A Day in the Life: Demitrious Cáceres — Community Events Assistant, VNSNY CHOICE Community Outreach

Welcome to “A Day in the Life”—a Frontline series that follows staff members from different areas of VNSNY as they go through a typical day at work.

Community Events Assistants play an essential role in supporting VNSNY CHOICE’s outreach activities. On top of operating and maintaining VNSNY’s vehicle fleet, a Community Events Assistant is also responsible for securing locations for neighborhood outreach, handling setup and takedown of equipment and displays, maintaining supply inventory, and supporting outreach staff throughout the course of a day’s work.

Since joining the organization this past May, Demitrious Cáceres has ensured that CHOICE SelectHealth can provide outreach to all corners of Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Westchester—VNSNY’s SelectHealth service area… since he operates the SelectHealth van!

“I’ve always been a people person, so I like engaging,” explains Demitrious. “I most enjoy talking with people out in the community, and because we deal with insurance, people tend to give up their life stories a bit. You get insight into what people are going through, especially with SelectHealth, where the marginalized demographics we work with—whether they’re homeless, transgender, or HIV-positive—are the ones we help.”

As one of several CHOICE Community Events Assistants, Demitrious operates the community outreach vehicle (COV), the van that transports the collateral materials and other essential items to SelectHealth tabling events—a role that requires an experienced driver that can navigate a large vehicle through city traffic at all hours of the day. Luckily, this type of role is nothing new to Demitrious; prior to joining VNSNY he was driving ambulances as an EMT in Manhattan, a profession that equipped him with a set of skills both as a driver and as a care person that have transferred well into his new role.

“Most people that make up the demographics we provide outreach to have gone through a lot, and in order to educate them on our product you have to gain their trust, because they’re also demographics that have lost trust in people,” he says. “Because of my previous jobs I feel pretty well equipped to handle things like that. When I was an EMT I met people on the literal worst days of their lives, and then even before that I was working in full-time Christian ministry. There’s a level of counseling that you try to give to people—you pray with them and comfort them and you’re there in their times of need.”

Working hand in hand with CHOICE Community Outreach Representatives, Demitrious and his fellow Community Events Assistants are the backbone of CHOICE’s capacity to table in the community, and also participate in larger-scale, special events in conjunction with other community organizations.

We followed Demitrious through a day of special events work with CHOICE.

5:00 a.m.— Morning routine

I’m up at 5 o’clock. If it’s a regular work day, I’ll go to the gym from 5:30 to 6:30, come home, have breakfast, shower, get dressed, then drive from my house in the Northwest Bronx to pick up the CHOICE SelectHealth van at a parking lot on Southern Boulevard… But if it’s a special events day like today, then I’ll frantically wake up, shower, get ready, and run to my car to get to the van by 6:00 a.m.!

6:00 a.m.–6:30 a.m.— Pick up the van and head downtown

I start my day when I get into the van and text my supervisor—Associate Director for Community Outreach Diane DeFerrari—that I’ve arrived. I’ll then drive out to our location for the day, in this case Chelsea Park in Manhattan, secure parking for SelectHealth tabling by 7 a.m., and then wait for a CHOICE Community Outreach Representative to arrive— then I’ll start setting up our table, tent, and signage.

10:00 a.m.— Set up with Outreach Representatives Ashley Carrillo and Isaac Lama

I do take pride in the way that I set up the table. I think I have an eye for aesthetics and try to set the table up nice… I need to like the way it looks!

10:30 a.m.–1:30 a.m.— Tabling

Throughout the day I’ll work with the representatives and, depending on the situation, actually do some talking with people on the street, providing basic information on our health plans and answering any questions that are within my scope of practice. I’ll stay by the table, make sure that our parking spot is good and secured, and hold things down if one of the representatives needs to go to the bathroom or get something to eat. I’ll also restock the table with giveaway items as they’re given out. Otherwise, I’m essentially on standby— waiting for requests as needed.

1:30 p.m.–2:45 p.m.— Breakdown and travel uptown

Usually when we’re tabling, depending on the amount of traffic we’re getting in one location, we’ll move to a different location in another area. Today for instance, after the main event ended, we met up with a community events representative again to table in another area, in this case on the corner of 125th Street and Lenox Avenue.

2:45 p.m.–4:00 p.m.— Continue tabling in Harlem

There’s usually a lot more pedestrian traffic in Harlem, and you’ll have more people stopping at our table. We were able to enroll some additional people in SelectHealth who came up to us while we were there.

End of the day

After breaking down and leaving Harlem, I was stuck in traffic for about an hour! I got back to the parking lot to drop off the van around 5:00 p.m., then I went back home and prepared a bible study for my cousins.

Check out the slideshow below for additional photos of Demitrious’s day: