Nicolas Warren (he/him) is the administrative assistant for the Executive Team, working on the 5th floor at 206 South Elmwood Avenue. Nic's list of duties and responsibilities is extensive. If you've put in a ticket for food orders for meetings, gift card requests or nameplates over the past few months, chances are Nic has helped you out. In addition to his outward facing duties for Evergreen, CAS and the Pride Center, Nic is responsible for keeping the 5th floor running smoothly. "I schedule and set up meetings for the Executive Team, order supplies, assist with certified mail/packages, answer phone calls, clean and stock the kitchen, and help answer any patient questions or concerns," said Nic. "I'm also currently taking classes to become a Notary."
Nic begins his typical work day by tidying the kitchen, emptying the dishwasher and stocking the fridge and printer. He checks emails for time-sensitive requests and distributes incoming fax or email communications. And, as he says, "I greet all staff and Executive Team members with a smile and welcome them in for the day!" At the end of the day Nic follows a similar routine, only in reverse.
In the hours between, Nic's job involves interactions with staff from all over the agency, as well as the public, on a variety of projects. "I like to work on projects," he said. "Every day definitely feels like a mini-project, so it's satisfying to get all of my tasks done at the end of the day. I also get an overwhelming sense of satisfaction from the idea that what I accomplish helps keep the Executive Team - and Evergreen - moving, to provide the unconditional support for the communities we serve!" Though he doesn't work directly with patients, Nic knows his work is nonetheless helping to make a difference in the lives of our patients and the community.
Regular Connections readers know this is the part where we talk about challenges that prevent us from doing our best work. "The challenges for me are nothing caused by Evergreen," said Nic. "It's the world we live in. It's hard to see the hatred and mistreatment (of the communities we serve) on a daily basis and still be able to come to work and not let those awful things seep in. It can be exhausting mentally to push that aside and focus on your daily tasks as we work with patients and colleagues who are part of these communities under attack. But when I see the changes that our actions make on a daily basis, it becomes possible to forget about all those things and put my energy into the work we do, so passionately, every day!"
Nic has a bird's-eye view of Evergreen, both literally from his desk on the 5th floor, and figuratively through his work. What does he think of Evergreen culture? "Every job I've ever had, each day that passed I found more and more reasons to start looking for a new job. Every day I ask myself when - or if - that's ever going to happen
here! Everyone here, you can just tell we're all here for the same reasons. Even someone you don't always see eye-to-eye with, at the core we're all here to fight the same fight and win! It's unlike any place I've ever worked. Regardless of whether you're black, white, HIV+, HIV-, LGBTQIA+, etc., everyone has been pushed into a corner at some point in their lives, and now we're connected and ready to fight for the future generations, and fight for the things that may have been or currently are being taken away from us. I'm also grateful that I have the most amazing supervisor, Sam Gaerte, who has really helped me grow my confidence and has done nothing but make me feel welcomed and appreciated every day."
One of Nic's most recent projects is the PROUD Employee Resource Group (PERG), which he will be cochairing with John Carocci. "We're working together to rebrand and relaunch the group. We're very excited to lead this group together! We want the PERG to be a safe space for LGBTQIA+ members and allies to hang out, connect and get to know each other, have difficult conversations about what's going on in our lives, the world or here at Evergreen, but we also want it to be an escape from the daily fears and pressures put on our community. We're eager to talk with our members, and find out what they'd like to get out of the group. We'll be hitting the ground running right before Pride month, so what better way to celebrate us as a community than by walking with the PERG in the Pride Parade? If you have any questions, want more information, or would like to sign up to join, let myself or John know. We'll be sending out information and updates soon!"
Nic was born and raised in Akron, New York, where he still lives with his husband, Jamie. "It's a very small town. It's a hard place to feel comfort being part of any community. But I'm grateful that I grew up where I did. It showed me the ugly side of life before I got to see how beautiful life can be. I'm grateful that I saw the injustice, the mistreatment, the bullying, because it fueled the fire in me that this needs to change. I've always had a passion to take care of the communities and not stand for all of this anymore, but I let far too many people tell me that you will never make a difference or change anything. That was until I met Jamie. He's the first person in my life to just let me be authentically me and loves me for who I am and has never put limitations on me and has never told me that I can't do something or won't be able to change anything. We will have been married for 3 years in June! Another reason to celebrate Pride month for us. We met right before the pandemic and it was love at first sight. If we can survive COVID together, we can survive anything together. We're looking to move to Buffalo in the future to help us feel more comfortable and to also help cut down the 45 minute commute (ewww). "
"Jamie is the administrative coordinator at the Pride Center. He has a passion for the same things as me, and when we found out he got the job we were ecstatic! Not long after he started, I volunteered at the Pride Center's Trans Wellness Conference and got to meet so many wonderful people, including Kate Gallivan and Kelly Craig. I spent time talking to them and feeling the passion and dedication from my first interactions with them, and it really lit the fire in me and helped give me the needed confidence. Soon after that I had my interview and was hired! I'm not sure I would have had the same result if I was not able to meet Kate and Kelly that day, and I tell them often how much they helped change my life around."
Outside of work, Nic says it can be hard to keep "down time" to relax. "I'm on the Board of Directors for the Pembroke Volunteer Fire Company, and being the only one that fits in the suits, I get to play Easter Bunny and Santa Claus once a year. We also do chicken bbq, raffles, meat raffles, and other events which, with weekly meetings, takes up some time. It can be difficult to relax at home as we have 6 cats and 2 dogs. Cats have a really fun instinct. When they know you want to lay down, relax, and enjoy some peace and quiet, they start running around the house at 50 mph and knock everything over." Nic also loves cars. "I'm an avid Volkswagen person. I had my dream Beetle convertible. It was the best car in the world but got rear ended. I still miss it every day! "
Nic closes with an invitation to Team Evergreen: "If you ever see me, please feel free to stop me and chat! I'd love to learn about your role here at Evergreen and hear about all the stuff that you do that helps benefit the communities that we serve!"
Nic’s commitment to Evergreen’s mission shines through. He is kind, compassionate, helpful, hardworking, and creative. I’m so happy he’s part of Team Evergreen! director of business planning
Sam Gaerte
The Pride Center hosted their first Trans Empowerment Workshop on April 13, with the goal of empowering trans black, indigenous, and people of color in their health and overall wellness. Topics covered included spirituality, sex work, and substance use and recovery. Attendees were treated to a keynote talk by current Miss Black America, Jazell Barbie Royale, as well as a closing performance. Ms. Royale spoke in depth about her experience as a trans woman of color, as well as her work in HIV prevention and advocacy surrounding Doxy PEP and PrEP, particularly in marginalized communities. Stay tuned for announcements on the Pride Center’s annual Trans Wellness Conference! Thank you Taylor Blake for the photos.
Mark your calendar! The submission deadline for the June 2024 issue of Connections is Friday, May 19.
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.
EVERGREEN'S
annual Patient Experience Week (PXW) is an opportunity to focus on customer satisfaction. Last month, we gave an overview of what patient experience is, why it's so important, and the ways Evergreen collects and analyzes feedback from patients. This month we'll examine one of the five main pillars of patient experience: health equity. Evergreen's Big Hairy Audacious Goal is to eradicate health inequity through unconditional care. So naturally, tracking and improving health equity is a critical part of achieving our immediate and long-range goals. Collin Ranney, Evergreen's patient experience manager, says that health equity aims to create a world where everyone gets a fair shot at a healthy life. He also explains why health equity is such an important goal:
Fairness and Justice: Health equity is a matter of social justice. It ensures that everyone, regardless of background or circumstances, has the same opportunities to achieve good health. It's about dismantling the systemic barriers that lead to health disparities.
Public Health Impact: Achieving health equity improves overall public health. When everyone has access to essential healthcare services, preventive measures, and health education, it contributes to a healthier population. This, in turn, can reduce the burden on healthcare systems.
Economic Benefits: A healthy population is a productive population. Health equity promotes equal access to healthcare, which means fewer people facing health-related barriers to work
and productivity. This can have a positive economic impact on communities.
Reduced Healthcare Costs: Addressing health disparities early on can lead to better health outcomes and lower healthcare costs in the long run. By promoting preventive care and timely interventions, health equity can contribute to more efficient and cost-effective healthcare systems.
Social Cohesion: When everyone has equal access to healthcare, it fosters a sense of social cohesion. It builds trust in healthcare systems and institutions, creating a more inclusive and supportive society.
Ethical Imperative: From an ethical standpoint, ensuring health equity aligns with the principle that all individuals deserve equal opportunities for a healthy life. It challenges and seeks to rectify historical and systemic injustices that have led to health disparities.
In essence, health equity is not just a goal; it's a fundamental human right. It acknowledges that health is interconnected with various social, economic, and environmental factors, and that addressing these factors is essential for creating a healthier and more just world.
Watch for more about the pillars of patient experience at Evergreen in upcoming issues of Connections.
Publisher/Layout
John Carocci
Copy
Editors
Jean Conway
Kristy Mangel
Maggie Carrig
Contributors
Eric Poniatowski
Christopher Cline
Andy Kiener
Taylor Blake
Kelly Craig
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.
You'll be hearing a lot about SMOP, Evergreen's new Supporting Methamphetamine Overdose Prevention program. SMOP was created to address methamphetamine and other stimulant use among men who have sex with men (MSM) and MSM of color, as well as those of trans experience and sex workers. Evergreen's new methamphetamine specialist/substance use counselor Camry Dean explains, "This program will do a little of everything; sexuality and gender-affirming support, substance use counseling, and education on safe sex and safe use practices with an emphasis on HIV prevention and treatment." SMOP's goal is to provide a safe, nonjudgemental space for folks looking for support in substance use and healthy sex. "This will look different to all clients," said Camry. "Some might want education and support on safe use while others may want support in decreasing or stopping use. It’s crucial that this program and the support we offer aligns with Evergreen’s harm-reduction approach, with a huge emphasis on meeting the people we serve where they’re at."
Camry notes it can be difficult to separate sex from substance use, so another goal of the program is to provide a safe, inclusive, sex-positive environment for those who are at the point in their journey to work on healthy, sexual and intimate relationships. "Sexual healing and happy and safe sex and intimacy is possible. We want to instill that hope into our clients."
Chemsex refers to using substances, specifically stimulants such as methamphetamine, immediately before or during sexual activities to intensify and/or prolong sexual experience. "Chemsex is prominent within the MSM community, particularly with MSM of color," said Camry. "Studies show that people who engage in chemsex are more likely to engage in riskier sexual behaviors. From the substance use perspective, people engaging in chemsex are less likely to consider safer substance use practices, leaving them at higher risk for overdosing and/or overamping, ingesting tainted drugs, and potentially sharing equipment. In addition, individuals who engage in chemsex might struggle with healthy sexual practices even after their substance use is reduced, or, if their goal is sobriety, when they’ve stopped using substances altogether. Clients who identify within the LGBTQ+ community and struggle with sexualized substance use are encouraged to stop into the Pride Center for more information or talk to their provider about a referral to the substance use department."
There are a lot of variables at play, so sexualized substance use and the challenges it creates are not one-size-fits-all. "People may come to us for support in mental health, substance use, physical and sexual health, harm-reduction and LGBTQ+ support," said Camry. "The goal of this program is to help support people we serve in the journey to meeting
their specific goals and help them remain safe and informed while doing so, while also providing co-located services between Evergreen Health and the Pride Center to ensure continuity of care regardless of their personal circumstances."
Camry is new to Team Evergreen, but work on SMOP has been going on for about a year. "The Pride Center has been doing the groundwork for this program, offering support as well as outreach and referrals for the clinical side of things. That's where I, along with our Substance Use team, come in. Miguel Cocerez at Pride has created and facilitates an incredible monthly group called Serenity, specifically for folks who identify within the LGBTQ+ community and struggle with substance use. As the methamphetamine specialist, I've just started to take referrals for individual counseling. Eventually, the Substance Use department will offer a psychoeducational/support group specifically for clients who struggle with sexualized substance use. Once participants feel stable in their reduction of substance use or sobriety, if that's their goal, the program will offer a group on healthy sexual relationships and intimacy because it’s important to emphasize that sexual healing is possible."
Because people served through SMOP are already linked to the Substance Use department, they can be further linked with MAT and/or peer support providers. "We also encourage clients to link with any of the other incredible services Evergreen has to offer and are happy to send over any referrals. It’s also important to the SMOP team that we encourage an open door policy because the program is so new and the issues it’s been created to address are complex. We depend on the insight and support of other departments at Evergreen such as the Harm Reduction Center, MOCHA, Mental Health, trans healthcare services and sex worker healthcare."
SMOP’S target population is men who have sex with men (MSM), MSM of color, people of trans experience and sex workers who use stimulants, with a focus on crystal meth use. However, anyone who struggles with stimulant use or sexualized substance use is encouraged to engage. While both the Pride Center and Evergreen are working together on this program, people who want to attend individual or group counseling must be patients of Evergreen Substance Use. "If they attend any events or programs at the Pride Center they can easily be referred when ready. If they're not yet ready to be linked with clinical services, the Pride Center will continue to provide incredible support to the LGBTQ+ community. " Everyone involved is working to make the referral process as simple as possible. "We understand that with different layers of sexualized substance use support, referrals can come from essentially any department at Evergreen," said Camry. "If you’re interested in referring an existing client, you would use the existing BH referral and route it to myself. If you have any questions or would like me to touch base with a prospective client, whether over the phone or would like to invite
We're still seeking volunteers for the Buffalo Pride Parade & Festival! Join your colleagues and community members in supporting the Pride Center. Check out the available volunteer opportunities at buffalopride.org/participate. Send any questions to volunteers@evergreenhs.org.
me into your next appointment with them, feel free to reach out through email; cdean@evergreenhs.org or stop by to see me on the 4th floor (at 206 S. Elmwood). For those not ready to engage in clinical services, a Medent referral to the Pride Center can be completed and routed to Taylor Blake, program director of SMOP at the Pride Center. People can also be escorted directly to the Pride Center during business hours. Evergreen offers so many programs and services, and you all know your patients and your specialties better than anyone. All questions, suggestions, ideas, etc. are encouraged!"
Camry took the 'long and winding road' to Evergreen. She graduated with a degree in English. "My goal was to attend law school. However, I’m a big fan of both research and working directly with people and decided that getting a Master’s in Sociology/Criminology from the University at Buffalo was my next step. After this degree, I thought it was a good idea to rack up even more student loans and obtain my Master of Social Work from UB so that I had the option to help people at all levels; micro, mezzo and macro. It appalls me how we treat folks who are denied the resources and support to deal with the struggles of life and how we criminalize struggles with substance use, poverty and overall hardships."
Camry comes from the forensic world with training as a forensic therapist, so she says she's no stranger to trauma and harm reduction. "I feel proud to be working at a place like Evergreen that makes the harm-reduction approach their foundation in treatment. It was important to me that this work is done with an agency that understands people aren’t struggling with one singular thing and that relationships between mental health, race, gender, sexuality, socioeconomic status, physical health, HIV status and substance use exist. Evergreen has all the right people doing the right work to support the community at every level. I'm looking forward to collaborating with just about every department at Evergreen to best support our patients with this complex issue. Everyone has the right to a safe, happy sex life and substance use support, as well as gender and identity affirming care."
Outside of work hours, "You can usually find me at home binge-watching episodes of Will & Grace (the OG episodes) and hanging with my cats, Moo, Jerry and Fig (who doesn’t have any fur and would rather sleep on my WiFi router than wear any of the hundreds of sweaters I buy her.) I love to bake and my current obsession is banana bread using my sourdough discard. My biggest goal in life is to become a doula specifically for individuals who are forced to give birth while incarcerated and I’m hoping to start taking steps towards it this fall. I am happy to talk all things criminal justice, healthy sex and intimacy, LGBTQ+ issues and harm-reduction so please don’t be a stranger!"
Welcome to TeamEvergreen, Camry. We can't wait to see more of SMOP in action!
Telephone operators are vital to our overall patient experience. They are often the first point of contact for patients and are always there to lend a helping hand, provide a bit of friendly conversation and work their hardest to help provide any information callers may need. They efficiently engage patients in order to connect them to the appropriate departments. Evergreen’s commitment that our callers reach a friendly voice as opposed to just a computer-generated system takes some very special individuals.
Glendalisse Lopez (Glendy) is the phone operations manager who started at Evergreen in 2015. Glendy was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico and lived in New York City and Miami settling in Buffalo 12 years ago. She lives with her husband, three children and her three dogs (a goldendoodle and two chihuahuas). She loves visiting state parks, camping and secret swimming holes. She also enjoys crystals, meditation and is a reiki master.
Jennifer Rivera (Jenny from the Block) is a phone operator who started at Evergreen in 2022. Jenny was born and raised in Buffalo’s lower Westside and currently owns a home in Niagara Falls. She lives with her girlfriend, her two daughters and three cats (Waffles, Melo and Binx). She has a son who lives on Buffalo’s Westside. Jenny loves hiking, camping, a good strong winery and anything spontaneous.
Mekhi Moore is a phone operator who started at Evergreen in 2022. Mekhi was born and raised in Buffalo living all over the Buffalo area. He currently lives with his sister and mother (former Evergreen alumni LaTanya Walton-Brown). He loves video games and has a strong passion for sports starting early at age 6 playing basketball, football and track. Mekhi would like to share that he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at the early age of 17 but never lets it affect him in a negative way, instead choosing positivity and embracing life!
Louis Flores (Lou) is a phone operator who started at Evergreen in 2023. Lou was born in Houston, Texas and raised in Miami, Florida. Lou has been living in Buffalo for 7 years. In his spare time Lou is an avid shopper, loves to cook (learning from Tik Tok videos) and enjoys reality shows, never missing an episode of any of the Real Housewives franchise!
Glendalisse Lopez
Jennifer Rivera Mekhi Moore
Louis Flores
Bradley Heil
Maggie Carrig
Angela Tetkowski .....................................
Jerome Robinson
Marshall Ananiadis
Jack Burd ...................................................
Fransheska Caballeros
May 1
May 1
May 1
May 3
May 4
May 4
May 5
Michelle Milasinovic-Bayerl May 5
Robert Smith
May 6
Alexius Richardson .................................. May 6
Melanie Deyoe
Julius Torres
Ellann Ford
David Capretto ..........................................
Robin Thornton
Allison Mitchell
Eric Marburger
Brittany Camacho ....................................
Philip Kincannon
Kevin Reynolds
Helen Graves
May 7
May 7
May 7
May 7
May 9
May 9
May 10
May 11
May 12
May 13
May 13
Rosalind Townsend ................................. May 13
Emma Fabian
Benjamin Goldenberg
Michael Blasdell
May 13
May 14
May 14
Matthew Egner ......................................... May 16
Kaitlynn Cruz
Tiffany Ervin
Kyle Botsford
May 17
May 18
May 20
Kate Walker May 24
Adria Reed May 24
Roosevelt Terry May 25
Alyssa Shon............................................... May 25
Stewart Whitver
Elizabeth Woleen
Alonzo Griffin
May 25
May 27
May 27
