Evergreen Health’s AVP of Clinical Services, Amanda Honan, LMHC stays busy with incredibly important work – helping patients access essential mental healthcare during unprecedented times. She took a moment to tell us about the upcoming expansion to Evergreen’s mental health services and how it will benefit our patients.
Could you talk a little about the state of mental healthcare in the community right now? Things are worsening, we all see it. We’re also seeing people exhibit more intense symptoms of depression and anxiety. We're trying to combat this by increasing the frequency with which we meet with patients, but it creates a longer wait for others seeking help.
The World Health Organization is now stating that depression is one of the leading causes of disability. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 15-29-yearolds. People with severe mental health conditions die prematurely – as much as two decades early – due to preventable physical conditions.
When you amplify these intense mental health symptoms with increased substance use and decreased resources it leads to what we're now seeing, a 20 to 30 percent jump in requests for services in the industry. And as we know, the pandemic brought increases in isolation and anxiety and simultaneously decreasing access to services and natural supports, which leads to more worry, sadness, grief, more feelings of loss.
How has the demand for mental health services impacted Evergreen? Between January and July this year, we had to refer out 1,500 patients to other service
- Amanda Honan
providers – we just couldn’t accommodate all of them. We currently average about 150 referrals a month that we're unable to accommodate, despite growing by 52 percent for counseling services and 78 percent for psychiatry services from 1/1/2022 to 11/1/2022.
What will the expansion of mental health services at Evergreen do for our patients? Each therapist can have a caseload of about 50 patients. This build out will create five new offices and they can be shared. So between in-person and virtual visits, that space could accommodate up to 10 new staff that could take on about 500 more patients. More updates on the expansion will be provided in 2023.
Are you concerned about being able to fill vacant positions when they become available? We’re lucky – our mission and what Evergreen stands for sells itself.
I don't know where a lot of people would go otherwise.
We're kind of a last resort for many people who need help. Not kind of - we are.
People want to work for Evergreen, so to date this has not been an issue for us. We do a lot of great work in our department and not to brag, but we’re pretty amazing!
What makes Evergreen’s care different from other providers in the community? The Unconditional aspect. Come as you are. It doesn’t matter what you’re bringing to the table. We're building programs for sex worker health, expanded genderaffirming treatment, family services and more. We’re always looking for ways we can treat our patients without judgment. We issue surveys and listen to them about what they actually want in their healthcare. And it’s a safe environment. We hear over and over again how wonderful and safe people feel – specifically from our Behavioral Health patients – and about our compassionate, gentle and warm providers.
What would you say to the donors that chose to support Evergreen Health on Giving Tuesday? Thank you. I think it's great when individuals help us serve the underserved. Our populations are sometimes excluded from other agencies which may not follow our harm reduction approach. For example, if someone misses an appointment, they could get closed and even barred from services elsewhere, but we won’t turn someone away like that at Evergreen. I don’t know where a lot of people would go otherwise. We’re kind of a last resort for many people who need help. Not kind of –we are. Thank you Amanda... we can't wait to see the new offices!
The exterior of 206 S. Elmwood just got a makeover starring some of our unconditionally non-judgmental, educational, affirming and understanding staff members. We hope that the new displays will create a welcoming environment for anyone who walks into the building, and show a glimpse of the diversity and unconditional care within Evergreen. Watch for more on the ongoing Unconditional campaign in future issues of Connections!
Memorial panels from the Mending of the Hearts Project were on display at all Evergreen locations during the month of December in honor of World AIDS Day. Visitors to the 206 S. Elmwood display were encouraged to share messages of hope and support, or to honor a loved one lost to AIDS. To see more of these panels along with the stories behind them, visit evergreenhs.org/ mending-of-the-hearts.
Evergreen's Southern Tier crew built an honest-to-gosh float and marched in Jamestown's annual holiday parade. Great job, Team Evergreen! Special thanks to Kimberly Lombard for the group photo at lower left.
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!
If you have any questions about COVID-19, or our vaccination program, please send an email to COVID19questions@evergreenhs.org. Or, visit ADP or evergreenhs.org for more information.
Mark your calendar! The submission deadline for the February 2023 issue of Connections is January 20. 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.
DECEMBER
17 marked the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.
Founded in 2003 by Annie Sprinkle and the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA, this date was chosen in memory of the 71 victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle, Washington. Evergreen Health is proud to serve as an advocate and ally for sex workers.
Sex work is an umbrella term for describing the consensual transaction between adults of sex and sexualized services in exchange for money, drugs, housing or other resources. Sex workers are escorts, strippers, professional BDSM (erotic practices involving bondage and other power dynamics) workers and many other professions. This profession has been around for thousands of years and criminalization does not eliminate sex work, it only pushes it underground and stigmatizes it.
People in the sex trades face higher rates of violence and they very rarely get any sort of justice when they experience it. Sex work is not inherently violent or dangerous, but because sex work is often illegal and is heavily stigmatized, workers face serious barriers to accessing services like healthcare. Sex workers are also more impacted by epidemics like HIV and the overdose crisis.
At Evergreen, we understand it can be scary to access healthcare when you are afraid of being persecuted or judged. It's our responsibility to make sure that sex workers feel unconditionally safe, affirmed and empowered as their whole and authentic selves when they access services. We provide judgmentfree care to individuals of all lived experiences.
Supporting people in the sex trades is part of Evergreen’s commitment to harm reduction. We understand that many of our patients who are sex workers are trans people, men who have sex with men and/or from communities of color. Therefore, it is important to us to value the health of all sex workers in Western New York as part of our commitment to LGBTQ+ health, women’s health, drug user health and racial equity.
Evergreen understands that sex work is real and valid work and we believe that sex workers deserve safety in their workplaces and in their day-to-day lives. We're proud to honor the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers and we're committed to meeting the health needs of sex workers in our community.
(this story also appears on the Evergreen Blog)
Publisher/Layout
John Carocci
Copy
Editors
Jean Conway Kristy Mangel
Contributors
Jean Conway Megan Fagyas Kimberly Lombard Matthew Iwanski-Jackson Eric Poniatowski
Connections is the 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.
Top: members of the MOCHA and Marketing/Communications teams in the studio recording radio ads for the MOCHA campaign. Bottom: Evergreen received a perfect (!) score on a recent HRSA site visit. Here are some - but certainly not all - of the people who made that perfect score happen. Congratulations!
Mustafa Abucar
January 1
Arlene Torres ....................................... January 2
Linda Scalise January 2
Ventenese Palmer January 3
Sarah Giczkowski. January 4
Regina Anglada January 4
Ronda Ivory January 5
James Thompson January 5
Josh Matecki ...................................... January 6
Amy Waild. January 6
Madison Torres January 7
Tracy Eichelberger January 8
Tatianna Giambra January 9
Christina Monroy January 10
Natalie Gerdy January 11
Megan Fagyas .................................... January 11
Sylvia Springer January 12
Glendalisse Lopez .............................. January 12
Emily Ryan January 15
Naima Hissu January 16
Avalene Musik January 17
Richard Smiley January 17
Alexandria Matyas ............................. January 18
Anna Hesch January 20
Murray Wire ......................................... January 20
Ricardo Quiros January 21
Samantha Gaerte January 21
Kirsten Smith January 22
Jessie Dorman January 22
Jillian Ortwein ..................................... January 22
Sarah Stimpson January 23
DeAirra Burroughs-Moore ................ January 23
Annette Pabon January 24
Isaac Resto Reyes January 25
Eleanor Bacher January 26
Shala Wright January 26
Emily Tyler ........................................... January 30
Dashawn Hill January 31
Lindsey Kelly ....................................... January 31
James DeGarmo January 31
Health Equity Index Trainings
For the past few years, Evergreen has received the designation as Health Equality Leader for our work providing LGBT culturally competent healthcare in the areas of medical, supportive and behavioral services.
Naomi Taylor 1 Year
Annie-Lee Mahoney 1 Year
Kimberly McQueary
.................................. 1 Year
Timothy Arroyo 1 Year
Kristin Rivera 1 Year
Naima Hissu
............................................... 1 Year
Megan Fagyas 2 Years
Matthew Iwanski-Jackson 2 Years
Amanda Honan 2 Years
Megan Fagyas 2 Years
Matthew Iwanski-Jackson 2 Years
Robert Styles 2 Years
Shawn Caldwell
......................................... 3 Years
Mariana Gonzalez 4 Years
Crystal Pereira-Finley 4 Years
Zachary Marchese
In order to continue to receive this designation, we are required to meet training requirements. That's where we need your help! We are required to complete 25 hours of training as an organization. If you have time over the next few weeks, please complete one of the training webinars.
To get started follow these steps:
1. Click HERE
2. Create an account if you do not already have one. Use the following information when creating your profile:
Facility ID: 65002
Security Code: HRC
Please contact the Training and Development Team with any questions.
.................................... 4 Years
Jessica Glaser 4 Years
Brittney Warham 4 Years
Kristy Mangel
............................................. 4 Years
Ronda Ivory 5 Years
Kadie Desbordes 6 Years
Katherine Mego 6 Years
Jessica Schanne 6 Years
Brianna Barrett 7 Years
Jillian Fanning 7 Years
Rebekah Bongiorno .................................. 8 Years Carly Casali 8 Years
Grant Rogers 8 Years
Harold Colburn
.......................................... 8 Years
Magali Maldonado 10 Years
Lavine Hatten 10 Years
Anna Ihle
..................................................... 10 Years
Victoria De Leon 12 Years
Andrew Kiener 12 Years
Nichole Frank 14 Years
Kevin Bidtah 23 Years
The Center for Supportive Services held a holiday potluck celebration. You've never seen so many crock-pots in one place! There was delicious food, music, a "white elephant" gift exchange, trivia, an ugly sweater contest and more. In addition, the winners of the door decorating contest were announced. See those decorated doors on the next few pages.
We all know that making a New Year’s resolution is one thing and keeping it is another.
If your goal for this new year is to take some extra care of your physical and mental health, try one of these resolutions that your team at Evergreen can help you stick to.
Make (and keep) your health care appointments | Is your yearly primary care checkup for 2023 already scheduled? It feels like 2022 flew by, and with it some of our annual appointments! One of the easiest commitments you can make to your health is to go to your annual checkup every year.
If you want to level this resolution up a notch, ask your primary care physician about getting a referral to any specialty care departments that you’ve been meaning to visit, like the mental health department, dentist, or gender-affirming GYN. Since you have a few appointments to juggle now, you could ask your doctor about meeting with a care coordinator to create a plan for your health care throughout the upcoming year. If you have trouble with making or keeping appointments but want to make your health a priority, your care coordinator is here to help with scheduling, appointment reminders, and making sure all your providers are on the same page with your care.
Take care of your sexual health | There’s never a bad time to check in with your sexual health. The only way to know if you have an STI is to get tested! Evergreen
offers non-judgmental, education and understanding testing and treatment for STI’s, hepatitis C and HIV. You can make a testing appointment online or by calling 716.847.2441. We’ll get you in for an appointment quickly and you’ll get your results within a week. If you’re worried about the cost of testing, don’t be. Your health is most important and we don’t turn any one away due to inability to pay. If you’re at risk of acquiring HIV, ask your provider if PrEP is right for you. There are now several ways you can take PrEP, and anyone who is at risk for HIV can take PrEP. If your HIV status is detectable, we can help you become and stay undetectable and untransmittable through medication and supportive services.
Don’t forget, our safer sex stations are always available to Evergreen patients. Stop by anytime to pick up as many free condoms as you need. Get into yoga | Yoga is for everyone! There’s something about connecting your body, breath and mind in a yoga class that brings a lot of people peace both during yoga class and after. Evergreen’s THRIVE Wellness Center offers a yoga class that’s available to all Evergreen patients with a referral from your doctor.
The class is designed to be accessible for people of all abilities and skill levels, and the yogis that participate come from all genders, races and body types. Ask your doctor or care coordinator for a referral to try out a class.
Get into art | Expressing your creativity and emotions through art can be healing. In addition to yoga, the THRIVE Wellness Center offers a variety of creative classes that are available through referral to all Evergreen patients who might benefit from them.
If you’re interested in trying art therapy, guided imagery, or crochet in community with other artsy folks, there’s a THRIVE class for you! Ask your doctor or care coordinator for a referral.
Start your gender affirming care journey | If you’re considering taking any steps in your gender affirming journey this year, your team at Evergreen is here to support you. Evergreen specializes in care for transgender and gender expansive individuals. Our gender affirming physicians follow an informed consent approach to hormone replacement therapy, meaning that they work with you to make sure you understand all the changes you’ll experience on HRT, and let you be the decision maker about your transition. Your provider will customize your treatment to align with your transition goals.
In addition to informed consent-based HRT, your provider can link you with gender affirming mental health care, trans informed pelvic care, gender affirming surgeons, and free legal help to change your name and gender marker.
The Pride Center opened its doors for a holiday themed open house featuring food, music, cookie decorating, giveaways and more.
Patients had a great time decorating cookies at the THRIVE Wellness Center. Thank you Laura for coordinating the event, and Sarah for assisting.
