of Connections is Wednesday, August 23. Be sure to get your content in before the deadline to guarantee placement. Kids, pets, vacations, recipes -we want to share it all with Team Evergreen! Email EvergreenConnections via Outlook.
Shaquana Zeigler-Davis
La'Tya Turner...........................................
Emily McGorry
Rachel Peer
Andrew Anderson ..................................
Suzanne Lambie
Reginald Washington
Elizabeth Danwin ....................................
Jonathan Puma
Melissa Gulino
Christine Baczkiewicz ...........................
Stephanie Bona
Austin Keller
LeAnna Shanks .......................................
Carolee Corbitt
Becky Siuta
Kelly Thompson
Timothy Arroyo
Amy Usiak
Sara Nieves
Antione Holmes
Kayanan Dean
Michael Ludwick
Magali Maldonado
Megan Mogavero ...................................
Barbara Aviles
Lydia Ruiz
Asha Mathis ............................................
Patrick Hildenbrandt
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Alphonsina Habiyambere August 28
Kaitlin Madden ........................................
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Arlene Andrade-Johnson August 30
Penny George
Volney Powell ..........................................
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The first round of ANNUAL TRAINING is due September 29. Annual training is required for all staff to complete and includes company trainings, policies, and acknowledgments. Trainings you are required to complete have been assigned in your Evergreen University profile.
Congratulations to our MANAGER TRAINING PROGRAM graduates! Joleen Rodriguez (Lead Patient Services Representative), Dr. Rosalind Sulaiman (Physician), Kizzy Tell (Housing Services Manager), and Tangela Watson-Bogan (Director of Substance Use Services) completed Evergreen’s Manager Training Program, a 23 hour program over two years. Training topics include coaching for peak performance, resolving workplace conflict, and strategies for influencing others.
The FUN COLLECTIVE (FunC) Employee Resource Group is back! Our primary goal is to celebrate the Evergreen spirit, and we're bringing back staff birthday parties in August. Join us for birthday cake - see the schedule on page 9.
There will be a VIRTUAL Fun C MEETING on Wednesday, August 30 from 11:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. Join us for our first meeting to learn more about:
• The goals of the employee resource group
• How you can participate and/or volunteer for PrEP Aware Week and Dining Out for Life this fall
• Organizing the September birthday celebrations
RSVP by August 28 to Michael Blasdell or Eric Poniatowski
