I joined the Seven Valleys Health Coalition (SVHC) in the middle of October as the new Public Health AmeriCorps member. This is my second AmeriCorps term, although it has been years since my first term I am excited to join this team and learn about all the work being done to help keep Cortland healthy.

My history
I have worked in various jobs in healthcare. While working in community health, I have learned about social determinants of health, which are conditions that impact a person’s ability to get or stay well. My role in healthcare has been in support and advocacy. This means I hear community members, and patient's concerns, and work with partner agencies or others in an organization to try to address those concerns. These partnerships help to keep communities healthy. The covid-19 pandemic changed many parts of life for folks. Families who were struggling before the pandemic struggled more, folks who had not struggled before, faced their first struggle, businesses closed, and grocery stores were challenged to keep shelves full of food. During this time, I remember speaking with other parents who were concerned about how they would keep feeding their families, finding nutritious food, or paying for food that they needed, on top of all the other challenges which presented themselves. This led me to want to learn more about food resources in the community. I started looking for resources. A few times, I volunteered with a food rescue, helping to prepare packages for pick up and delivering food directly to those without transportation. I wanted to understand more about community resources for food and help give back to the community. Naturally, when I saw this position with SVHC I knew it would be a wonderful way to learn more about food resources in the Cortland area and continue to grow this new area.

How I work to be sustainable
My interest in sustainability within food and agriculture started about 10 years ago. I enjoyed watching friends grow in their at-home gardens. Our local trash disposal company also offered an option to compost with our trash pick-up. This led me to learn more about composting and how compostable materials in regular trash give off methane gases, impacting the environment. My partner and I started growing our vegetables with one garden bed. Five years later, we have a few at-home garden beds and additional pots. It has been a joy having our children involved in growing some of our household food, from them singing to the little plant buds, to watering them and enjoying (or disapproving of them) once picked. Our household also supports local agriculture by working with farmers to sign up for community-supported agriculture boxes and purchasing additional food from our farmer's markets.

Where I have been and where I am going
I grew up in a family of 5 children. During that time I learned about the importance of not wasting food, sharing what I had and working hard to achieve my goals. I graduated from Drexel University in 2019 with a Masters' degree in Health Administration. While working with SVHC I am excited to learn more about the organization and community resources. I consider myself a lifelong learner. I enjoy helping others, learning new skills, and giving back to my community.

AmeriCorps has other open positions
Want to learn more about AmeriCorps positions? Check out all the open positions and benefits here: https://ruralhealthservicecorps.org/positions/stateandnationalpositions/

Our new AmeriCorps member, Olivia