This morning, CHC President and CEO Mark Masselli addressed staff at a meeting kicking off the budgeting process for the 2012-2013 fiscal year.  Among other key points of this speech, he spoke about  the dedicated staff at CHC.  Here is an excerpt of some of those comments:

How fortunate Community Health Center is to find itself in its 40th year of operation with a staff that comes to work each day with an optimism in the work we do and a understanding of the profound difference it makes in the lives of the people we care for.  How thankful CHC is to have a staff who works to make the community we serve healthier.  How grateful we are that we work with fellow colleagues who support each other not only at work, but take pride in our families and care for our general well-being. We have lots to be proud of about the work of our Health Center but we are most appreciative of a staff that works well together. Margaret and I want to thank each and every one of you…

It’s inspiring to work with people like Yartiz Mendes, works in our New Britain office as a receptionist.  She also is a Cub Master assistant for Cub Scout Pack 732.  She’s been engaged in this work for 3 years and she uses CHC of New Britain site as if she owned it. She does own it, periodically for her troop.  They get their first aid badge at CHC

Dan Wilensky, who works in Meriden has been training for a half marathon, a 1.5 mike swim downstream in the Hudson River, then a 40K bike ride around New York (about 25 miles) then a 10K run ending in Central Park.

He’s working with Team in Training.  It’s a large organization, a part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Dan’s friends have a 19 month old who is battling Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) and he’s doing the race in her honor.

Dan, Daisy Wynn and Becky Eleck and maybe some others will be running a 13 mile race that is a fund raiser for clean water projects in Africa.

Monte Wagner, who works in our Danbury office volunteers for Hope for a Healthier Humanity.  His work with this group focuses on providing health care teaching in Central America and the Caribbean to lay health care workers.  He teaches natural childbirth, introduction to general health care for children and adults, and first aid/CPR.  For the past eleven years he has also been a volunteer at Camp Amerikids, a camp for HIV+ children in need.  At the camp he works in the health clinic and he also provides education to Columbian nurse practitioner students, who are at the camp working on their clinical hours.

Soussan Ayubcha works in Stamford and volunteers with physicians for Human Rights.  When a person comes to the US seeking asylum, this organization coordinates medical exams free of charge. She has seen patients seeking asylum in the US who were victims of genital mutilation and torture.

Brendan Green, who works in Norwalk and Stamford, helps coach the varsity boys’ soccer and lacrosse teams at Wilton High School, from which he is a graduate.  He is also the assistant special needs coordinator at the Darien YMCA, where a variety of programs for socialization and fitness are run for children and adults with special needs.