2024 Employee of the Year Latrice Commons 

For most, there’s no greater feeling than being in the comfort of your own home.  

If you’re fortunate, the workplace can be an extension of home, working with others who make the time spent at work enjoyable and comfortable. Luckily for the 2024 Affinia Healthcare Employee of the Year, Latrice Commons, working at Affinia Healthcare is an extension of her home life with colleagues being more like family, not just coworkers. 

Commons started her journey with Affinia Healthcare in 2005 as a pharmacy technician. She worked in the pharmacy department for about five years before relocating to Georgia to attend cosmetology school. Whenever she would come home to visit, she made sure to stop at Affinia Healthcare to check in with everyone.  

“When I would come back to drop my daughter off for the summer, I would always make sure I came and visit here too,” she said about Affinia Healthcare. “It was just home.”   

When Commons returned to the St. Louis area in 2014, she returned to Affinia Healthcare in the pharmacy department. “I provided everything the pharmacist needed to ensure that prescriptions were accurate for the patients.” 

After a decade of working in the pharmacy department, Commons moved to the HIV Prevention Team as the HIV Patient Navigator. “I wanted to be in the community more and help people more,” Commons said.  

In addition to her desire to serve the community in a different way, she admired the work her brother, Unhoused Case Manager DeAndre Commons, was doing in the organization. “I see my brother working with the community, and he has a love for it, and I do too.” 

Commons’ willingness to learn and serve the community are some of the reasons she was nominated for this honor.  

“Affinia Healthcare is here to serve and staff like Latrice make that happen,” said Dr. Kendra Holmes, Affinia Healthcare President & CEO. “We appreciate her dedication and commitment to our patients and congratulate her on this worthy honor.” 

Being of service to others is something the East St. Louis native learned at an early age from her mother. “My mom would always tell us when we were younger, if a person needs something, try to help them. My mom always helps people,” she said. “Even in East St. Louis the culture is different. Everyone knows everybody, and everybody is willing to help; it’s the culture.” 

The family atmosphere isn’t the only great thing about working at Affinia Healthcare. Commons tells newer employees there is room for growth. “If you want to grow, you can grow at Affinia but it’s up to you and what you put in. I like to grow and do different things and if I feel strongly about something, then I try to do it,” she added.  

Being in an environment of love and support, and her passion for serving others is what keeps Commons coming to work each day. “I love Affinia, I love my job, I love what I do, I love the people that I work with.”