January 2016 Dreams Come True at Participant

MC News
From our President and CEO
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Happy New Year to you and your loved
ones! As 2016 begins, I wish you everything I
wish for my own family and for our
participants: peace and prosperity, especially
in terms of health, harmony and hope for a
world with less pain and sorrow to the human spirit. Our
spirit, the sustenance of life!
I hope that all your plans and ambitions for the next 12
months are realized in good health. One of my main goals
this year is to bring new donors on board and encourage
existing donors to give even more, so that we can continue
to provide you with the best working environment for you to
flourish personally and professionally while supporting our
families in the way you have done throughout 2015 and for
many of you for over a decade or two. We have been able to
count on your outstanding services that lead to the excellent
outcomes donor-investors look for. Meeting with donors
almost on a daily basis, I know that the greatest pleasure they
get is meeting you as we walk through the halls of each site.
Thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to talk
to them and share the reasons that keep you engaged at
Mary’s Center. You are truly a walking story-book of what is
making our clients thrive everyday. Allow me a little
nostalgia before we go full steam ahead into 2016 and get
used to writing the new date! December was a month of
food and festivities and I am very proud that we were able to
January 2016
share our blessings with people in our community who are in
need. It was so gratifying for me to see all the bright, happy faces
at our Participant Holiday Party, where we distributed more
toys than ever. Thank you to the staff, volunteers and donors who
helped us to bring the magic of the holiday season to children
whose hard-working parents would not have been able to afford
gifts. Do watch this Telemundo news
report if you missed the event or if you
attended and want to relive the
experience!
I would also like to extend my thanks to
the HR team, who gave us an
opportunity to celebrate our successes
together at the Staff Holiday Party, and to each one of you who
attended in such great spirit and camaraderie. I can’t find words
to express how much your happiness fills mine.
One of the successes we celebrated recently, which some of you
may not have heard about, was our accreditation by Prevent Child
Abuse America this past December as a provider of high quality
home visiting services to families who want to improve their
child’s health, nutrition and developmental outcomes.
Congratulations to the Home Visiting team and thanks to Joan
Yengo for her leadership.
I also want to congratulate our Mental Health team for being
accredited as a Health Home in the District of Columbia by the
Department of Behavioral Health. These awards are testament to
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Dreams Come True at Participant Holiday Party
Thanks to the generosity of our donors, more than 600 children had their dream of having beautiful and cool toys come true.
Our Participant Holiday Party is certainly one of the most special days we share with our families.
January 2016
From the President and CEO (continued from page 1)
the hard work each one of your constantly puts into strengthening
our services.
Another group of people I would like to
acknowledge is our Development team,
led by Chief Development Officer Ellen
Root, for the tireless effort they have
made throughout the year to bring in
financial contributions and in-kind
donations to support our fundraising
goals. They are the worker bees that
enable the rest of the Mary’s Center team
to make a difference in thousands of lives
every day. I am overwhelmed by the
contributions of some of you to your own
organization; thank you. Please know how
much that makes us work even harder in the Development team to
make Mary’s Center your one and only choice for a place to work.
In closing, I wanted to update you on the results of the Employee
Job Satisfaction and Engagement Survey that our colleagues in
HR administered this fall. Firstly, I am so pleased that 81% of you
participated in this year’s survey. I know how busy every one of you
Fantastic Staff Holiday Party
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is, so please accept my deepest gratitude for taking time to
provide feedback. I am also extremely proud to report that
our organization has an overall employee job satisfaction
of 90%! That truly is an astonishing number and tells us
that our culture, mission, and values make this a fantastic
place to work. But we will never rest, as constant
awareness and commitment to what is gratifying to you is
our number one priority. At first glance, your feedback has
provided us with great ideas and many actionable items that
point us toward opportunities for improvement. We will
continue to analyze the results and will send more details
around action items and a plan for moving forward later in
January.
Each and every one of you deserves to be recognized, and I
celebrate you and your families each day for being with us
and making this your place of professional pleasure. Thank
you for all you do. Stay well and enjoy the freshness of the
New Year.
Deeply committed to you,
Maria Gomez, President and CEO
Thank you for joining us and spending time outside of work with your colleagues. Kudos to HR!
January 2016
Another Great Year for Mary’s Center
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Yes, we can describe 2015 as an excellent year for
Mary’s Center, paving the way for a great 2016, and
you all know you helped make it happen!
Here are some of the highlights of the year:
 We are at 469 staff members
 We hired new members of the leadership team,
among them:
- Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tollie Elliott
- Chief Development Officer, Ellen Root
- Director of Human Resources, Carlos Marroquin
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Proud of our Employees
of the Year (from left):
Walter Castillo, Miriam
Garcia and Dr. Kristina
Andersson.
Joan Yengo (VP of Programs) and Dara
Koppelman (Chief Nursing Officer) looking
at the plans for our future expansion in Ward
5. The design looks beautiful!
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We opened our Sonogram Clinic and can now
offer comprehensive services to pregnant moms.
For the first time, one of the teens in our After
School Program (Hermann Noudja) received the
Gates Millennium Scholarship, which will pay for
his tuition all the way through his PhD (He was
one of the 3 DC winners from 57,000 applicants).
Also for the first time, we had the Employee of
the Year recognition at our annual gala.
Between Maria and other staff members, we
received 12 awards in recognition of our work.
We started our expansion to Ward 5 in
partnership with Briya and Bridges Public Charter
Schools, which will be completed at the end of the
summer.
We have a new website and a new mobile app.
Congratulations to all! You are champions!
Evening of Art with
Major Donors
In mid-December, Maria and the Development team
invited our major donors to an enlightening and
enjoyable evening of contemporary Cuban and Latin
American art at the Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB). It was a token of appreciation for the generosity, loyalty and confidence they have shown in us over the years.
Our gratitude to the IDB for the wonderful hospitality, and a special thank you to Martha Estarellas (pictured below
with Maria), a friend and supporter from the IDB for more than 15 years, and to our Ambassadors committee (middle
photo below), and our board members and senior management team (pictured below right) for joining us on this
special
occasion.
January 2016
MAs of the Month
Congratulations to these
outstanding MAs:
(left to right)
Glenda Corado - Adelphi
Fatima Mariaca - Ontario
Juana Moran - Georgia
(not pictured)
Your efforts, together with your colleagues, make a
world of difference for our participants. Keep up the
excellent work!
Staff Anniversaries
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Our Caring Staff
Staff at our Flower Avenue
clinic in Silver Spring enjoyed
a gift exchange and holiday
lunch where they gave
"Canastas de Amor" or
"Baskets of Love" to two
patients in need, one who has
lupus and the other who has
cerebral infarction. Thank
you Flower Team for your
inspirational act of kindness.
Staff Achievements
Please join us in congratulating the following staff
members on their anniversary of working at
Mary’s Center during the month of January.
Thank you for all your years of service.
17 years
Christie McKay
Berta Perez
Silvia Arias
5 years
Cristin Reeder
4 years
12 years
Mable Dunn
Karen Grace
Wendy Guardado
3 years
11 years
Jennifer Cisneros
Noris Gonzalez
Paulette Johnson
Noelani Mussman
Vilma Velis
2 years
Darryl Besley
Nathalie Gonzalez
Stephanie Mintz
Marisa Parrella
Gloria I. Cruz
Rosalia Villalta
10 years
Bethany Sanders
9 years
Rosa Goyes
Curt Lark Cupid
Bethlehem Muleta
8 years
Rosa Martinez de
Rivera
7 years
Julie Law
Josephine MorrisYoung
1 year
Katherine Gass
Jane Luceno
Nayeli Mendoza
Sandra Forrester
Jesus Martinez
Karla Bonilla
Congratulations to Janani
Ramachand (right), FSW for the
Home Visiting Program, who
was photographed by The
Washington Post while performing
in a production called “How to
Quit Your Day Job!” at the
Logan Fringe Arts Space. The
musical won a Capital Fringe
Festival Audience Award.
We are very proud of
Mary’s Center SchoolBased Mental Health
Therapists Mary Zick
(left) and Rachel Osborn
(2nd from right) who have
been co-coaching a Girls
on The Run team at
Columbia Heights
Educational Campus-Lincoln Middle School this past semester with
teachers and counselors from the middle school. They are pictured with
community partners from CHEC at a Girls On The Run 5K in
December 2015. Mary and Rachel’s girls did an awesome job and made it
through the run like champs!
We love to hear about your accomplishments. Don’t hesitate to send us
your good news or news about your team members. Email Lyda at
lvanegas@maryscenter.org or Hazel at hmeda@maryscenter.org
January 2016
Happy Birthday
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January 31
Gwendolyn McNair (Nutrition Ed. Tech. - WIC)
Dennis Angel-Padilla (Front Desk Receptionist)
Julia Orellana (Medical Assistant)
Ana Villanueva (Facilities Worker)
Derrick Hursey (Facilities Worker)
Tollie Elliott (Chief Medical Officer)
Raquel Martinez (Centering Coordinator)
Lan Chi Nguyen (Nutritionist)
Maria Del Rosario Gomez (SBMH Therapist)
Gita Agarwal (Family Practitioner)
Kristina Andersson (Pediatrician)
Vicente Torres (Program Assistant-Dental)
Katharine Van Slyck (Special Ed Teacher, Briya)
Paulette Johnson (Prevention at Home Care)
Nila Castro (Medical Assistant II))
Kara Lowinger (Mental Health Therapist)
Glenda Perez (Medical Assistant)
Lugarda Parra-Bencomo (Mental Health Therapist)
Laura Dri (Prenatal Coordinator)
Ana Rodriguez (Family Support Worker)
Mildred Williams (Dir. of Mental Health)
Mindy Greenside (Certified Nurse Midwife)
Earl Jackson (Report Writer)
Roxanna Molina (Medical Assistant)
Mia Morrison (HFA Program Manager)
Karla Bonilla (Navigator)
Claudia Rivas (Early Childhood Assistant - Briya)
Maribel Sanchez (Medical Assistant III)
Jillian Shropshire (Post Release Services Case Worker)
In case of Inclement Weather...
The snow is around the corner. Here’s the best way to find
out if we will be closed in case of inclement weather:
 Call our main number (202-483-8196) by 6 am. If Mary’s
Center will be closed, there will be a message stating this.
 Visit our website: www.maryscenter.org for a message on
the front page.
 Go to Mary’s Center’s Facebook or Twitter pages.
 Watch the local news (NBC4, Fox5, ABC7 or News8) for the
information on their weather banner .
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Welcome New Team Members
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Diana Miranda-Mental Health Family Support Worker
Emilio Robinson-Facilities Manager
Geraldine Galdamez-Clinical Nurse Coordinator
Giuliana Gonzalez-Nurse Practitioner
Jillian Shropshire-Post Release Services Case Worker
Kayley Villatoro-Medical Assistant
Lissette Amaro-Javier-Post Release Services Case Aide
Megan Mauer-Nutritionist
Solomon Weledetensa-Mental Health FSW
Tatiana Palacios-Family Support Worker
Veronica Vasquez-Family Support Worker
Whitney Parsons-Early Childhood Inclusion Specialist
Yesenia Cruz-Medical Assistant
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We’re delighted to have you on board to advance the
Mission of Mary’s Center:
Our mission is to build better futures through the delivery of
health care, education, and social services. We embrace
culturally diverse communities to provide them with the
highest quality of care, regardless of ability to pay.
Promotions
Congratulations to the following colleagues who
were promoted in the past month:
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Siomara: Segovia - Nurse Manager at Adelphi
Dr. Joseph Rizk - Dental Supervisor
Dr. Divesh Mistry - Dental Supervisor
Amy Gonzalez - Digital Literacy Coordinator
& Operations Manager
Shining Star Awards
Our colleagues keep on shining!
Bravo to the following staff members who were
recognized by their peers recently:
 Ivana Valenzuela – Education
 Margaret Hume – Mental Health
 Jose Palacios – Patient Services
 Fabiola Rodriguez – Patient Services
 Edith Alvarez – Patient Services
 Robert Guevara - IT