East Boston Neighborhood Health Center Employees Honored for Exemplary Service

December 12, 2012, East Boston, MA—The East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBHNC) honored employees for their dedication and service at EBNHC’s Annual Service Recognition Awards Ceremony on December 5, 2012. The ceremony recognized 120 staff members who have served between 5 and 40 years at EBNHC, three of whom have spent 35 or more years at the health center.

“This is an opportunity to honor a talented team of professionals who have demonstrated tremendous commitment to our community and the individuals we serve,” said Manny Lopes, CEO. “We thank them for their steadfast dedication and service.”

Linda Dailey, Vice President of Human Resources, was honored for 40 years of service and for her role in initiating the Awards Ceremony 29 years ago. A Beverly resident, Dailey was born and raised in East Boston and is deeply rooted in the East Boston community. She began her career monitoring blood pressure and epidemiological data in 1972, when EBNHC was one of 14 health centers in the country to participate in a national study on hypertension. She then worked as a phlebotomist for the health center before launching EBNHC’s first Human Resources department in 1983. Under Dailey’s tenure, EBNHC has grown from 99 employees to 865. Dailey, who oversees the EBNHC’s robust human resource activities, including benefits administration, employee relations, and recruitment and retention, attributes her success to the passion and diversity of EBNHC’s employees.

“We’re a strong mission-driven organization,” Dailey said. “There’s a richness and wealth of culture among our staff, and the people who work here have wonderful hearts.”

Michael Nicastro, Director of Community Outreach, was honored for 35 years of service to EBHNC. Nicastro, an East Boston native and Revere resident, began his career working in EBNHC’s laboratory and has held a range of positions, including Lab Information Systems Business Manager and Manager of Radiology, Transcription, and Phlebotomy, where he helped the health center receive its first accreditation for mammography services. He has been instrumental in expanding EBNHC’s community outreach, and has developed a variety of community safety programs, including programs on toddler home safety and bike safety.

In his current position as Director of Community Outreach, Nicastro is well known by area residents and can often be found dropping off 50 to 60 bundles a week of clothes, hats, shoes, books, toys, and arts and crafts to more than 1,500 children in East Boston, Chelsea, Revere, Everett, and Winthrop. He initiated the health center’s participation in Cradles to Crayons, a nonprofit that provides clothing, school supplies, and other necessities to children in need.

“Our health center is the innovation, we are the model and the future,” Nicastro said. “We are the hope of those residents who are disenfranchised and have no place else to go, and all of our staff are the engine that drives this train.”

Dr. Joel Snider, a Cambridge resident, was also honored for 35 years of service to the health center. Dr. Snider began his career teaching primary care medicine at Boston City Hospital, now Boston Medical Center, and was recruited by Dr. James Taylor, one of the founders of EBNHC. Snider is passionate about working with diverse populations and has cared compassionately for many generations of residents over the years. He helped lead the health center’s home care initiative to ensure that elderly residents and others who are chronically ill can remain in their homes. Moderately fluent in Spanish, Snider feels connected to EBNHC’s Latino population and has spent time as a physician in rural Colombia, a country from which many EBNHC patients hail. (Dr. Snider is pictured above, at left of photo, with Manny Lopes, CEO, and Dr. Mari Bentley, CMO.)

“I enjoy working with the many diverse populations we serve,” Snider said. “I prefer to work where I’m needed, where I can do the most good. For our patients, EBNHC is an innovative resource that helps them remain healthy and safe, and it’s an honor and a privilege to be an integral part of their health care team.”

The East Boston Neighborhood Health Center has been a vital part of the community for 40 years, providing easily accessible, high-quality health care to all who live and work in East Boston and the surrounding communities of Chelsea, Revere, Everett, and Winthrop. EBNHC handles 300,000 patient visits per year—more than any other ambulatory care center in New England.