BY ALICIA GREEN | When VillageCare opened the doors at its W. 20th St. location on the morning of June 19, it was, as usual, to provide healthcare services to many of its New York City clients, but also to celebrate the opening of its new Empowerment Center.
In a room decorated with colorful paper lanterns and art hanging on the walls, roughly 50 people joined members of the nonprofit organization at the center’s opening ceremony.
“We wanted to create a place where clients could enrich their lives both spiritually and mentally,” Emma DeVito, VillageCare president and CEO, said of the new center.
“It is a place that we hope can engage individuals, where they could enrich their current skills and perhaps learn new skills,” she said. “And most importantly, we want to encourage our clients to maximize their ability, in order to support greater independence and well-being in their lives.”
Born in Greenwich Village more than 35 years ago, VillageCare today serves more than 14,000 people, including seniors and people with HIV/AIDS.
“This is really an exciting extension to the work VillageCare has done,” said Elizabeth Vega-Lebron, the organization’s program administrator. “Many of you know that VillageCare has been a leader in the care of people with HIV. As one of our clients has said, when they came here they came to survive.”
Fredrick Weston spoke about his experience as a long-term survivor.
“I guess we don’t talk about that so much anymore because we are talking about the end of AIDS,” he said.
He recalled when a diagnosis was “considered to be a death sentence” because there was no cure and few treatment options. He praised AIDS services and programs — and especially VillageCare — for helping those with the disease.
“VillageCare is where I have learned to love and respect myself despite the stigma my disease carries along with it,” Weston said. “VillageCare is where I experienced health and well-being, and where I could share my recovery with my peers. I appreciate having such a place in my life.”
Like Weston, Vaughn Gibbs is also a long-term survivor. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1996, while living in Atlanta. Afterward, he began volunteering with different organizations.
“I found my way to New York, and one of my friends introduced me to VillageCare,” he said. “We were then under the direction of Michael Hickey. He kind of guided me in the right direction to make me the man that I am today.”
Gibbs began volunteering in New York.
“This diagnosis was given to me, but it wasn’t just for me,” he said. “It was for me to go out, network and help other individuals dealing with the same issues.”
Gibbs said Hickey saw “potential in him” and referred him for a staff position.
“I now go out and market and help individuals gain what I’ve gained here at VillageCare,” he said.
Lydia Isaac attended for the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation.
“We’re doing a collaboration with VillageCare where we’re having some of our patients take advantage of supportive services VillageCare offers that we don’t,” she said. It’s a “win-win,” she said, allowing people to get the “best services and resources they can have to live a better life.”
