Helping is as easy as 1…2…3…
A Story of Real Life Impact
“I love His Branches and I know they love me. They care about you as a patient and a person. They work to connect you to the resources to meet your needs.” - Brittany Geiger
Recently, our friends from Tones Studios stopped by our 19th Ward Office to capture footage of our team in action, as well as record the experience of one of our patients, Brittany, and her children, (that include two sets of twins!). Brittany shared about how our team was able to meet her medical, social, and spiritual needs to create hope-filled living.
But don’t take our word for it. Hear it from her by clicking the link below to watch her story. The video is also easily shareable. Help introduce others to our services so that they will be able to find hope, healing, and restoration like Brittany and her children. Thank you for spreading the word so that we can continue to provide the resources and quality care to change the future of real-life neighbors.
In The Neighborhood:
Community Development continues to be a primary method to pursuing our mission. We’ve had multiple opportunities over the last few months to team up with similar-mission minded groups to multiply our reach and impact in the neighborhood.
In May, His Branches was a sponsor at the NAMI Walk in effort to bring greater awareness and support to the mental health community. NAMI Rochester offers a wide variety of free classes and targeted support groups and is a valuable resource in the mental health conversation. For more info on the latest offerings, visit NamiRoc.org.
Also in May, along with our partners, R Community Bikes and the Arnett Block Association, we were able to host the 19th Ward Annual Bike Clinic. After a two year break due to COVID restrictions, our parking lot was once again full of helping hands and happy kids as more than two dozen bikes were repaired and over two dozen more were raffled off. Thanks to all who volunteered to help make the day a success!
For the second year in a row, His Branches is a featured sponsor of the Westside Farmer’s Market . You’ll find our team at the 19th Ward’s premier market on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays each month. You can also share a cup of coffee with us at New City Cafe, just around the corner from our Beechwood office on Parsells Avenue, on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month.
Our goal is to be a loving and serving presence in our community while we work to build the trust of our neighbors and create awareness of our services.
We do this by providing free blood pressure checks, giving away at-home COVID testing kits (we have given away over 120 in the first month of summer!), and learning about the highs and lows of life through conversations with those who drop by.
Becoming a familiar and friendly presence in the neighborhood through a variety of events like these is just one more way we can show we are For Rochester!
Helping is as easy as…
Eating at Five Guys (Greece) on Thursday, August 11th
Everyone needs to eat! It doesn’t get easier than this. Grab a meal at Five Guys (1948 W Ridge Rd, Greece, NY 14626) on Thursday, August 11th between 4pm-10pm. His Branches will automatically receive up to 15% of ALL proceeds during that time! Our goal is to raise at least $500, so mark your calendars, spread the word, and bring your friends and family!
Keep your eyes on our social media in the weeks to come for more opportunities like this to support our organization while enjoying a meal at various spots around Rochester.
2. Giving a Gift to Support Healthy Movement
Did you know…
Cyclists logged 8.1 billion miles in 2020
42% of households worldwide own at least one bicycle
One of our favorite coffee shops has a bicycle theme
Cycling can cut your risk of heart attack by 50%
There are nearly 300 miles of bike paths in Rochester
Bicycling creates many physical, practical, and environmental advantages for our community, and perhaps most of all…it’s FUN!
Because of the physical and social impact of riding bikes, we want to continue to encourage healthy habits for our neighbors by investing in the infrastructure of our city and advocating for the increase and improvement of safe spaces for cyclers. We hope to do this through YOUR generosity. Our goal is to pay for and install a Deluxe Public Work Stand within the neighborhoods of each of our clinic locations (19th Ward & Beechwood). The stands we’ve worked with neighbors to install is a fully-equipped bicycle repair station featuring tools securely attached to retractable cables. Our goal is to raise $4000 in special donations to be able to fund these stands this summer. If you’re interested in giving toward this cause, click HERE and select “BIKE PUBLIC WORK STAND” to ensure your gift goes toward this project.
This addition will allowing cyclists an easy, accessible means to keep their bikes rolling and encourage healthy movement on our streets!
3. Setting Up a Monthly Donation
Roots is a community of monthly donors partnering with our work to create hope, healing, and restoration in our neighborhoods and is foundational to our mission. We have a goal to raise $25k this year from people like you who provide a recurring donation to help us provide patient assistance, build community connections, and meet the physical, mental and spiritual needs of our patients.
Just this past week, our clinical team was able to pay for the $200 out-of-pocket expense of a 93 year-old patient whose insurance refused to cover an MRI that when performed allowed our team to provide timely and appropriate treatment to save her foot and ensure continued mobility. Your generosity helped avoid life altering complications! We will be able to show even more love with a network of donors who generously share their resources with us.
We’re looking to build this year’s club to at least 30 monthly donors committed to a collective total of $1600/month to meet our expected opportunities for a clinic of our size.
Being a member of Roots allows you to multiply the impact of your generosity by joining with others to have a greater influence on our communities. Your support may seem ordinary but the cumulative result is extraordinary. We hope you consider how you might play a part in our goal. Click the button below to learn more or sign up!
New Staff: Meet Michael Brennan, D.N.P., F.N.P.
Our ongoing referral partnership with Ibero American Action League has significantly impacted the growth in Latino patients we serve. So far this year, twenty-five percent of our new patients are Spanish-speaking. In order to meet the needs of this community, we been able to increase the capacity and capability of our bilingual team. Bilingual care team members now account for 24% of our staff. To this point we’ve been able to hire Spanish-speaking staff for every position, except a provider…until now!
We are thrilled to welcome Michael Brennan, DNP, FNP, to help us live out our value of dignity, by providing culturally competent care in our Spanish speaking patients’ primary language. Operating out of our Beechwood clinic on Mondays, Michael brings 30 years of medical experience with underserved populations to our team.
Michael shares, “It is a joy to join the His Branches team to provide quality, patient-centered and holistic care to Spanish-speaking patients. As a nurse practitioner for the past 30 years, I have been blessed to be able to care for refugees, migrant farmworkers, the homeless, and the uninsured. I particularly appreciate that His Branches does not force a faith perspective on patients, but allows patient's personal spirituality to be part of their care and healing." We are proud to have Michael as a provider on our team and are excited to extend our reach into the Latino community through his experience and abilities.