If you’ve ever met Temple Community Health Worker (CHW) Supervisor Edward “Ed” Drayton, you won’t be surprised to learn that he was the star of a recent installment of Fox29’s “You’re Awesome” series. The segment highlights exceptional Philadelphians, and, as many of us at Temple Health know, there are few people more extraordinary than Ed. He’s been instrumental in the success of Temple Health’s Community Health Workers program and in the Multi-Visit Patient (MVP) Clinic, which has proven highly effective in improving patient outcomes and reducing Emergency Department readmission rates.
But what some of his colleagues might not be aware of is that, in addition to playing an essential role in our Community Health efforts, Ed is also a pillar of his Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood, especially because of his work with the Houseman Recreation Center. To learn more, you can watch his Fox29 profile.
Consistency, Inside and Outside the Office
It was this work that not only earned Ed a feature on Fox29, but also inspired Temple Health to donate $10,000 to the Houseman Recreation Center through last year’s Charity Nomination Contest. And while not all of us might have known of what he does outside the office, Ed sees his work at Houseman and his role as a CHW Supervisor as interconnected.
“When I was away, I told myself I would use every minute after I got out to give back,” he explains. “I always said that I did harm to my community that landed me in prison, so after I left, I would need to help rebuild that community. That’s what I’m doing when I mentor young men at Houseman, and it’s the same thing when I work with patients as a CHW.”
In both roles, building trust and showing up for those in difficult positions is instrumental. “I always told people, I wanted to take the kids who really needed help, and who weren’t doing well in school,” Ed says. “I held them to a standard of excellence—you couldn’t participate in our sports leagues unless you had a B average, for example—and tried to be a role model of good behavior that they could count on.”
“It was the same thing for a lot of our patients at the MVP Clinic,” he continues. “A lot of them hadn’t had healthcare professionals show they cared about them before. So I would come in on the first day, introduce myself, and ask them to give me the opportunity to help them. I would bring them some socks, a mask, and some hand sanitizer, and then the next day, I would come back to check on them again. The day after, when they were released, I would call them, and when they came to Boyer for their follow-up, I was waiting to escort them to their appointment with some boxed lunches. They couldn’t believe it. They were like, ‘For real?’”
Family First
This high-touch, high-trust approach is in large part responsible for both the MVP Clinic’s and Houseman’s success—and it’s what makes Ed stand out. But to hear him tell it, his family is the real reason he’s been able to achieve any of this.
“The way things have materialized, the Rec Center, me being here at Temple, the accolades, the awards, and everything else, is the culmination of the family support that I’ve had,” he insists. “That includes my aunt and uncle, Jeanne and James Wallace, who brought me home from the hospital and raised me until I was six years old; and Myrtle Dixon, my aunt who raised me and gave me everything I needed as a child to be successful, who molded me into the man I am, and who believed in me when no one else did. I also owe everything to my wife and children, who are the force that pushes and drives me. I’m always trying to live to the standard that they have for me and for the life that we live.”
It makes it all the more poignant, then, that Ed’s youngest son, Edmond—who’s currently a freshman at Temple University—was the one to nominate him for the Fox29 series. And in the aftermath of the profile airing, Ed is already brainstorming new ways to help young men. “I want my next project to be in local schools, and focused on stopping youth violence,” he explains.
When asked if he ever takes time off to rest, he laughs. “When you do something you love, it’s not work,” he says. “Every morning I wake up saying to myself, ‘What can I do better or different than I did yesterday?’”