Find Out What’s Happening… News Briefs from Around VNSNY!

March 19, 2021

Welcome to the latest edition of “News Briefs from Around VNSNY”— featuring quick updates on recent news and virtual events across the organization.

If you have a news brief you’d like to be considered for an upcoming edition, please click here to submit your idea.

VNSNY Welcomes EVP & Chief Financial Keith Patterson

On January 25th, Keith Patterson joined VNSNY as our new Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Keith has an extensive background in managed care and robust experience in provider and other healthcare services, including senior finance positions with Aetna and UnitedHealthcare. He most recently served as Chief Financial Officer for Ready Responders, an on-demand community healthcare service. With his expertise and expertise in health care and finance, Keith will be an outstanding addition to VNSNY! Click here to read his Q+A interview on Frontline.

VNSNY CEOs Named to 2021 City & State Health Power 100

Current VNSNY CEO Dan Savitt and former CEO Marki Flannery were both named to the 2021 City & State Health Power 100 list, a roster of New York’s 100 most influential public officials, health care executives, advocates and activists, academics, and labor leaders. Not surprisingly, this year’s focus was on the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting “the individuals leading New York through the coronavirus crisis.”

Kudos to Our Latest ABCD & Initiative Award Winners!

From August 2020 through January 2021, 649 VNSNY staff members have been presented with ABCD or Initiative Awards in recognition of the outstanding job they’re doing. Click here to view the complete list of our latest ABCD and Initiative awardees!

Vaccinate VNSNY!

From early January, when VNSNY opened its vaccine clinic at 220 East 42nd Street, through March 20th, when the clinic administered its last first-dose vaccinations, VNSNY nurses will have given out 9,000 first doses and 4,400 second doses of the Moderna vaccine—the large majority of them to VNSNY staff members. Visitors to the third-floor clinic praise the safe, seamless experience: Designated staff at various posts guide you through every step—from the greeters who sign you in to the vaccinators, and finally to an observation area where those who’ve been vaccinated are monitored for 15 minutes to watch for any allergic reactions. Most people are in and out in 30 minutes to an hour. Click here for a video glimpse of the third floor clinic in action!

Celebrating the Lunar New Year

As if the pandemic weren’t enough, this year’s Lunar New Year coincided with one of the biggest blizzards in recent NYC history—but that didn’t affect the celebratory spirit at VNSNY’s Chinatown and Flushing Community Centers. Despite the weather, scores of center members braved the elements at both locations to collect VNSNY CHOICE goodie bags consisting of 10 masks, festive red envelopes (to fill with cash for children—a Lunar New Year tradition), and couplets (blessings to put on the wall or by the door). “Many of our members are elderly and have been home alone for 11 months, so it was wonderful to be able to say hello and connect with them in person,” says Teresa Lin, Director, Cultural Market Development Initiatives, VNSNY CHOICE Health Plans. “Our members are very loyal, and all of our community events have always had a full house. They were very happy to see us too, however briefly.”

A Fond Farewell to Marki Flannery

On January 21, more than 600 VNSNY staff tuned into a heartfelt Zoom ceremony in honor of Marki Flannery, who handed the CEO reins over to Dan Savitt at the end of January. To watch (or re-watch) the special Marki Flannery Zoom Celebration, click here.

Introducing the Marki Flannery Standing Tall & Parking Pass Awards…

Guadalupe Gutierrez, Ramya Devineni and Amery Moultry, Marki Flannery Stand Tall Scholarship Awardees

Two new annual VNSNY awards have been announced, both commemorating Marki Flannery’s inspirational leadership. To honor her legacy for standing tall in any situation, the Marki Flannery Standing TallScholarship will award $1,000 each year to three VNSNY employees who exemplify the same qualities—one each from Provider Services, Enterprise Services & Support, and VNSNY CHOICE, respectively. The scholarship supports advanced learning and professional growth, either through tuition assistance or workshop/conference attendance. Recipients of the inaugural award are Guadalupe Gutierrez, home health aide, Partners in Care; Ramya Devineni, Manager, CHOICE Pharmacy Administration; and Amery Moultry, Director, Enterprise Communications. On a lighter (but no less exciting) note, the

Shakiri Pitt and Cleo Miller, Marki Flannery Parking Pass Awardees

Annual Marki Flannery VNSNY Parking Pass Award will be given each year to one field clinician and one HHA. Awardees will receive a $250 stipend that can be used to defray work-related gas or parking expenses. Congratulations to the 2021 winners: Shakiri Pitt, a Partners in Care home health aide, and Cleo Miller, a nurse with VNSNY Home Care.

…And the Marki Flannery Terrace!

When—and that day will come—we’re all able to spend quality time with our colleagues at 220 again, we can look forward to another perk: sunny coffee breaks and gatherings on the Marki Flannery Terrace on the third floor. The dedication of the terrace, on January 21, 2021, included the installation of a beautiful commemorative plaque celebrating Marki’s legacy of excellence.

Stormy Weather

Sleet and snow made quite the New York comeback this winter as a series of blizzards hit our area, and VNSNY staff captured their winter-wonderland moments in some pretty incredible photographs. While many of us witnessed the weather from our cozy couches, our clinicians and home health aides braved every storm, making sure patients and plan members didn’t miss a day of care. They have never been more important and needed, and we couldn’t be prouder or more thankful to all of them.

Transgender News: When Shannon Met Sarah

Health Gender Affirmation Program Director Shannon Whittington had been excited to meet transgender Delaware Senate candidate Sarah McBride at the Southern Comfort Transgender Conference in Fort Lauderdale the summer before last. “We were both presenting, and we ended up sitting next to each other,” recalls Shannon. “She was delighted to hear about VNSNY’s Gender Affirmation Program, which provides home care to transgender patients after gender-affirming surgeries. She also told me she was running for State Senator of Delaware, and she said, ‘You know what? I’m going to win.’” This past November, Sarah did exactly that—becoming the first transgender state senator in U.S. history.

Lifting Spirits for MLK Jr. Day

Honoring the life and legacy of the civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a designated national Day of Service—a time to help our fellow human beings. This year, in that spirit, VNSNY employees wrote and mailed greeting cards to selected patients, members, and clients across the organization. “Many people, particularly among our most vulnerable populations, are experiencing the holiday blues and feelings of isolation—especially during the pandemic,” explains Melissa Henry, Community Relations Manager, Government Affairs. For the project, initiated by VNSNY’s Anti-Racism Council (ARC), our Anti-Racism Employee Advisory Group, volunteers got creative with words and pictures as they connected with clients in need of a lift during these challenging times. Click here to read more.

VNSNY Hospice’s HOPE Program in the News

In 2015, VNSNY Hospice’s Project HOPE (Hospice Outreach Program Effort, which recently changed its name to the Hope Program) was created to help address demographic barriers and disparities in hospice care by spreading the word about the value of hospice. The disparities for African Americans and Hispanics are great—nationwide, they account for just 8.5% and 6% of the U.S. hospice population, respectively, which is primarily due to a lack of awareness about the benefits of hospice care at the end of life. We’re proud to report that HOPE Program Director Michelle Drayton was recently featured on WHCR: The Voice of Harlem and on BronxNet TV, where she discussed the HOPE Program. Click here to hear Michelle’s WHCR interview, and click here to see her appearance on BronxNet TV.

Black History Month Events

Here’s a glimpse at how VNSNY commemorated Black History Month this year. (All events were virtual—and open to the general public!)

On February 17^, 148 viewers tuned in to Diaspora: Performance and Conversation with Jazz Artist Etienne Charles, in which the acclaimed trumpeter offered a fun, fascinating fusion of Caribbean and African American jazz and music history.
Mental Health and BIPOC Families: A conversation about personal experiences and coping strategies. On February 24^th, a panel of mental-health practitioners discussed how historical and systemic racism impacts the mental health of BIPOC lives as seen through the experience of families in New York City. Moderated by leadership coach and diversity/inclusion consultant Peter James, the panel included our own Nancy Smith, Associate Director of Comprehensive Care Management for VNSNY’s Community Mental Health Services.
VNSNY HOPE Summit Symposium: Caring for vulnerable populations in a global pandemic: lessons learned from the field. This March 3rd event included recorded highlights from a September event featuring VNSNY Chief Medical Officer Ritchell Dignam and other healthcare leaders, followed by a dialogue with leading experts about issues affecting African Americans, Latinos, and other vulnerable NYC communities.
Last but not least, in our Black History Month raffle, five randomly selected VNSNY colleagues won free tickets to Finding Our Roots in African American History: A Conversation with Henry Louis Gates and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, a virtual conference offered by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. (Click here for a list of the lucky winners!)

Daily Quotes Inspire VNSNY Home Care Staff

Following in the footsteps of Marki Flannery and Dan Savitt, Dan Carpenedo, Director of Operations Support for VNSNY Home Care, has been treating staff to inspirational quotes each morning—and they’ve been loving it. “I send out daily assignments every morning to our scheduling team as well as review managers and directors, and I started including quotes focused on gratitude, teamwork, or kindness from inspiring people from all walks of life,” he says. As a speech-language pathologist, Dan takes a particular interest in communication, especially now that face-to-face interaction isn’t happening. “It’s a very simple but personal way to keep connected,” he says. “Hopefully it touches at least one person per day.”

Partners in Care HHA Training Goes Virtual

VNSNY is joining forces with CareAcademy, a Boston startup specializing in workforce development, to offer certification to new home health aides via an online training program—a New York first! The program, which launched earlier this month, will allow Partners in Care HHAs to receive their required state certification through a mostly virtual program that will be supplemented by targeted in-person classes. Click here for more information on the partnership.

Drag Bingo Night!

Out@VNSNY is an LGBTQ+ employee-led resource group at VNSNY, dedicated to promoting LGBTQ+ interests in the workplace and to serving the LGBTQ+ community. On January 28th, in Out@VNSNY’s first-ever event, the group’s social committee hosted an evening of Drag Bingo. The online event was as fun as it was fabulous: Led by legendary Zoom Drag Bingo hostess Linda Simpson, it was an opportunity for members to get together over Zoom, play some spirited Bingo rounds, and even win a few prizes!

Partners in Care and CMHS Office Sites Are Coming Back into Use

As part of Operation Workplace, more VNSNY sites are being adapted so they can come back into use to some degree, while also meeting the safety needs of staff. “It’s about VNSNY being agile in terms of how best to use our spaces in the current climate,” says Andrew Wise, Vice President, Talent Management & Organizational Development, Human Resources. “This isn’t reopening in the traditional sense, but creating dedicated spaces—with plexiglass, protocols, and other safety measures in place—for critical work, training, and hiring.” Currently, the Partners in Care offices listed below are available for conducting interviews with home health aide candidates, and the Community Mental Health Services (CMHS) offices listed below are available for staff to meet in-person with patients. As for bringing back additional staff to 220 East 42nd Street, adds Andrew, “the facilities team has been hard at work and we’re working closely with our vaccination team, so we’ll be able to welcome staff back whenever we’re ready!” In the meantime, any staff who would like to work in the office for a day can reserve a drop-in desk by following the instructions on the Operation Workplace Intranet site.