American Folk Art Museum hosts networking event for healthcare workers in Upper West Side

Guests listen to speakers during the Post-Acute Care Mixer at the American Folk Art Museum.

Photo by Caroline Ourso

Healthcare workers and associates gathered at the American Folk Art Museum in the Upper West Side on June 29 to kick off a networking event for post-acute healthcare services.

Howell, chief executive officer of Anchor Group, took time to speak on behalf of the event’s purpose and mission after buzzing about the room engaging with guests.

“There are a lot of services provided in NYC,” Howell stated. “Oftentimes the access to those services is limited simply because of limited knowledge of the programs.”

Howell hopes to use the networking event to bridge gaps between services and start conversations that will facilitate better experiences for all post-acute care patients.

“If we are going to shift this industry, we have to think about the integration of care,” Howell continued. “Respecting home care workers is really respecting care.”

“We want to keep people safe, at home, aging in place,” said Howell. “We wanted to democratize good care.”

Howell asked several participants to speak about their particular work in the post-acute care landscape and thoughts on creating a more tight-knit community through events like his.

Dawn Bruce, a birth doula, spoke passionately about difficulties in her field and the advantages of cultivating inter-organizational communication for the sake of patients’ health.

“When we think of post-acute care, we have to think of postpartum care,” said Bruce. “So often women are left alone and don’t have the support they need.”

Bruce noted that Black women are more likely to die of childbirth than any other racial demographic, and this problem is especially significant in Brooklyn.

“We have to remember the mental health of the workers, the care of the Black women that are dying, and we have to understand that this is a community, not just…