How We Chose to be Named Trillium Health

Outside my office is a frame that has a stethoscope along with placards of the names over the years of the organization that has come to serve so many people in our community.

It was given to me in recognition of my 25th year, and we joked that it should have a label that says, “IN EMERGENCY, BREAK GLASS.” That way, you’ve got a stethoscope ready to go.

In all seriousness, this display looks at the transition of Community Health Network to Trillium Health.

The different names of the organization now known as Trillium Health are part of a wall display outside the office of Dr. Bill Valenti.

It started in 1983 with the founding of AIDS Rochester, which Sue Cowell really spearheaded in the very early days of the epidemic.

We became Community Health Network in 1989 with the AIDS clinic.

We wanted to get HIV/AIDS in the name, so we became AIDS Community Health Center and moved toward the community health center model starting in 2004.

In 2010 with the merger of Community Health Network and AIDS Rochester, we became AIDS Care.  Because of the merger and wanting to create this new identity, we came up Trillium Health. This rare flower, important flower, conveys health, well-being. It’s rare because it grows in hidden places.

If you ever wondered how we got our names -- from 1983 to the present day, from the AIDS Rochester all the way to Trillium Health – now you know.