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March 28, 2024

VNSNY Heroes of 2020

Welcome to “VNSNY Heroes of 2020”—a series on how our VNSNY staff is responding to COVID-19. In this series, Frontline will share stories from across VNSNY about how our remarkable staff members are meeting the challenges of the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis. We salute everyone for your heroic efforts during this public health emergency!

Related Articles

VNSNY Heroes of 2020: How to Cope with COVID-19? “Go the Extra Smile,” Says Partners in Care HHA Mahalia Bennett

March 17, 2020–It’s been more than three months now since the COVID-19 coronavirus became headline news, but in the past few weeks, as New Yorkers brace themselves for what could be a months-long public health crisis, home health aide Mahalia Bennett is calm and focused. Armed and informed with VNSNY patient and staff safety protocols, she’s got two secret weapons that make her a frontline health hero at Partners in Care, where’s she’s worked as a HHA for nearly two decades: she loves to learn, and she knows how to get a smile from just about anyone. “You just have to talk to people,” Mahalia says. “They are dealing with so many things. You have to find out about what’s going on in their minds. Are they afraid? Get them to talk it out with you.” For Mahalia, each new client is a new adventure, and as New York City grapples with

VNSNY Heroes of 2020: Dedicated VNSNY Staffers Keep Chinatown and Flushing Community Centers Open

March 17, 2020–As non-essential businesses all across the New York metropolitan area close to help mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, the dedicated staff at VNSNY’s Chinatown and Flushing Community Centers are putting extra precautions in place so that they can keep their doors open as a lifeline of care and connection for the vulnerable New Yorkers they serve. While the situation remains fluid, the Centers will remain open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily until further notice. “We have to stay true to our VNSNY mission—we are here to serve—and will be here as long as we possibly can,” says Teresa Lin, Director, Cultural Market Development Initiatives. “There’s a lot of fear and a lot of need in the Asian community right now, but people know they can walk through our doors and we’ll be here to help them. We’ve been here for more than twenty years, and they