$50

 

 $100

 

When Annie first came to South Cove, she was a 14-year-old teenager not only new to the health center but new to the American culture, the English language and the western lifestyle.    

  

Annie and her family immigrated to the US from Vietnam in 2002. When they settled in Quincy, Massachusetts, everything was new and surreal.  From the colonial style houses to the lack of bicycles on streets, it was a far cry from where she grew up in Ho Chi Min City.  But in the midst of the vast unfamiliarity, there was something that she found comforting and maybe even a little homey: to be able to receive medical care at a different and yet all-so-familiar setting, where more than 95% of the faces where those of Asians and the language spoken was her mother-tongue. 

 

10 years ago, she walked into South Cove as a patient and now, 10 years later, still a patient of the health center but also a nurse.

  

As of January 30, 2012, Annie is officially working at South Cove as a registered nurse in the Pediatrics department.  She works alongside staff members some of whom she has known for 10 years, including Dr. Hao, her pediatrician for 7 years until she "graduated" to an adult!

 

Having watched her grow over the years, Dr. Hao has nothing but praise for Annie. "Annie is an outstanding care giver because she loves what she does and is always willing to learn," she observed.    She fondly recalled how all the pediatricians would periodically get ambushed by Annie with questions when she was a nursing student; she was very inquisitive with an insatiable thirst for nursing knowledge.  One thing that stood out for Dr. Hao was how Annie's confidence level steadily increased over the years.  From the nurse's aide who was unsure of herself to the RN who can now hold her own, Annie has truly blossomed into a mature, compassionate human being emanating poise and is ready to effect change.

 

L to R: Jessica Ngo, Annie Lam, Dr. Maddie Hao and Dr. Roland Tang

So how did it all begin? 

 

"I always wanted to go into the healthcare field," Annie said. As a child, she remembered the inequality that existed in healthcare access in Vietnam, which led her to consider a career dedicated to the underserved. But it was not until her path crisscrossed with South Cove's did she form a more concrete idea of how to achieve that. 

 

Being a patient at the South Cove Quincy clinic and having established a rapport with the staff there, Annie came to Jessica's mind when there was an opening for a part time nurse's aide.  Jessica Ngo, a medical assistant in the pediatrics department, knew of Annie's aspirations and urged her to apply despite lack of prior training.  Annie did and was offered the position.  Jessica was handed the responsibility of training and mentoring her.  She remembered Annie to be a tenacious student with all the qualities needed to make an exemplary healthcare worker: compassion, competence and good conscience.   

 

"Annie is very responsible and a joy to work with. When she was a nurse's aide, we all encouraged her to study nursing.  We are just so proud of her," said Jessica Ngo.

 

For Annie, starting out as part-time nurse's aide was her way of testing the water.  "Working at South Cove just reinforced my plan of going into nursing and focusing on pediatric care.  I get so much support from the department," she said.

 

In 2010 she was promoted to Medical Home Coordinator when a pilot program "the Pediatric Medical Home Initiative" was launched.  To Dr. Tang, charged with implementing the initiative, it was a natural choice to select Annie to be the care coordinator because of her amazing skill set: fluency in Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, and English; and her nursing training background.  

 

In her capacity as the Medical Home Coordinator, Annie helped to make sure patients have gone to the specialist appointments that they have been referred to, set up and coordinated referrals such as autism and learning disorder evaluations for the non-English speaking patients.  She was a key link in communication between South Cove doctors, the specialist doctors and the schools. She worked constantly behind the scenes calling families and sending them letters to remind those with chronic conditions to come in for recommended well visits and to take their medications.  In many instances, she went above and beyond of what was required of her to help patients.

 

"I have been so impressed with how Annie has really made the care coordination a huge success because of her dedication to addressing any barriers to care that our patients may have.  Our health center is a better place because Annie is working here, and so many patients and their families are receiving vital assistance from her," Dr. Tang remarked with delight.

 

Annie is grateful for all the support she has received and credited the entire pediatrics department for her growth and achievement.  "It is a family-like atmosphere," she said, "we are independent individuals doing our job but we are also inter-related and inter-dependent to provide the most comprehensive quality care for patients."

 

Annie has grown with South Cove over the last 10 years, both as a patient and an employee.  Does she see herself continuing this affair for another decade?  "I think so!" she says with a smile; though it may be in a different capacity.  Annie does plan to pursue a master degree in nursing and a NP license somewhere down the road. 

 

With her pleasant demeanor, qualifications, language skills and most importantly, her desire to serve and give back to the community, Annie is an asset wherever she goes.  We are so thrilled that she is with us and even more thrilled that she feels the same about South Cove!  

South Cove is turning 40 this year; it is hard to imagine that four decades is almost behind us and in the books.  As many have heard the phrase, "the hardest part is getting started", we owe our beginning to a task force that was not afraid of venturing into the unknown.  1972 may be our birth year but the work for a health center actually began way before that.

 

 

In December 1969, a group of concerned citizens organized a task force called the Chinese Community Health Projects Task Force.  The goal was to "lay the foundation for better health care in Chinatown."  On the task force were medical students, physicians, social workers, health educators and community representatives with different backgrounds and occupations.  Over the course of a year, they wrote for a grant to establish a facility with the specific goal of taking care of the Chinatown residents.  After countless hours of researching, resource gathering, interviewing and brainstorming, a proposal was born.

 

On May 7, 1972 Chinese Community Health Services was incorporated and opened its doors to serving the underserved residents of Chinatown on Harrison Avenue. 

 

Over the decades, South Cove has endured its share of turmoil. The health center went through organizational restructuring, name & logo change, multiple movings and expansions, all in the while dealing with budget shortfall, program cuts and operating deficit. 

 

Today, South Cove has its feet firmly planted on the ground, and is poised to reach out to more underserved populations.  There is a Chinese saying: "前人種樹，後人乘涼," the direct translation is "one generation plants the trees, another gets the shade", or roughly "The work of the predecessors benefits the successors."  Indeed, we all benefited from the work of those that came before us.   While we are enjoying the shade, we are also planting more trees for the generations to come. On the eve of our 40^th anniversary, we would like to take a moment and thank those that planted the seeds to the tree. 

 

·         4:  individuals that founded and incorporated the Chinese Community Health Services, Inc. on May 9, 1972.

·         8:  past and present Executive Directors, each brought his/her unique set of skills and expertise to lead the health center in carrying out its mission

·         26:  members of the task force that helped start it all

·         143: past and current Board of Directors that shaped the growth and development of the health center

·         Hundreds: staff members of past and present that represent the face of the health center

·         Tens of thousands: patients we serve and the ONLY reason why we exist

 

Last but not least, we lost count but we are sure it is in the vicinity of hundreds of thousands: we are grateful for those that have in one way or another, directly or indirectly supported South Cove.  From the Boston Knights volunteers who helped paint the wall of the first clinic to individuals, friends, donors, partners over a four-decade span, you ALL contributed to the motif of the South Cove fabric to make what it is today.  Thank You.

 

Let the celebration begin!

We are kicking off our 40^th anniversary with a 1-2-3 punch celebration that will surly leave a mark in South Cove history!

 

On Saturday, May 12, 2012 we are having the Staff & Board Member banquet. We promise this to be a loud and boisterous occasion as we expect close to 400 employees and their families under one roof.  Part of the program for that evening will be the presentation of scholarships to winners of a South Cove Essay Contest.  College bound high school students of the health center staff are encouraged to enter with an essay not exceeding 1,000 words describing South Cove's role in their lives/families.

 

On Saturday, September 8, 2012, there will be a formal celebration at JFK Presidential Library and Museum.  Please look out for the "Save the Date" card in your mail in the coming months.  We will provide more information as it becomes available. 

 

Summer 2012, we will dedicate the new Quincy Center at 88 Holmes Street, Quincy, Massachusetts.  The building is coming along nicely; work in the interior will soon begin and it is on schedule for a summer completion.  Please feel free to visit our website to see what's going on at the construction site! 

龍年快樂  恭禧發財