As harm reduction specialist at Evergreen, Seanna Pratt has learned a lot about educating the healthcare community about the drug user services we provide. Using input from our community of patients who use drugs and the harm reduction model, Seanna educates and advocates. For those who don’t know, harm reduction is the philosophy of providing non-judgmental care, services and resources to people who use drugs, assisting them in their goals. Unlike many programs, it isn't focused on abstinence. Patients are met with compassion and assisted in achieving healthcare goals on their own terms. Seanna’s work within Evergreen also extends to several resource groups aimed at creating space and visibility for LGBTQ+ folks. What is your role at Evergreen? | I am a harm reduction specialist and was brought on essentially to build capacity for drug user services both internally and in the community. I help raise awareness about what the philosophy is and how we can better provide services to people who use drugs that may not fall into more traditional systems of healthcare. I work on a lot of trainings and build our base of clients to maximize our impact. Do you work directly with any people who use drugs? | I'm more office-located, but I help run our drug-user health coalition. It's made up entirely of people who have lived experience of drug use, whether they are currently using drugs or formerly. They’re really my lifeline to the community and I get so much information from them on what they’re seeing, what their needs are and what the community’s needs are. I also work closely with our peers to get information on what we can do to help. Had you worked with people who used drugs before this? | I hadn't been working with people who use drugs. I got this job shortly after I graduated from my master’s program in Public Health at UB. I studied community health and health behavior. I knew after I got my degree that I really wanted to not just get a job, but get a job with an organization that valued community input and valued the people that really make Buffalo home. I saw that in Evergreen’s community messaging when they came to present at my school about the work that they do. It really just made sense with what I value and the work that Evergreen was already doing. I was really happy to get an offer to work in the harm reduction center.
Can you tell me what your patient experiences have been like? | What’s really moving is just the true connection and friendship and rapport we’ve built with our patients. People say that they’ve never had a healthcare experience like one at Evergreen. They’ve never felt valued or respected the way that they do at Evergreen. That makes me feel good to be a part of the positive experiences but it also constantly reminds me that this is not the universal experience for people who use drugs. There’s so much work to do and people that have a lived experience are really connected to that; they are the drivers of this change. What’s your favorite thing about working at Evergreen? | Oh my gosh. Well, I’m in a really unique position where I get to just meet people from all walks of life and get to know people from a non-clinical perspective, which is a really unique role in healthcare these days. I would really like to see that grow because being in touch with the community is so important for improving health outcomes. I love working with people who use drugs and I love learning about peoples’ lives. I love hearing what people have to say. Another huge part of working at Evergreen for me, as a queer-identifying person, is seeing how involved Evergreen is with LGBTQ lives, because we have our affiliate the Pride Center. I think that attracted me to the organization and getting to be a part of these LGBTQ+ initiatives like adding pronouns to our email signatures has been really fulfilling, as it can improve the experience of being queer and working in healthcare. That’s pretty unique. You mentioned being queer. Can you tell us about that? | Yeah. I am non-binary and queer. I’m part of the Proud Resource Group and the resource group that improves gender affirming processes in the workplace, like adding pronouns to email signatures for example. I’ve seen both of those groups really get together to do broader as well as more procedural implementations. I know that there’s a lot of talk of changes to how we onboard employees, can be more sensitive to people’s identities and make sure that people know they are welcome to share their identities with us as their employer, because there’s a lot of fear you could be terminated from employment or harassed because of your identity. Evergreen really wants to show that: one, that’s not going to happen and two, not only are we going to respect your identity, but we’re going to celebrate it.
Pride isn't happening in its usual capacity. How are planning on celebrating Pride? | Recently because of this uprising for justice and the Black Lives Matter movement, I’ve been really getting in touch with LGBTQ+ history, where the movement originated and the intersections between those two movements. I’ve been trying to support the current movement through a queer perspective and really learning about the pivotal black trans women who started the movement for gay liberation. Pride means a lot of things but I think right now to me the most important part of Pride is that intersection and the calling on us to support our friends and neighbors during this time. What is a recent lesson you’ve learned? | What I’ve continually learned is that the work is never done. There’s always positive change to be made and we can’t sleep on the work just because it gets difficult or hard or we accomplish something. There’s always something else we need to do. Never check out. We always have to stay in tuned with whatever is going on. When you’re not helping others, how do you spend your time? | Well, I’m a musician so I always secretly wanted to be a rock star. I do music on the side. It’s indie-pop type stuff. In Buffalo, I’ve been playing in different bands for two or three years. I just joined a new band recently so we’re writing material and hoping that after the pandemic we can get out there and play. Otherwise, I like to just hang out. When the world is open, I like to spend time at coffee shops. I go to poetry readings. I try to get involved in the arts community locally and stay in tune with that. Catch local bands play. That stuff. What are things you do for self-care? Obviously, this is a hard time for a lot of people. | Self-care is especially challenging because sometimes our self-care routines were things that existed outside of our home. But, I used to go to the gym and go to yoga a lot. Now I try to practice yoga at home and go on walks and hikes. I have a camping trip planned. I’m trying to connect with that active part of my body.
Thank you, Seanna, for being part of the Evergreen family.
You can sign up for a Reddy Bike Share Essential Worker Annual Pass for just $1.00. The pass gives you acces to 385 bikes in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. There's even a phone app to make finding available bikes easy! You'll be billed on a monthly basis for 1 cent per minute of riding. For more information call 716-407-7474 or email info@reddybikeshare. com. Note: there may be additional charges for parking or failure to secure the bike properly at the end of your ride. The Reddy Bike Share Essential Worker Annual Pass is brought to you by Reddy Bike Share and Independent Health, who thank you for everything you're doing to help keep our community safe and healthy.
Trauma Informed Care (TIC) is a strengths-based framework that recognizes, understands and responds to the effects of trauma in one's life. TIC emphasizes safety, both physical and emotional, for patients and providers alike and creates an environment where patients are empowered to take control of their lives and make positive changes. Evergreen has been creating safe spaces since we first opened our doors nearly four decades ago and TIC gives us structure and guidance as we continue to apply these principles to an ever-changing world.
Trauma is more common than you may realize. According to the US Department of Health
and Human Services 55 to 99 percent of women in substance use treatment and 85 to 95 percent of women in the public mental health system have reported a history of trauma. Childhood trauma is definitively linked to 8 out of 10 of the leading causes of death. In fact, people who have experienced trauma have twice the rates of heart disease, cancer and stroke. They also have 4 times the rate of lung disease and 14 times the rate of attempting suicide.
Understanding the effects of traumas (big and small) that our patients have experienced in
their lives along with the coping mechanisms they have developed in response is essential to providing complete, effective care in a compassionate manner. A small shift to thinking about what happened to someone in childhood, or even as adults, can have a profound effect on understanding lived experience and brings a humanizing perspective to care. What could be more Evergreen than that? Alicia Kohlhagen (director of mental health) and Carrie Rich (AVP of clinical services) are working to make TIC a bigger part of the care model at Evergreen, and future issues of Connections will talk more about exactly what Trauma Informed Care is and how it can improve the quality of care we provide to our patients. Stay tuned! - John Carocci
Evergreen's Southern Tier crew wasn't going to let social distancing stop them from celebrating Susan Buck being cancer-free, so they had a little parade that went right by her house. Said Susan, "I cannot express how grateful I am to my Evergreen family for their support during my illness!"
Mark your calendar! The submission
If you have follow-up questions for the Thursday update from Ray and the team, you can submit them via email at COVID19questions@evergreenhs.org.
deadline for the August 2020 issue of Connections is Monday, July 27. Be sure to get your content in before the deadline to guarantee placement. Kids, pets, recipes, your new home office, we want to share them all! Send
In addition to Ray’s weekly email messages, you can find up to date information about how Evergreen is dealing with the situation by logging in to the ADP portal or checking the Evergreen website.
to EvergreenConnections via Outlook.
Birthdays Jesse Gasbarro........................................... July 1 Jovino Morales........................................... July 1 Urayoan Torres-Casillas....................... July 1 Gerrod Bennett........................................... July 2 Nakia Fears.................................................. July 3 Crystal Pereira-Finley............................ July 4 Meghan Canfield....................................... July 4 Seanna Pratt................................................ July 7 Alicia Williams........................................... July 7 Romona Harkness..................................... July 8 Jeffrey Heras................................................ July 8 Corrin LaVigne........................................... July 8 Jaclyn Gynan............................................... July 10 Katherine Mego.......................................... July 11 Kaitlyn Hamm............................................. July 12 Mel LeMay..................................................... July 13 Christina Sheppard................................. July 13 Ray Ganoe .................................................... July 14 Joseph Sieracki.......................................... July 15 Renee Posey................................................. July 15 Ian Schunk.................................................... July 16 Laurie Abbatessa...................................... July 17 Thomas Foels.............................................. July 18 Keisha Leavy............................................... July 19 Travis Wood................................................. July 21 Jennifer Reeves.......................................... July 21 Heather Wilson.......................................... July 21 Timothy Shaughnessy........................... July 22 Rebekah Bongiorno................................. July 22 Aanya Wood................................................ July 24 Heather Fangsrud..................................... July 25 Linda Colburn............................................. July 27 Chris DeVoe.................................................. July 27 Cecil Sutton.................................................. July 29 Steven Johnson.......................................... July 30 Shaina Beck.................................................. July 30 Nicole Callahan......................................... July 31
Anniversaries Farieda Yafai..................................................1 Year Timothy Shaughnessy.............................1 Year Ebone Wedlington......................................1 Year Nakeie Carpenter.......................................1 Year Melanie Deyoe..............................................1 Year Stephanie Simmons...................................1 Year Jeffreu Heras.................................................1 Year Brett Lawton...................................................1 Year Tamarie Novo................................................2 Years Suzanne Lambie..........................................2 Years
Round One of Annual Trainings Due The first round of annual trainings are due on July 31, 2020. All trainings are available in your Evergreen University profiles. If you have any questions, please contact Jocelyn Leising.
Rebecca Clark...............................................2 Years Jennifer Halper............................................2 Years Alyssa Shon....................................................2 Years Tiffani Williams...........................................3 Years Amanda Thornton......................................3 Years James Gerwitz..............................................3 Years Annette Pabon..............................................4 Years Melissa Gulino..............................................5 Years Brittany Price................................................5 Years Nakia Fears....................................................5 Years
Opioid Overdose Prevention Training (Narcan)
Gianna Puckett.............................................5 Years
This training is designed to prepare employees to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose. This course will provide an overview of risk factors for overdose, signs of overdose, the administration of Naloxone (Narcan) and overdose aftercare from a harm reduction perspective. After this training, attendees can pick up Narcan kits from the Harm Reduction Center. Contact Liz Miller, Director of Behavioral Health, to register.
Steven Rein.....................................................6 Years
Brianna Cabrera..........................................5 Years Melissa Delgado...........................................5 Years Bianca Morris................................................6 Years Emma Fabian.................................................6 Years Harry Berkoh-Asamoah..........................6 Years Marlyn Moore...............................................6 Years Stephani Miranda.......................................7 Years Becky Siuta.....................................................7 Years Renee Hartson..............................................7 Years Christina Turner..........................................8 Years Patrick Hildenbrandt................................10 Years Tara Monaco..................................................10 Years Dale Kingston................................................14 Years Norma Bocanegra......................................15 Years
Arica Rouse
LeAnna Shanks
Isaac Resto Reyes
Luann Bogdan
James Gerwitz
Rachel Parrino
James Thompson
Rosemary Roch
Jill Fanning
Stefanie Lyons
Kate Gallivan
Stefanie Warnic
Katherine Marrero
Susan Buck
Kayleen Coleman
Tamarie Novo
Keisha Leavy
Teouria Johnso
Kristin Rickert
Urayoan Torres
Lavine Hatten
Recognizing Excellent Work at Evergreen from
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Publisher/Layout 1.
Dial extension 2222.
2. Follow the prompt to record the Code Blue or Mr. Webber and say the exact location and building of the incident. 3. Hang up your phone. This will prompt your message to be broadcast to all Evergreen locations. 4. The Code Blue team and Security will respond to the incident. You'll have 30 seconds to record your message. If you're not done in 30 seconds, you'll be cut off and your message will be automatically broadcast. It's imperative that you say the location and building in your message: “Code Blue in the men’s lobby bathroom in the Elmwood building” or “Could Mr. Webber please come to the Mathews building counselor room?.” The Code Blue/ Mr. Webber Softkey has been removed from all phones.
John Carocci
Copy Editor Melissa Meyer
Contributors Jocelyn Leising Shakiya Bell Melissa Delgado Matthew Crehan Higgins Melissa Meyer
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. Please send us your story ideas, photos, feedback or just a friendly hello at Evergreen Connections via Outlook.
7/9/20 Last day of Wellness Check-In. I've been volunteering to work the check-in desk 1-2 days/week since April 10, a little less than a month after the world exploded. Although I was still maintaining a regular work schedule with my team (albeit working from home, but still) I needed to get out, to feel some sense of normalcy in the eye of madness. So I volunteered to check people's temps (in the first two months we used a literal thermometer probe; these infrared rayguns feel like a revolution of the ages). Even though I have zero medical experience I know how to be friendly and I love to chat with strangers. The job was a fit.
I also gained things I didn't know I would: several great new work friends I
never would have met or spent this kind of time with otherwise; a better sense of the work my agency does in the community and the population it serves; and a renewed pride in my job and my role within this team of people. That all being said: it's bittersweet to say goodbye to Wellness, but I'm relieved that there is, in fact, an end to it. In the beginning we didn't know how long it was going to be. Now we have robots coming to do some of this heavy lifting, a population that has adjusted to this new normal, a general decreasing of anxiety across the board, and a lot more laughter and frivolity all around. Even in the eye of this madness. - Kristy Mangel