TAKE FIVE!

April 13, 2021

Jenny Sanchez:
Hello, I’m Jenny Sanchez. Welcome to Sullivan 180 Presents Take Five!. Our guest today is Pat Ocasio from Hudson Valley Community Services. Thank you so much for joining me.

Pat Ocasio:
Thank you for having me, as Jenny said, I’m from Hudson Valley Community Services and of course we just merged. So we are a division of Cornerstone.

Jenny Sanchez:
Thank you. And could you please tell us your title and a little bit about your organization?

Pat Ocasio:
Absolutely. Well, I am the women prevention specialist and I am a counselor, so I do HIV testing, Hep C testing and STI. We also have a curriculum evidence-based seeking safety, which we talk about, different sessions on PTSD and substance use, such as taking back your power and your voice, healthy living and healthy lifestyle, and it’s evidence-based from our grant funders, the AIDS Institute, and we also have a general training or curriculum called Women Achieve. And basically it talks about HIV and education and tools to use to make best choices. Our agency is based out of different programs. We have men’s program as well. We have case management, we have health clubs for those clients who are recovering and are using Suboxone, or they are interested in using any of those recovery medication. We also have a health center now, so we have family practice or the pediatric urology, pediatric, and those services available. We are located on Broadway in Newburgh, 2080 and Broadway. And I’m currently in 20 Crystal Street in Monticello, New York. I cover Orange County, Duchess County, Ulster, and Sullivan County as well. We are a non-profit organization as well for over 30 years. And we serve as clients, no matter if they have the means to pay, we provide services without any discrimination to men, identify and women identify clients as well. We also have one time food pantry that we can give to our clients, our new clients and monthly pantries that we use the Thrive program, which also speaks about nutritional foods. And they also give them recipes so that they can have quick meals. So basically we’re just a general open organization that provides services in the community. And I’ll give you my contact information so that you can share that out as well. Thank you.

Jenny Sanchez:
What about women’s prevention? What would you like the community to know?

Pat Ocasio:
Well, I want everyone to know in the community that a lot of times, as women identify, we focus on our family, which is important, our children, our finances, and our shelter and our housing, but we forget about ourselves. And part of ourselves is self-care or nurturing ourselves, loving ourselves, understanding that we can’t have a good home, right? We can’t give our children the love and the care we need if we have mental health situations, post-traumatic stress disorders, issues that we go through, trauma that we experienced, one time or trauma that we continuously keep experiencing in our lives. And I think that when you have someone to talk about, talk to and you have a counseling session, it, and the more you talk about what you’re going through, it’s easier for us as a woman to be able to overcome those challenges. And I believe that once you’re given tools to utilize, when you encounter those difficult moments, you’re able to be a better person, be a better mother, a better wife, a better worker in general.

Jenny Sanchez:
Very true. Thank you. And what can County residents do to help your programs and your organization?

Pat Ocasio:
They could refer to our agency, we are located in 20 Crystal Street, Monticello, New York, 12701, Suite 6. And they can say they could also reach me at (845) 260-3092. And they could refer the names, friends, neighbors, or they can call me themselves and we can do an intake, where I get all their demographics information and whatever their situation is. We’ll cover those topics according to their needs.

Jenny Sanchez:
Okay, great. And is there anything else you’d like to share?

Pat Ocasio:
No, I’m just grateful to have this opportunity and I look forward to working with anyone in need in the community and in the future.

Jenny Sanchez:
Pat, thank you so much for being here and for sharing your great programs with us.