EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT: Gary C.

In your current role at Neighborhood, what are your key job responsibilities and what aspect of your position do you most enjoy?
In my current role as Manager of Clinical Engagement under RHO Product, I supervise a team of eight Community Engagement Coordinators who are responsible for delivering the Medicare-Medicaid Plan (MMP) Health Risk Assessment and Welcome Call. In addition, the team goes above and beyond locating and re-engaging our hard-to-reach members to help reconnect them with their care managers, providers, and community partners. My favorite thing about the role is that it has allowed me to give back to my community through volunteering and other civic engagements, alongside my team.

What did you do before joining Neighborhood?
Before I joined Neighborhood, I was working as a customer service representative for Bank of America. I was responsible for account inquiries, text support for online banking, credit card sales, bill pay and bank fees. The role gave me excellent experience in how to manage my own personal finances, time management, and how to provide excellent customer service. This experience has served me well at Neighborhood.

Of all the projects and initiatives you have worked on at Neighborhood, which one stands out as being especially meaningful to you?
One of my favorite projects so far has been building the new Clinical Engagement Team under RHO Product with our team lead, Jennifer. I’ve been afforded an opportunity to think outside the box regarding engagement efforts, strategies, and internal processes. The results have been very impressive and I am very proud of the great work that the team has accomplished throughout their first year!

Tell us a little bit about your upbringing – sharing what helped shaped your future.
I am originally from the Dominican Republic but was raised in Providence, Rhode Island. As a child I always loved school, reading, and showed a great interest in health care. In my early teens, I was accepted into a four-year Nurse Assistant Program at Mount Pleasant High School where I went on to graduate with my CNA license. Unfortunately, I learned very quickly that I did not do well with blood or wounds, so I had to revisit my career strategy and goals. My late teens and early twenties were fun, exciting, and at times, difficult. However, I felt as if the world had many lessons to teach me, and I was ready for whatever they were.

As a first generation college student, navigating school was a bit of a challenge at first. I took many different courses until I finally decided to complete my undergrad in Communications. I worked full-time at Neighborhood during the day and then commuted to the University of Rhode Island’s (URI’s) Feinstein Campus in downtown Providence for my evening classes. I attended school full-time, four times a week, until I finally obtained my bachelor’s degree.

Later in life, I returned to URI to obtain my master’s degree in Public Administration, and a few years after that I enrolled in a master’s degree program for Healthcare Management which I completed in the summer of 2021. In between this time, I obtained certifications in management, project management, and now six sigma.

I will always be grateful to Jean M., our Manager of Clinical Informatics at Neighborhood, and to Yvonne H. who served as our Senior Manager of Care Management until earlier this year when this amazing person left us for eternal rest. Both Jean and Yvonne always encouraged me to continue my education. Also, to Neighborhood for the generous tuition reimbursement, which was a lifesaver. Last, but definitely not least, I could not have done all this without the help and support of my parents who always made sure I had something to eat after I got out of class at 10 o’clock at night.

As for a hobby that helped shape who I am, I picked up reading and collecting comic books in 2001, which is something that I still do today. Reading the “funny-books”, as they used to be called, helped reinforce the values that my parents taught me in relation to responsibility, helping others, and always doing the right thing.