August 2019

Guard Your Heart

Happy August! I hope everyone is staying hydrated and working in a way that minimizes your exposure to this August heat! I would like to say Thank You for the lovely birthday cards and kind notes. It felt nice to read through the well wishes that so many of you sent for my birthday. Thank you, Thank you, and Thank you!

As I reflected on this last year of life, I found myself being extremely grateful for the little things. I took some time to hang out with family and friends with no planned schedule of events. This has become something so rare for me these days, as I am always attempting to make every meeting request, say yes to every dinner invitation, attend every birthday party, support everybody’s everything! It was very relaxing to just go with the flow and enjoy the moment. I didn’t set an alarm clock over the birthday weekend. I rested, meaning I got out of bed when my body told me I had enough sleep, not when the alarm clock sounded. I have to be honest……I didn’t sleep much past my normal alarm time, but it was something different about naturally awaking rather than waking to the loud alarm. I took time to organize a closet that I’ve wanted to tackle for months, but didn’t have time. My husband didn’t understand that this was enjoyable for me because he viewed it as work. I even returned a few phone calls and text messages to friends that I don’t speak with often. It was great catching up.

Whether you’re celebrating a birthday, taking a vacation, or simply preparing for the next season, I encourage you to take time for reflection, get some rest, do something recreational that refreshes you and nurture relationships that are meaningful. It is easy for the day-to-day grind of work and life to overwhelm us, so take a minute to acknowledge the small things that guard our heart and allow us to serve in this human service capacity.

In Good Health,

Quintana Stewart
Health Director

Juliet Sheridan: 8/2
Mathew Dallas: 8/4
Johanna Reed: 8/10
Jane Grace: 8/15
Kathryn Hobby: 8/24
Susan Clifford: 8/25
Michael DeFranco: 8/27
Tracey Langley: 8/29

Please remember to nominate exceptional employees for KUDOS! Just fill out and submit the KUDOS Nomination form HERE.

A KUDO is praise or a compliment given for something well done. Kudos can be given to thank or congratulate a person, team, or group for their efforts. This appreciation and/or acknowledgment can be presented for service, performance, effort, courtesy, efficient or effective work.

Eligibility: Kudos can be given to any Health Department employee (full time, part time, temporary or student intern). There is no length of employment required.

The nominated Health Department employee must exhibit one or more of the Core Values:

Customer Centered
Efficient
High Quality
Innovative

Congratulations to Ruth Cisneros! Ruth is an OA at SHSC. We enjoy working with her. Ruth is always caring, kind, and respectful to the clients and staff. Her excellent work ethic, service and dedication to this place is much appreciated. Keep up the good work, Ruth!

Congratulations to Steven Campbell for being the 2nd quarter’s (April – June 2019) Kudos award winner!

Tommy Green

Title, Division and Supervisor: Community Health Worker & NC Peer Support Specialist

Started Working with OCHD: February 2018

Favorite Part about Working at OCHD: How friendly and helpful the staff/coworkers are and the fact that I am compensated for doing what I love which is helping people.

Did You Know? I went from Parking Lot Attendant to Assistant Operations Manager in 9 months for a company that sold for 20 million last year.

From the Desk of the Racial Equity Commission (REC)

Let Us Introduce You to Our Partners

This month, REC decided to interview two of our community partners to learn more about them personally and professionally. Please see below our interview with Sofia Moyano-Kleckner, M.Ed, M.A, LPC the Bilingua Child and Family Therapist at Kidscope and Stephanie Knop, the Community Outreach Literacy Coordinator at the Orange County Library.

Sofia Moyano-Kleckner

Sofia Moyano-Kleckner

1) What is your racial identity? When did you become your racial identify? How is it different from your ethnic identity?

If we’re talking about race and the color of skin, I’m brown and I’m from Peru. In Peru I would be mestizo (mixed of Incas descendants, European colonizers and African slaves). In the United States though, I am considered white. In instances such as completing forms, when I have to choose one race or ethnicity or the options are limited, it makes me feel like I’m not being truthful to myself. I usually decide to choose multi-racial if that’s an option, or I will choose both black and white, however, most of the time you are required to choose just one option.

In South America you typically identify yourself as the country you are from. So from the time I was born, I always identified myself as Peruvian and Latina as I am from Latin America. This was also an interesting concept when I came here to the US. People didn’t think of me as “American” but as “Hispanic”. I have never heard the word “Hispanic” until I came here. When we study geography in Peruvian schools you learn that there are three Americans: North, Central and South and that we all are “American Siblings”. Indeed, at school we learn that people born in the US are “estadounidenses”, not Americans. We all are Americans. It was interesting to come here and have to fight for myself to be considered American because I’m from South American.

My ethnicity is Peruvian and being Peruvian is to be a mix of: Native Peruvians (Incas), European (colonization of Europeans) and black (slaves from Africa). Peruvians have a wide range of skin colors. It’s common to see someone who is blond or has white, black, or brown skin tones.

Family background is very important in how culture is maintained in families. How a family raises their children at home to maintain culture is very important especially when they come to the US. Some families will say you can only speak Spanish at home, some will say you have to speak English. Sometimes it’s a fight with children to maintain their culture at home after the kids have been exposed to the US culture in school.

In Peru, you can also see the influence our African ancestors have played in things such as music and food. Afro-Peruvian music, from the slaves who were brought by the Europeans, is very popular in Peru. I actually used to teach Afro-Peruvian dance classes. This music including our native Incan music has been embraced and ingrained into our culture.

Afro-Peruvian Music and Dance

2) Share a fun family tradition from your childhood and how it may (or may not) be connected to your race and/or ethnicity.

Instead of sharing a family tradition, I’d like to share a story of something that happened about a week after I arrived in the US as an international student. The story takes place during an icebreaker activity at a camp that the students were attending. The icebreaker instructions were to tell everyone your name, where you’re from, and if you go by a nickname. During my turn, I introduced myself and I let the group know that my nickname was Negrita. Immediately the adults tensed up and pulled me aside to say “it’s better if you don’t mention that because it can be taken in a negative way”. I really did not understand what the person was saying at that time. Negrita in Peru is a term of endearment that has nothing to do with your color of skin. It is considered the same of the nickname Gordita (‘cute chubby girl’) and can be used for anyone who maybe overweight, skinny or just plain fit. They are just terms of endearment.

This was my first introduction to culture in the US. Even though saying my nickname was not meant to offend anyone, it is not up to me to decide what’s offensive; it’s up to the other person. It’s important to take the time to learn the culture of other people and learn also about boundaries.

3) What role does your identity play in the work you do today?

It’s definitely a plus to be bilingual and bicultural when your work is to provide direct services to Spanish speaking families. However, it doesn’t mean that because I speak Spanish that I automatically know everything about the Hispanic culture or that I will immediately have their trust. Culture is a journey, not a destination.

Being bilingual and bicultural are just two pieces of my whole identify. I am also a mom, a wife, an immigrant, a daughter, a woman, etc. and each of these pieces and my personal and professional values play a role in what I do professionally.

4)Tell me about your organization and their equity work. Why do you do equity work?
I think equity is ingrained in everything we do at KidSCope. Each of our programs work hard to assist parents in becoming the best parents they can be. We meet families where they are, both physically in their homes or emotionally in their parenting. The Incredible Years parenting program is facilitated by staff who are able to apply teaching strategies for various learning styles.

Why do we do equity work? Because each child and parent have different needs. We cannot just treat everybody the same. We all need different things to succeed.

Created in 1988 to provide services to young children and their families, KidSCope’s specialized staff provides social-emotional health services for young children, consultation in child care classrooms, parent education, inclusive child care, and resources for families and providers of young children.

5) What is your radical hope or vision for your organization in this work?

Hmm. Our director always says “think big” so I would say:

That KidSCope expands its services and programs to all the counties in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. To be more specific, KidSCope would:

Coordinate and facilitate the implementation of the Incredible Years Program for all individuals involved in the lives of children ages 1 to 6 in the Piedmont region.
Facilitate the Incredible Years for Babies in all maternity hospitals in the Piedmont region.
Provide Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation in all early childhood centers in the Piedmont region.
Facilitate the Circle of Security for Parents to parents/guardians and early childhood center staff in the Piedmont Region.
Provide Child and Family Therapy Services for families with children from birth to six years old in the Piedmont region.
Have at least one inclusive child care program in each county in the Piedmont region
Provide ABCD services in all primary care medical practices in the Piedmont region

Stephanie Knop

Stephanie Knop

1) What is your racial identity?

Well I definitely identify as white. In terms of when I became it, I was thinking back to my memory and there was a poll on Facebook, when did you have your first black teacher? My kindergarten teacher was actually African American. We had a teaching assistant and guidance counselor who were African American. We had some children as well so those are some of my earliest memories, 4 or 5 years old. I wouldn’t say I was exposed to a lot of other races, but enough to where I could see they were different than me, but at the same time from a child’s perspective beyond physical differences there weren’t many differences I noticed. It wasn’t until I was older and we learned more about the history of our country and seeing that ok, there’s prejudice out in the world but I’m not necessarily seeing it in my microcosm or the purpose of it. The girls I was with in elementary schools, we were together all through high school so it was kind of interesting to see the changes in middle school where they weren’t the only African Americans and the divide got bigger. Then in high school we were a very racially divided high school. I was always sort of aware of it but it wasn’t until later that I saw the implications of it.

In terms of ethnicity, it’s one of those things that I never felt like I had an ethnicity. Both of my parents had Scotch Irish ancestry but it was so long ago that there was no connection to it. I guess my biggest culture would be Southern culture. I’m more connected to southern culture, I don’t know if that counts. But I guess too that part of my privilege is that I’m so part of the mainstream that is doesn’t seem different, like an ethnicity. I grew up in Statesville, lived there most of my life.

2) Fun family tradition

This is one I had to think really hard on because we have traditions but they’re mostly centered on holidays and they’re just kind of the standard. We celebrate Christmas so it’s not tied to any cultural thing. I never felt a connection to my heritage. Our traditions are family get togethers around meals and go on vacation together and we’ll play games a lot. It’s like when I was in school and they asked us to bring in something from our culture, I was like “What culture?” like I have no culture. I just exist. We’re very Americanized.

3) What role does your identity play in the work you do today?

I guess the biggest thing is just understanding where I come from and the privileges I have. I have to be very aware and not try to push or assume because this is the life I have that the people I work with want those same things. It’s kind of being open to other ways of doing things, since I’m trying to teach people to be accepting of other people’s families. Not saying you need to do it like this through literacy promotion. Promoting literacy as its good for everyone but not like your family needs to be like this because this is what the mainstream is. Just being welcoming and not pushing my ideals on people but to be respectful of what they need and want.

4) Tell me about your organization.

Well the library we do it from a few different perspectives. In the children’s department, one of things we do is think about the books we’re buying and representing everyone. We try to have 50% of the books that are displayed feature children of color, so they’re walking in and seeing themselves in the books. My collection is graphic novels and they’re in the forefront of having diverse representation. So we have that lens. We also try to think about who’s coming to the library, who we are leaving out. We did a program specifically designed for African Americans, we did a Wakanda day but we were kind of disappointed because it was still our usual white patrons that showed up to it. So we are making efforts but it doesn’t always work. In my grant work, it’s targeted towards African Americans and Spanish speaking families in the northern part of the County, getting books out to them and bringing services to them since they’re not coming to the library. And not focusing on why they’re not coming and I have to solve that but look at it as they deserve these services too so I’m just going to go there. So that’s where a lot of our equity work is centered on, in engaging the

REC Members

The Racial Equity Commission members are here to answer questions you may have about REC, equity work, resources, or why our health department is directly involved in racial and health equity work. We encourage each division to involve their REC representative in monthly staff meetings for REC updates and for answering other equity related questions.

Beverly Scurry – Co-chair
Steven Campbell – Co-chair – FAS Representative
Susan Clifford
Anissa McCall
Meredith McMonigle
Ashley Rawlinson – HPES Representative
Rebecca Crawford – Leadership Team Representative
Stephanie George – Dental Representative
Roberto Diaz – Environmental Health Representative
LaTosha Scott – Personal Health Representative

Upcoming Trainings

REC encourages all staff to attend REI trainings (REI Phase l & ll, Latinx Challenge Workshops, Groundwaters, etc.) more than once in order to begin to form a common language and analysis lens among us all. Once trained, we encourage staff participation in the joint and affinity caucusing groups. For more training opportunities please visit https://www.oaralliance.org/ and https://www.racialequityinstitute.org/.

YOUTH Racial Equity Institute Phase l

Efland, NC – Saturday & Sunday, August 3^rd & 4^th – To register click here.

Groundwater

Burlington, NC – Thursday, September 12^th, 6 pm – 9 pm – To register click here.

Racial Equity Institute Phase l

Durham, NC – Monday & Tuesday, August 5^th & 6^th – To register click here. ALUMNI ONLY
Durham, NC – Thursday & Friday, August 8^th & 9^th – To register click here. ALUMNI ONLY
Burlington, NC – Friday & Saturday, August 9^th & 10^th – To register click here.
Greensboro, NC – Monday & Tuesday, August 12^th & 13^th – To register click here. ALUMNI ONLY
Durham, NC – Thursday, & Friday, September 5^th & 6^th – To register click here. ALUMNI ONLY
Greensboro, NC – Monday & Tuesday, September 9^th & 10^th – To register click here.
Rolesville, NC – Thursday, & Friday, September 19^th & 20^th – To register click here.
Greensboro, NC – Saturday & Sunday, September 21^st & 22^nd – To register click here.
Greensboro, NC – Monday & Tuesday, October 7^th & 8^th – To register click here.
Cary, NC – Wednesday & Thursday, October 9^th & 10^th – To register click here.
Durham, NC – Saturday & Sunday, October 19^th & 20^th – To register click here.
Hillsborough, NC – Friday & Saturday, October 25^th & 26^th – To register click here.

Racial Equity Institute Phase ll

Raleigh, NC – Thursday & Friday, August 22^nd & 23^rd – To register click here. GROUPS, STUDENTS, & ALUMNI ONLY

Interesting Reads

Webinars, Conferences, Workshops, Lectures

Foundations in Internalized Racism – Tuesday, August 13 @ 12 pm – Click here to register.

Community Events

"Race, Gender, and Jim Crow Lecture Series" - Philip Rubio will discuss his book "There's Always Work at the Post Office: African American Postal Workers and the fight for Jobs, Justice, and Equality." – August 15^th – Click here for more information.
The Correct Thing: Palmer Memorial Institute Film Screening – August 17^th – Click here for more information.
Stagville and the Roots of Durham Tour – August 17^th – Click here for more information.
A Year of Reading James Baldwin with Jaki Shelton Green: Baldwin's 1963 book of essays, The Fire Next Time – August 18^th – Click here for more information.
No Fear and Blues Long Gone: Nina Simone – August 21^st – 25^th – Click here for more information.
African American Cultural Festival – August 31st and September 1^st - Click here for more information.
"Race, Gender, and Jim Crow Lecture Series" - Andre Vann will present on his research titled "A New Birth of Freedom: The Hawkins Family During the Jim Crow Era from Henderson, NC to Boston and Cambridge, MA." = September 19^th – Click here for more information.
Do or Die: Affect, Ritual, Resistance Gallery Opening – September 19^th – November 21^st – Click here for more information.

Tips and Tricks by Kimberlee Quatrone

Were you aware that you can access Webmail if Outlook is down, or you’re working from another location or computer? It’s really simple.

The web address is https://mail.orangecountync.gov. When you go to that address you’ll see a field for “Domain\user name” and “Password”. In the first field type “orangeco\” (seebelow) and your username (in my case kquatrone). This is the same user name you use to log into your computer. In the second field type in your password. Again, this is the same password you use to log into your computer. Click on “sign in” and you’ll see your emails. The system displays your emails and provides tools functionally equivalent, although slightly different looking, from those found in regular Outlook. Note that you cannot access archived emails from Webmail.

When using Outlook remote access type "orangeco\" ahead of your username.

4H Camp at the Dental Clinic

On July 10^th, Dental Clinic staff welcomed 30 4H campers for the afternoon. The children:

Learned about the effects of sugar on their teeth as evidenced by eggs that had been soaked in various liquids, such as water, Red Bull and Gatorade.
Were taught how to compare healthy and decayed teeth, and even were able to place their own Play-Doh filling in a prepped tooth.
Saw a sealant and a filling done.
Made collages showing healthy and non-healthy foods for teeth using magazines.

Graphics for Health Department Staff Email Signatures

We'd like health department staff to update work email signatures by using the following social media icons and the health department logo. Instructions (and graphics) on how to update your email signature can be found on the S drive under COMMON > Training > Adding Email Signature.

Web addresses to the social media sites are listed below the icons and can be added while creating your signature by selecting the social media icon and clicking the Edit Hyperlink button (icon with earth and chain) and pasting the appropriate web address.

OR

You can copy and paste the icons from Zannie Gunn's or Kristin Prelipp's emails. The web addresses will transfer. Thanks!

Social Media Icons and Link Addresses

Icons and logos can be found on the S drive under COMMON > Training > Adding Email Signature.

https://www.facebook.com/orangecountyhealthdepartment

https://twitter.com/OrangeHealthNC

https://www.youtube.com/user/OCHDNC

https://www.instagram.com/orangehealthnc/

http://www.co.orange.nc.us/204/Health-Department

Example Email Signature

Congratulations to Mathew and Renée!

Matthew Dallas and Renée Kemske have obtained a Certificate of Training in Obesity Interventions for Adults, which is a 52-hour training online and in person to ensure that they have current practice knowledge in 10 core competencies for obesity treatment including: The Science of Obesity, Diet and Nutrition, Physical Activity, Life Stages, Behavioral Modification, Medical Nutrition Therapy, Pharmacotherapy and Medical Complications of Obesity, Bariatrics, Weight Maintenance, and Health Care System.

Avocado-Chimichurri Steak with Grilled Asparagus

Serves six

[R ecipe is from the American Heart Association.]

This chimichurri sauce is packed with herby flavor and pairs especially well with smoky charred meat from the grill.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons salt-free chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
1 1/2 lbs London broil (top round steak) (all visible fat discarded)
3/4 cup finely chopped, fresh cilantro
1/2 cup finely chopped, fresh parsley
2 medium lemons (zested, juiced)
3 tablespoons canola or corn oil (divided use)
1 medium fresh jalapeño pepper (seeds and ribs discarded, finely chopped)
1 small avocado (halved, pitted, diced)
3 medium asparagus spears (trimmed)

In a small bowl, stir together the chili powder, garlic powder, and salt. Put the beef on a large platter. Using your fingertips, gently press the mixture so it adheres to both sides of the beef. Let stand for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, lightly spray the grill with cooking spray. Preheat the grill on medium high.

To make the chimichurri sauce, in a small bowl, stir together the cilantro, parsley, juice of 1 lemon (approx. 2 tablespoons), 1 tablespoon oil, and the jalapeño. Halve, pit, and dice the avocado. Stir to combine.

Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons oil over the asparagus.

Grill the beef for 3 to 5 minutes on each side (depending on its thickness), or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center reaches 125°F (rare) to 135°F (medium rare). The beef may need to be turned over occasionally so the rub doesn’t burn.

Remove the beef from the grill. Let stand under a tent of aluminum foil.

Place the asparagus perpendicular to the grill grates or put it in a grilling basket. Grill for 7 minutes, or until tender-crisp.

Transfer the asparagus to a separate large platter. Sprinkle the lemon zest over the asparagus.

Thinly slice the beef diagonally across the grain. Arrange on the asparagus.

Spoon the sauce over the beef.