Best Wishes to Veronica Valentin Redmond; Welcome New Educators

Veronica Valentin Redmond, the IPC satellite education coordinator for Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center since March 2003, has decided to leave the position to pursue other opportunities. The Illinois Poison Center would like to thank her for her work as a satellite educator. For three years, Veronica focused her poison prevention education efforts on older adults and the underserved Latino population in the northern Cook County region.

Taking Veronica’s place at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center is Maribel Quinones, RN, BSN. As the supervisor for Hispanocare Community Health Education at AIMCC, Maribel will be responsible for conducting poison prevention education in the northern Chicago area. She hopes to incorporate poison safety into community events, especially those geared toward children and seniors. She is looking forward to educating parents and seniors about how to prevent accidental poisonings. “I believe early education is the key to prevention,” explains Ms. Quinones.

Welcome Maribel!

The Sinai Community Institute also hired a new satellite education coordinator for poison prevention education. Laura Behena, CNA, Youth Ambassador Coordinator, will be responsible for training teens in the Institute’s ambassador program in poison prevention education. Those teens will then take their knowledge into the community to educate others about poison safety. As a Latino outreach satellite center, the Sinai Community Institute focuses their efforts on the Latino community.

“I’m very happy to be working with the IPC, and I hope to make a lasting impact on the communities we serve,” Ms. Behena explains. In this position, Laura hopes to empower her volunteers by giving them skills and knowledge that will help them throughout their lives.

Welcome Laura!

Patricia Hernandez, Physician Referral Specialist/ IPC Liaison & Outreach Coordinator, has also joined the IPC satellite network as the education coordinator at Norwegian-American Hospital. Patricia incorporates poison prevention education into hospital events, such as health fairs, networking events and community programs.

“My favorite part of working with the IPC is going out into the community and educating people at the events,” says Patricia.

Norwegian-American Hospital works with the predominantly Latino community of Humboldt Park. Her main goal is to create awareness in this community through participating in outreach events and distributing bilingual literature.

Welcome Patricia!

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