September 2021 Connections by Evergreen Health

epatitis C is a viral disease spread mainly through blood-to-blood contact. Left untreated, it can cause serious and permanent damage to the liver. An estimated 2.4 million Americans are living with hepatitis C and many are unaware they have

it. Because of the opioid epidemic, the number of young people with hepatitis C is on the rise.

Evergreen's Hepatitis Care and Treatment Program has a long history of success. Since

2015, more than 600 of our patients have been cured of hepatitis C. Adherence Manager Kaitlyn Gately oversees the program.

As with so many Evergreen employees, Kaitlyn says there's no such thing as a typical

workday. "I’m always working on updating patient documents or making sure patients are following up as needed for their hepatitis C treatment. I'm also responsible for completing the prior authorizations for treatment as needed."

We've seen incredible advances in hepatitis C treatment over the past several years, but

challenges remain. Compliance is essential for patients to achieve a cure. This can be difficult for patients, who often struggle with a variety of challenges besides their hepatitis C diagnosis. "It's hard when we find out a patient failed treatment or was re-infected," said Kaitlyn. "We always work our hardest to figure out a way to get them back on treatment and cured!"

Kaitlyn is glad to be part of Team Evergreen. "Everyone is so accepting and understanding

of everyone else," she said. "I've learned so much while working here from both staff and

I'm always learning something new. - Kaitlyn Gately

patients alike. I’m always learning something new."

Growing up in the Town of Tonawanda, Kaitlyn attended Sweet Home High School and

graduated from Buffalo State College in 2009. "After graduation, I moved to Florida. I worked, briefly, in Child Protective Services. When I moved home in January 2010, I was hired at Evergreen as an Assistant Case Manager - thanks Terri and Mindi!

Outside of work, Kaitlyn stays busy with her family (husband Neal, three-year-old son

Declan and dogs Pippy and MaGee). "Between the dogs and the toddler, I'm always running around! I'm super close with my family so if I'm not at work, I'm most likely spending time with them. My husband is from Massachusetts so we travel to New England, Massachusetts and Maine, a couple of times a year. Maine has become my new favorite place to be."

Kaitlyn is also currently training for a half marathon. "Slowly, lol!" She will be running the

Mighty Niagara race on October 2nd. "It's exhausting but it has been so fun to push myself and has also been a positive change for both my physical and mental health!"

Good luck, Kaitlyn!

Community Access Services held a Back to School Backpack Giveaway event. This community event featured music, food and, of course, backpacks! Kudos to everyone at CAS for a great event.

Publisher/Layout John Carocci

Copy Editor Melissa Meyer

Contributors Jocelyn Leising Shakiya Bell Julie Vaughan Heather Wilson Kimberly Clarke 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.

Evergreen held a Spirit Day to celebrate National Health Center Week. This year's NHCW theme was "The Chemistry for Strong Communities."

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON ALL THINGS DATA

Evergreen's Fun Collective (FunC) will hold an Ice Cream Social on September 16. There will be FREE ice cream for all employees from 12 – 2 p.m. at the Elmwood Avenue location and 2:15 – 3 p.m. at the Bailey Avenue location. Gluten free and vegan options will be available. Face masks required.

Departments all throughout Evergreen, the Pride Center and Community Access Services are holding special staff appreciation events to make sure everyone on Team Evergreen knows they are valued! Evergreen's Special Services, the Pride Center and CAS gathered for a staff appreciation picnic at Como Park. There was delicious food from Dinosaur BBQ, great music and fun activities for everyone to enjoy.

If you have any questions about COVID-19, please send an email to COVID19questions@evergreenhs.org. Mark your calendar! The submission

For questions about Evergreen’s COVID-19 vaccination program, you can email COVID19vaccinequestions @evergreenhs.org. Or, visit ADP or evergreenhs.org for more information.

deadline for the October 2021 issue of Connections is Wednesday, September 15. 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 to EvergreenConnections via Outlook.

Evergreen's Special Services, the Pride Center and CAS gathered for a staff appreciation picnic at Como Park. There was delicious food from Dinosaur BBQ, great music and fun activities for everyone to enjoy. Look for more staff appreciation photos later in this issue, as well as in upcoming issues of Connections.

Birthdays Aaron Spare............................... September 3 Mark Wolf.................................... September 3 Erika Szymanski....................... September 4 Dennis McKnight..................... September 5 Sara Borges................................ September 5 Sheila Solomon........................ September 6 Tamarie Novo............................ September 8 Bridget McClain....................... September 10 Mineo, Stephanie..................... September 10 Michael Lee................................ September 10 Barrett, Brianna........................ September 10 Abby Depczynski.................... September 11 Rosanne Depczynski............. September 12 Lovejeet Atwal.......................... September 14 Keith Garvey.............................. September 14 Amanda Thornton.................. September 14 Dylan Schlosser........................ September 14 Robert Styles............................. September 14 Kimberly Lombard................. September 15 Latrese Myers............................ September 15 Fatai Gbadamosi..................... September 16 Julie Vaughan........................... September 17 Jessica Schanne...................... September 17 Robert Baird.............................. September 18 Nicole Mitchell.......................... September 19 Jason Rein.................................. September 20 Niaema Fox................................ September 21 Julie Falk...................................... September 22 Ivette Chavez-Gonzalez....... September 24 Dana McHale............................. September 25 Julia Norman............................. September 27 Tiffany Valentin........................ September 27 Jordon Frank............................. September 28 Garrett Dicembre.................... September 28 Teresa Lane................................ September 29 Beth Barone-Gregory........... September 29

Anniversaries Ice Cream! I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! The Fun Collective is bringing an ice cream truck onsite for employees on September 16. Chilly Billy’s ice cream truck will be parked onsite for the downtown Buffalo and Bailey locations. Be sure to stop by for a cold treat and

William Dimmig........................................ 1 Year Vanessa Santos......................................... 2 Years Jason Perez................................................. 2 Years Lovejeet Atwal.......................................... 2 Years Joelle Hochulski........................................ 2 Years Jordon Frank.............................................. 2 Years

keep a lookout for more information on Blink!

Meghan Canfield...................................... 3 Years

Retirement Plan Reviews

Alice Ayala Larregui................................ 3 Years

Schedule a 20 minute session on September 8th to meet with an advisor from Lawley Retirement Advisors via Zoom regarding your Evergreen Health 403(b) Account. If you're interested, email Jocelyn Leising for the link to schedule a time. You’ll have the ability to select your appointment time using the online scheduling tool. Ifyou can’t make this training but still have questions, check out the 403(b)

Nancy Colon............................................... 4 Years

Retirement Savings page on Blink for more information.

Susan Vanderwerf................................... 5 Years

Annual Training Time!

Gerrod Bennett......................................... 5 Years

Annual trainings are now available on Evergreen University. These trainings will take about two hours to complete, so please make sure you have enough time between now and September 20, 2021 to finish

Elizabeth Whipple................................... 6 Years

them. If you have any questions, contact Jocelyn Leising.

Linda Colburn............................................ 6 Years

Kelly Thompson........................................ 3 Years LeAnna Shanks......................................... 4 Years Sharee Harris.............................................. 4 Years Tiffany Valentin......................................... 4 Years Arlene Andrade-Johnson.................... 4 Years DeAirra Burroughs-Moore.................. 4 Years Melissa Laux................................................ 5 Years Christina Mihalitsas................................. 5 Years Teresa Lane................................................. 6 Years Renee Posey............................................... 6 Years Dawn Ganoe............................................... 6 Years Matthew Crehan Higgins...................... 7 Years

Sex Worker Health Disparities Training

Thomas O'Kell........................................... 8 Years

September 24th from 10:30 - 12 p.m. This is an in-person training subject to change to Zoom based on regulations on date of training. Contact Aanya Wood (awood@evergreenhs.org) to register.

Tracy Eichelberger.................................. 10 Years

Ashley Kuss................................................. 9 Years Shari DeMarco........................................... 13 Years Keisah Leavy.............................................. 16 Years Fatai Gbadamosi...................................... 16 Years Susan Fiedler.............................................. 17 Years Kimberly Lombard.................................. 29 Years

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Recognizing Excellent Work at Evergreen from July

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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.

Evergreen's Care Coordination program held their staff appreciation picnic at Veterans Memorial Park. The sky may have been cloudy but the mood was bright nonetheless!

Evergreen Healthy Living is your wellness program all about YOU and the five most important aspects of your health: v Physical v Mental

v Emotional v Social

v Financial

The Souther Tier's staff appreciation picnic was a fun time for everyone. Special thanks go out to Laurie Matson for sharing these great photos!

Tara Monaco shared these great photos of the Care Coordination staff appreciation picnic. Thanks Tara!

t’s been a while since we talked about Trauma Informed Care but we’re back! To recap: we recognize that most people have experienced some form of adverse event in

their lifetime which may still be impacting them today. TIC is a framework we can all adopt to promote safety and empower our patients and each other. How can we do this? With a four-phase model that includes: - having awareness of how prevalent trauma can be - having sensitivity around how we respond to each other - being responsive and open to learning, changing and growing - being informed and intentionally choosing TIC approaches Stay tuned for next month's article where we'll talk about our miraculous brains and how trauma can impact this very important organ.

Evergreen's Harm Reduction program held its annual picnic at LaSalle Park. There was food and fun for patients and staff alike. Highlights included Harm Reduction Trivia and the chance for patients to share the story of their personal Harm Reduction journey.

The new school year is here, which means peak season for asthma attacks is here as well. If you have a child with asthma, now is the time to revisit their asthma action plan so that you're prepared for the increase in asthma attacks that occurs each year as kids return to the classroom.

“The annual spike is caused, in part, by kids being exposed to more germs once they return to

school,” said Lisa Y. Harris, M.D., Vice President of Medical Affairs at Univera Healthcare. “It’s also the peak time of year for molds and pollen, which can trigger respiratory distress that can launch an asthma attack.” Harris advises parents to use the final weeks of summer to make sure that prescribed asthma control medications are being used as directed and that a doctor’s note is on file with the child’s school so that a supply of those medications can be kept there in case of an emergency. Parents should also use these last few weeks of summer to consult with their pediatrician to develop or update their child’s asthma action plan.

“All adults and schools or other sites that care for a child with asthma should have a copy of the

asthma action plan and understand their responsibilities regarding the child’s care,” said Harris.

Before the start of school, check with your pediatrician to make sure that prescribed asthma

medications are up to date and working and that permissions are in place for their use at school, if needed. Make sure your child takes all asthma medications as directed. Alert all adults at school and elsewhere who work with your child to recognize the signs of an asthma attack. Empower your child to notice and report asthma triggers and signs of a pending attack. Prevent the spread of germs by encouraging proper handwashing, social distancing and making sure that every family member is current on all recommended vaccinations, including the annual flu shot.

For information on asthma, visit UniveraHealthcare.com and type “asthma” in the search box.