MC News November, 2014
This is the season to be thankful for all the amazing opportunities that have cascaded upon us throughout the year. Daily, I’m reminded of how much I love what I do regardless of the surmountable difficulty in finding resources for all that needs to get accomplished.
One joy for instance is going into a room full of newly hired team members who are simultaneously experiencing anxiety and joy to be in a place where they indisputably know they can make a difference. A room where their skills as well as their genuine ambition to make this a better organization are palpable. Another is when I walk around and witness team members spiritedly solving problems together - this is a fulfilling day for me.
As I experience the many facets of life year after year, I
grow more profoundly committed to Mary’s Center continuing to be a place that is also engaging and heartwarming for each one of us. This means we need to inspire each other more, to explore more opportunities together and to learn from each other and always deliver with a kind heart and much rigor.
Dalai Lama once said: “There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”
To each one of you I wish you much happiness throughout all your chapters of life and may you continue to share your knowledge, your advice and kindness with one another to guarantee that the ever-changing arena that we must participate in does not tear us apart but rather bring us closer together to continue making a difference for one another.
Affectionately,
Maria Gomez President and CEO
Adelphi Site: Medical Assistants, Nurse Manager & Providers
Georgia Site: Medical Assistants & Nurse Manager
Ontario Site: Medical Assistants and The IT Department Patient Registration
Kennedy Site: Home Visiting
Best Theme and Concept: Dana Goldenberg’s and Lauren Reay’s Office at
Ontario (Zombie Disney Princesses)
The BIG WINNERS OF THIS YEAR: Dental Team:
& Flower Site Medical Assistants and Nurse Manager!
&
Everyone is a winner. Costumes and decorations were fantastic. Visit our
Facebook page to see the spirit throughout. THANK YOU!
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The DC Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs (OLA), the same that gave us our initial funding to open Mary’s Center 26 years ago, presented Maria with The Legacy Award on October 14th as part of the Hispanic Heritage Month celebration.
The award was presented by DC Mayor Vincent Gray and Roxana Olivas, Director of OLA. The ceremony took place at the Gala Theater. Congratulations, this is an award for the hundreds of team members at Mary’s Center, past and present, that have helped build this dynamic organization.
On October 23rd, Mary’s Center and 19 other healthcare entities in the District of Columbia signed the DC Mayor’s new Sustainable DC Healthcare Sector Sustainability Pledge Initiative. In other words, a commitment to support a healthier and
greener city by taking meaningful and measurable steps that can contribute to a healthy environment.
FYI...some of the measurements we are already taking for a better environment include: using electrical wind power, changing to energy-saving light bulbs, double sided copying and recycling paper, using overhead projection for meetings more and more instead of paper, teleconferencing instead of having people travel from one site to another, having gardens at two sites, encouraging less color copying, considering sensor lights, buying less toxic cleaning agents, having biking racks…just to name a few. Yet, we have much work to do in this arena. We invite you to write me with your suggestions so that our footprint will be smaller and smaller each year.
Two great organizations have supported Mary’s Center for three years in a row with financial resources for us to provide assistance to families in need. We recently received a new check, Thank YOU!
On October 30th, Verizon presented a check to eight organizations including Mary’s Center for a total of $115,000 to support victims of domestic violence in the District of Columbia. The check presentation took place at our Georgia location.
New DC Mayor Muriel Bowser (candidate at that moment) joined Verizon and the organizations receiving this grant at the check
presentation.
On November 5th, Pepco Holdings, Inc. Community Foundation presented Mary’s Center with a check for $80,000 to provide energy assistance to needy families in Prince George’s County.
Jerry Pasternak from Pepco presented the check to Rebecca Diamond, Chief Development Officer and Maria Gomez, President and CEO.
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Thank you to those of you who supported our annual gala, Noche Tropical, our largest fundraiser of the year. We had 390 Guests & raised $480,000. KUDOS to Rebecca Diamond and the development team: Sofia Morales, Monique Perry, Emily Dreckshage, Eliza Ruggiero, Lizzette Uria, and interns Hannah Tatum and Agnes Cororaton, for such a beautiful and successful event!
The success of this event is directly correlated to the significant participation of the staff, thank you!
Maria with our three honorees: Amy Freeman (Providence Hospital), Maria Tildon (CareFirst) and Debbi Jarvis (Pepco Holdings), and our one and only Master of Ceremony, Doug Kammerer, NBC4 Chief Meteorologist.
Our wonderful Board of Directors: left to right: Edward Mariga, Belen Mendoza, Errin Green, Donald “Skip” Bean Jr., Lucero Ortiz, Mervyn Alphonso, Nina Albert, Matt Klinger, Andrea Lindemann Gillian, and Maria.
As always our staff and volunteers are the heart and soul of our events. We had 44 staff members and 65 volunteers. Thank you to each one of you for your support.
Rebecca Diamond (Chief Development Officer and head of the event), and David Tatro (COO) were our hosts.
Our keynote speaker, and Teen Program participant, Mamush Mesfin was the hit of the evening. His eloquent speech got everyone’s attention. Great job Mamush!
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: ANGEL FALLS SPONSOR Adams Investment Group Anonymous CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield Clark Construction Group/Clark Chari-table Foundation The Meltzer Group Pepco Holdings, Inc. Providence Hospital and Thrasys, Inc.
MACHU PICHU SPONSOR AFL-CIO Global Recovery Group, LLC COPACABANA BEACH SPONSOR Bisnow Media Burness Communications Children's National Medical Center eClinicalWorks Eli Lilly and Company FH Community Health Gelman, Rosenberg and Freedman, CPAs Dr. Samuel Lievano, (LEE-EV-A-NO) The M&T Bank Charitable Foundation Maximus Foundation PNC Foundation Miachel Rexroad, Maria Gomez, & Amalia Gomez-Rexroad Safeway and Walmart
PHOTO BOOTH SPONSOR GEICO Philanthropic Foundation
PATAGONIA SPONSOR AmeriHealth Caritas BlueCross BlueShield Association ~ OPR Call4Health Centric Business Systems, Inc. City First Bank of D.C. CohnReznick Deloitte Consulting LLP Harris Teeter HiTouch Business Services Mario and Dana Morino National Association of Community Health Centers Navigant SEIU Local 32BJ Dorothy Stein and Washington Gas
Co-chairs of the event: Maria Cardona (Dewey Square Group) and Casey Nolan (Navigant).
We had around 200 silent auction items
which brought in $30,000.
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On Saturday, October 25th, Mary’s Center Ontario and Medstar Health on Columbia Road, hosted a joint Open House to promote the services of both organizations and to officially announce our partnership for a healthier Adams Morgan. We had a great time, recruited a couple of new patients and provided screenings and entertainment to our guests.
Thank you very much to those who participated. This activity is in keeping with Mary’s Center’s philosophy of partnership and community collaboration.
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Oct. 24
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As always, busy days in the news. Thank you everyone for supporting our communications and marketing efforts!
November, 2014
Happy Birthday-November
A Warm Welcome To our new family members!
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1 Courtney Hinton, Community Health Worker II -CCIN
2 Maria Krimhilde Morales, Community Health Worker CCIN
3 Silvia Aragon, Finance Assistant
5 Monica Maldonado, Post Release Services FSW
5 Carlos Quintanilla, Pre-School Teacher -Briya
6 Lidia Argueta-Diaz, Medical Assistant II
6 Rosa Martinez de Rivera, Early Childhood Teacher Briya
8 Elvia Sorto, Medical Assistant II
9 Rene Guerrero Ruiz, Dental Assistant
9 Ruth Perez, Front Desk Receptionist
10 Donna Mejia-Zelaya,Front Desk Supervisor -Georgia
11 Hongjun Wang, Senior Staff Accountant
11 Magdalena Johnson, Special Edu. Coord./Teacher-Briya
11 Jose Palacios, Front Desk Receptionist
12 Adriana Flores, Medical Assistant
12 Angela D. Hernandez, Outreach Worker
13 Thomas H. Bowens, Facilities Worker
13 Oliany Mendez, Family Support Worker, Father-Child Program
13 Yanira Mendoza, Medical Assistant
13 Celia E. Olivorio-Woo, Family Support Worker, Teen Program
14 Alana Rule, Dedicated Service Coordinator
15 Bill Bletzinger, Director of Finance –Briya
15 David Dzidzienyo, Community Health Worker CCIN
16 Eloisa Moreno, Family Assessment Worker
16 David Jr. Tatro, EMR & IT Help Desk Support
17 Emmanuel Ayers, Dir. OB/GYN and Women’s Health
17 Jessica Sheryl Coates, Dental Assistant
17 Kate Curtis, Midwife
17 Negede Mengesha, Dental Assistant
18 Maiyu Fernandez, Life Cycle Health Educator
18 Elizabeth Gamero, Administrative Assistant
18 Anesa Sheila Mirza, Community Health Worker,-CCIN
18 Wendy Sobey, Midwife
20 Alejandra Lopez, RN Case Manager
20 Carlos Merchan, Family Support Worker, Father-Child Prog.
24 Ronald Jackson, Community Health Worker -CCIN
25 Silvia Arias, Early Childhood Manager –Briya
26 Magaly Choque, Medical Assistant
27 Luz Valdivieso, Medical Assistant III
28 Nellie Pate, Administrative Assistant, BFSWC
29 Andrea Zamudio, Family Assessment Worker
30 Sarah Northey, Mental Health Therapist
Standing, left to right:
Amy Brubaker (Americorp Volunteer for Briya)
Aaron Feinstein (Mental Health Therapist)
Maria Del Rosario Gomez (Mental Health Therapist)
Sitting down, left to right:
Glenda Perez (Medical Assistant)
Anayeli Medina (Medical Assistant)
Shenell Williams (Medical Assistant)
Ana Fuentes (Medical Assistant)
Nelsy Reyes (Triage Nurse)
Georgette Saad to PCIT Supervisor
Grizelda Mejia to BHAP/Health Link Manager
Maria Andreina Vethencourt to Senior Family Support Worker
Please join us in congratulating the following team members for their extraordinary years of service to the community. Thank for choosing Mary’s Center to give your heart and talents.
10 years of service
Lisa Luceno
Karen Mazie
8 years of service
Geiza Keller Souza
7 years of service
Marthy Chan
Gladys Canizales
Lisle Cole
6 years of service
Luz Torres
5 years of service
Kristina Andersson
Christian Cornejo
4 years of service
Juan Pablo Munoz
Margaret Hume
3 years of service
Nila Castro
Jacqueline Cedeno
Celibel Cortes
Myra Sablaon
2 years of service
Elizabeth Gamero
Susan Landfield
Gustavo Martinez
Noelani Mussman
Luis Perez
Ana Rosas
Lynne Zaris
1 year of service
Dina Bayou
Solomon Kassa Aimee Kelley
Joseph Lojo
Shauna Stupart
Jay Tsai
Thank you for these years of service.
HR Corner
For this month’s HR updates, we are trying something new: video announcements, wow! To hear what Shirley Arteaga has to say, you can click here to connect you with our P drive.
Congratulations!