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Deirdre Shires: Expanding healthy horizons

BY SHARON GITTLEMAN

FERNDALE – When Deirdre Shires walks out the door at Affirmations Lesbian and Gay Community Center in Ferndale for the last time this summer to go back to school, she'll leave a lot of admirers behind.
Deanna Tocco is just one of them.
"She's phenomenal," said Tocco, 36, Affirmations' Program Director. "She's done so much with the health programs. She's taken them to a whole new level."
Shires diversified the center's focus on supporting troubled gays and lesbians to helping the LGBT community gain the knowledge and skills it needs to live happily and well.
"She's very professional, very friendly," said Tocco, a Royal Oak resident. "It's going to be a big loss for the center. We may try to lure her back when she's done with her studies."
Shires began her job as Affirmations' health services coordinator in November 2005.
"I've always been interested in working in health," said Shires, 30, a Northville resident. "I really was interested in the opportunity to not only work in health, but to work in the LGBT community."
Shires' accomplishments include overseeing the annual health fair offering free or low-cost screenings for skin cancer, diabetes and other medical problems at Affirmations in April.
In March, she added a holistic medicine event. More than three dozen people enjoyed free massages, consulted with chiropractors, got information about martial arts, sampled teas and checked out skin care products.
"There was a lot of interest in it," she said.
The events offered LGBT health professionals the opportunity to network and learn about each other, she said.
"It also gives the community a good chance to learn about the services available," said Shires. "I think it gives people a chance to get services they normally wouldn't have access to for free or at a very low cost."
Shires, who holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Michigan State University and a master's in social work from the University of Michigan, will be going back to school at the University of Illinois at Chicago to acquire a master's in public health.
"I really wanted to study public health in an urban environment," she said. "If I like the school, I may apply to the Ph.D. program."
In the future, Shires said she'd like to work with nonprofits or health agencies, evaluating their programs' effectiveness and helping make them more successful.
Big things are in the works for Affirmations once the organization moves to its more expansive headquarters across Nine Mile Road, she said.
"We've formed a health advisory council," said Shires.
The council, staffed with volunteer nurses, physicians and public health pros will guide Affirmations in new directions, with a LGBT medical clinic possibly opening at the center one day.
"Some of the things we'd like to see are more medical services, like STD screenings, immunizations and regular blood checks," she said.
Nutrition programs and healthy cooking classes are two other prospects.
Adding a staff therapist is another option.
"One of the most rewarding parts of this job is something not in the job description," she said. "We get a lot of people who call and walk in to Affirmations and it may be the first time they've talked to a gay person."
Working at Affirmations has been an incredible experience, said Shires.
"I've never worked at a place where the staff is so dedicated and loved their jobs and is so talented," she said.
Tocco has set the end of June or early July as a target date to find Shires' replacement.
"They are some big shoes to fill," Tocco said.

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