Welcome to our Newest Esperanza Clinicians!
           

         Albert (Bert) Fink, Jr., MD                            Pamela Garcia, MD                  Antonette Montalvo, RN, MSN, PNP-BC

This fall, we’ve welcomed three new primary medical care providers to the Esperanza Health Center clinical staff! 
  • Albert (Bert) Fink, Jr., MD, internal medicine physician, practiced for over 20 years in Delaware County, PA with the Clinical Care Associates of the University of Pennsylvania Health System before joining Esperanza’s clinical staff in September. He is a graduate of Hahnemann Medical College and completed his internal medicine residency at Hahnemann Hospital. Dr. Fink and his wife, Shirley have three grown sons; he serves as an Elder at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.
  • Pamela Garcia, MD, who joined Esperanza in August as a family practice physician, is an Alpha Omega Alpha graduate of Drexel University College of Medicine, and completed her family medicine residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Prior to pursuing medical training, Dr. Garcia was a hematology/oncology nurse at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She is active with the Medical Campus Outreach ministry of Tenth Presbyterian Church, where she is also a member.
  • Antonette Montalvo, RN, MSN, PNP-BC joined Esperanza in September as a pediatric nurse practitioner. Ms. Montalvo received her BSN and  MSN degrees from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Through her experiences living in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala, God led her to pursue nursing education and to eventually become a pediatric nurse practitioner. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and son.

Esperanza Staff Receive Two PACHC APEX Awards

At the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers (PACHC) earlier this month, Esperanza staff members received not one but two of PACHC’s APEX Outstanding Primary Care Clinician Awards, presented to an “individual or team whose work has made a significant contribution in the delivery of primary care to vulnerable populations, improving quality, accessibility and/or outcomes of care.”

Esperanza’s Medical Director, Bryan Hollinger, MD, MPH, received the APEX Outstanding Primary Care Clinician Award – Urban Medical. Said Susan Post, Esperanza’s Executive Director: “Bryan’s patients love him for his deep compassion, his attention to detail, and his concern for their well-being at every level—physically, emotionally and spiritually.”

Also, the Esperanza HIV Team received the APEX Outstanding Primary Care Clinician Award – Team. The Esperanza family says of the HIV Team: “Esperanza Health Center is grateful for the excellent care and passionate advocacy the HIV Team has for our HIV patients. They inspire us to do our part to care for all of our patients with equal enthusiasm and love.” Members of the Esperanza HIV Team include: Bryan Hollinger, MD, MPH, Amaris Allan, MD, Pamela Garcia, MD, Timothy Leaman, MD, and Robert Reich, PA-C, Team Clinicians; Ana Lapp, RN, Lead Care Coordinator; Melissa Cruz, RN, Care Coordinator; Sofia Gutierrez, Adherence Coordinator; Cyndi Diaz, Medical Assistant; Lilliana Estrada, Testing and Outreach Manager; Steffany Ramos, Outreach Specialist; Karen Norris, MS, Director of HIV Care and Social Services; Delka Castellanos, Lead Social Services Manager; and, Milagros Trinidad, Shayra Lozada-Gris, Jessica Gonzalez, and Gretchen Echegoyen, Social Services Managers.

Harvest Time!


In our July 2015 e-newsletter, we wrote about Esperanza’s first-ever urban garden, as we partnered with students at Hunting Park Christian Academy (HPCA) to plant “earth boxes” in back of our Hunting Park site. Earlier this month, Esperanza Dietitian Roanna Keener, RD, LDN led a class of 7th and 8th-graders from HPCA in harvesting herbs and vegetables from the garden. She then led a fun nutrition class in our classroom that included the creation (and tasting!) of three vegetable dip recipes. 
“The kids had a great time!” said Jen Deane, HPCA’s Director of Development. Stay tuned as we’re planning for a new garden at Esperanza in 2016!

Report on the 2015 Summer Medical Institute

God was powerfully at work in our North Philadelphia community this past summer, as Esperanza partnered with Medical Campus Outreach and several local churches in hosting the 2015 Summer Medical Institute Philadelphia.
To read about the impact of this year’s SMI, click here
Opportunities at Esperanza

Please visit https://www.esperanzahealth.com/opportunities/ to learn about our current job openings across different departmental areas, including open primary care provider positions, and for information on how to apply.

You can make a difference for our patients and our North Philadelphia community, by making an online donation to Esperanza – a gift of any amount will help those with the greatest needs. Thanks for your financial support and also for your prayers! 

“We love because He first loved us.”  – 1 John 4:19 
Donate Now