Staff Spotlight: Pam Guigli, Program Director of COVID Disparities

[Interview from 8/16/2023]

Can you tell me about your background and how you got involved with BCS?

I have a Master of Public Health. I actually came to New York, a very long time ago, at the beginning of the AIDS Epidemic. I was interested in AIDS epidemiology. I started working with one of the hospitals, St. Vincent’s, which unfortunately, is no longer operating, but I was working on AIDS research there and then moved over to the health department. So I was doing epidemiology with them. I then had a long career in hospitals and nursing homes doing health care planning, and then ended up working at Turning Point in their Chemical Dependence program back in like 2017. Around 2018, I started working in the [BCS] Fatherhood Program. And I was actually asked to write a letter of support for the COVID grant that BCS was applying for. So, it was on my radar that they were applying. And sure enough, when they did apply, I asked if I could be part of it, because I was really excited to get back into public health again. And this was, in the fall of 2021, that I came on board with the COVID program.

Can you tell me about the COVID program and how it came to be and what it is and how it’s evolved?

It was actually in the fall of 2021, that the former, Mayor Bill de Blasio, established a Public Health Corps trying to respond to the COVID epidemic. He envisioned having community partners that would develop a public health workforce. BCS became a partner back in 2021. The idea was to work in neighborhoods that were affected by COVID, where there were health inequities. And that’s how we ended up serving East New York residents. That was one of the neighborhoods that was deemed to be a neighborhood having health inequities. We began working in East New York and Brownsville in the fall of 2021. Initially, the work was in COVID education, trying to get people to be vaccinated, doing outreach and educational sessions. And that work continued until this past spring [2023], when we shifted to the social determinants of health. And these are conditions that affect whether or not people get healthcare, whether or not they have housing, food, economic stability, education. So now, our work has shifted, we’re now doing the screens where we go out into the community, and we have a questionnaire so we’re asking them, do you need help getting more food? Or do you need help finding an apartment? It’s more of an information and referral kind of process where we then generate information to give back to them, and we either email or text them a listing of whatever it is that they needed or requested in this screen. It’s definitely shifted, it’s bringing more resources to the community for the things that they really need now in their lives.

Is there anything specific about your role that you would want to share?

As the director, it’s my job to establish partnerships to make sure we’re meeting the various populations. I have to make sure we’re getting out to schools and senior centers, places where we meet with all demographics of the community. I’m responsible for putting together that plan, and then making sure we go out to these different events to do the screenings. We’re out in the field pretty much four days a week. We just left an anti-bullying resource fair, where we were actually joined by the Suicide Prevention Program at BCS. That was really great to be working alongside them. We’ve also done events with the Shower Bus. We’re just out there in the community trying to meet people where they are.

I’m interested in your favorite aspects of her job. And then on the other side, the most challenging aspects that you run into?

I guess the most enjoyable part is just connecting with all these different partners that are already working in the field, like, the health care clinics, the job and career programs, schools, senior centers. I love connecting to all these different types of providers, and coming together and trying to work together to just improve people’s lives. Some challenges we run into doing outreach are things like weather and not having enough Spanish speaking staff, because we do encounter a lot of Spanish speakers. So logistically, it can be a challenge, just meeting those types of aspects of the work. Sometimes we’re going to an event, we think we’re going to encounter a lot of people, but sometimes they’re not really interested in engaging with us. That’s a challenge because we have deliverables, we have to do 336 screens a month. You have to plan out your events so that you’re reaching the right number of people and sometimes it just doesn’t work the way you plan it. Overall, I think what’s enjoyable is just connecting to the people that really need resources in the moment. For example, a few days ago, we had an outreach event at a back to school event and there was a pregnant mom there. She actually just started to break down and cry because she’s not prepared for this new baby. My staff member was able to comfort her and actually connect her to resources that she could use like a doula, who’s going to help her in these last weeks of her pregnancy. She also got her a car seat and a stroller, things that she really needed in that moment. So that’s the most enjoyable part of the job, making those connections and giving people what they really need. And it’s when it’s when they least expect it. They don’t expect us to be in the street doing the surveys. We’re giving them what they actually need desperately.

As someone that’s worked in public health for so many years, what does public health mean to you? And then on a smaller scale, why is this program so important in our community? In Brooklyn, specifically?

Public health is important because it reflects what’s going on in a community. Things affect us globally and it’s important that we do surveillance and know what’s going on. I mean with COVID, being on top of public health can really affect the whole communities and cities and countries. .

Why do you think the COVID disparities program is important in Brooklyn, or greater in New York City at large?

COVID did disproportionately affect certain communities. Due to the fact that many people didn’t have good health and didn’t have good resources. It’s important that we be there to try to resolve the inequities that exist. A lot of people had misinformation about COVID, about the vaccine. So we’re just trying to get out there and give people accurate information so that they can be healthy. These are neighborhoods, which have health disparities, and we’re just trying to improve on that. Brooklyn and Queens actually have the lowest vaccine rates and are still most disproportionately affected by COVID. So we still have a lot of work to do, but it’s obviously worth the effort.

Looking forward, what would you say, the goals are for your program? Or do you have any future initiatives that you’re thinking about? And that we can look forward to seeing?

I certainly hope that the new mayor will continue this Public Health Corps, because community health workers do play a vital role in the public health in the community. Whether it’s responding to the monkey pox epidemic last year, the Corps was able to do that, and get it under control, or responding to the RSV, we’re expecting a big wave that will come this fall. So just being able to be there and be prepared to inform the community about these threats to their health and being able to prevent bad health.

Is there anything else you would like people to know about your program?

I think what’s really great for us is being able to work with the other BCS programs and really work together to make a difference. Like today, at the anti-bullying event, people came up to us thinking we were the Shower Bus. It’s just good being part of an organization that is making a big impact. I think it’s important that the BCS programs work together, because we can do a lot more together as a collective to address issues that our community is facing.