FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JANUARY 14, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 13
Citi Field to become 24/7 COVID-19 vaccination site
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Citi
Field will become a 24/7 mega COVID-
19 vaccination site during his daily press
conference on Tuesday, Jan. 12.
Th e site will be run inside the stadium,
located at 41 Seaver Way, by NYC Health
+ Hospitals, and will have a capacity to
administer 5,000 to 7,000 vaccines a day.
It will open in the week of Jan. 25, according
to the mayor.
“Th is is going to be fantastic. Th is is
going to help so many people get vaccinated,”
de Blasio said, praising the Mets
for stepping up and helping the people
of Queens and New York City as a whole.
“We welcome Queens residents. We welcome
all New Yorkers. We even welcome
Yankees fans. Th ere is no discrimination.”
De Blasio said there is still work to do,
but it will be a “game-changer.”
New Mets owner Steve Cohen joined de
Blasio for Tuesday’s announcement.
“When we heard about your initiative,
we were just so excited to participate in
this program,” Cohen said. “It’s so important.
We know the suff ering that’s going
on with COVID. Anyway the organization
could help support this eff ort, we
were going to do it. We talked about being
involved in our communities and I can’t
think of any way that’s more important
than what this hub is going to do.
Cohen described Citi Field as the “intersection
of Queens,” that can be reached by
subways, trains and highways.
“The goal is to just get the vaccine
in people’s arms so we can get this crisis
over with and get back to living a
normal life,” Cohen added.
Health + Hospitals opened its first
vaccine hub in Queens at Hillcrest
High School on Sunday, Jan. 10, with
another on the way in Corona later in
the week.
There will be three more vaccine
hubs opening in Queens on Jan. 15,
located at August Martin High School
at 156-10 Baisley Blvd., in Jamaica;
Beach Channel Educational Campus
at 100-00 Beach Channel Drive in
Rockaway; and Aviation High School
at 45-30 36th St. in Long Island City.
There are more than two dozen sites
in Queens currently administering
the vaccine.
The Health Department has established
the NYC COVID-19Vaccine
Finder for New Yorkers to search for
nearby locations that are currently
administering the COVID-19 vaccine
and to set up an appointment online.
The vaccine is currently being provided
to New Yorkers who are 75
and older, teachers and education
workers, first responders, public safety
workers, public transit workers,
healthcare providers and staff with
direct patient contact, emergency
responders, staff at COVID-19 testing
and vaccination locations, home
health aides, and long-term care staff
and residents.
File photo via Shutterstock
Four ways to continuously improve your company’s culture
BY ENERGAGE
Driving an intentional
culture year-round
One thing most Top
Workplaces have in common is a
clear commitment to supporting
and sustaining workplace culture
year-round. Th ese companies
don’t just check off the engagement
box once a year. Th ey make
continuous culture improvement
a daily priority.
Leaders at these successful
organizations work to know
what drives their culture, listen
to what their employees are telling
them, take action to improve,
promote their strengths — and
then they start again.
Four phases of
continuous culture
improvement
Building an intentional culture
requires more than an annual
survey snapshot. To truly move
the needle on culture, we suggest
these four steps:
1. Measure and benchmark
your culture
To get an accurate picture of
your current culture, survey the
people who know your organization
best — your employees.
With so many survey providers
claiming they have the
right measurement tools, how
do you fi nd one that’s accurate,
research-proven, and actionable?
Here’s what to look for:
• Start to fi nish, the process is
quick, and the statements are
scientifi cally sound.
• Employee responses remain
anonymous to encourage
open, honest feedback.
• Data visualization clearly and
accurately identify your culture
strengths and focus areas.
• Comparative analytics that
goes beyond simple industry
benchmarks.
2. Use feedback to
listen and connect
with employees
A survey is a great start, but it’s
taking action that matters. Once
you know what drives your culture,
you’re ready to dive deeper
to understand the root issues.
First, listen to your employees —
explore their responses and off er
opportunities to expand on their
feedback. Second, use your strategy
to connect while ensuring
alignment.
Th e right strategy will involve:
• Th anking employees and creating
a custom follow-up for
more input.
• Making sure every manager and
team lead gets results for their
team.
• Sharing local results with every
employee to inspire further
insight.
• Connecting successful teams
and managers to people who
can learn from them.
• Using survey results to help
consider culture in every leadership
conversation.
3. Take action to
engage and grow
You have your data and you
know the thought that went into
it. Now, it’s time to act — or even
more eff ectively — let employees
act. It’s their feedback that started
this journey, so empower them to
move everyone forward.
Th is is the fun part, really.
Employees get to solve their own
problems, stretch their skills, and
unleash their potential. Th ey’ll
be glad for the opportunity to
improve the organization. You’ll
see better results — and more
engaged employees!
To improve your culture and
performance, make sure to:
• Start all action at the front line,
only escalating topics that can’t
be handled at that level.
• Seek and empower passionate
employees, no matter their role.
• Make it easy to visibly track
action and celebrate success.
• Keep doing what works, but
make a plan to re-evaluate later.
• Enforce win-win solutions
across the company; anything
that isn’t working for one group
soon won’t work for others.
4. Celebrate the good
and showcase your
culture strengths
Once you know where your
culture stands, you’ve identifi
ed focus areas, and you’ve acted
using this intelligence, it’s time
to celebrate the good and showcase
what makes your organization
unique. Why do this? It will
help diff erentiate your organization.
As a result, you’ll stand out
from the competition and attract
the right talent.
To highlight your culture
strengths:
• Compete for recognition as a
Top Workplace or employer of
choice.
• Celebrate culture “wins” with
your employees to build pride
and motivation for even better
connection.
• Highlight specific culture
strengths identifi ed by your survey
and verifi ed by a third party.
To sum things up, building an
intentional culture requires more
than an annual survey. It necessitates
organizations to commit
to discovering their full culture
potential. But most importantly,
they sustain, support, and celebrate
that culture every single day.
Nominate your company as a
New York City Top Workplace
at amny.com/nominate. Laura
Brinton is content marketing
director at Energage, a
Philadelphia-based research and
consulting fi rm that surveyed
more than 2 million employees
at more than 7,500 organizations
in 2019. Energage is the research
partner for Top Workplaces.
/nominate
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