A Nurse Manager’s Innovations Keep VNSNY’s Nurse-Family Partnership on Track During the Pandemic

Carolyn Sime, NFP Nurse Manager

When the highly contagious COVID-19 coronavirus touched down in New York, it caught many off guard by how quickly it spread—but not Carolyn Sime, a Nurse Manager with VNSNY’s Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) in Nassau County. Almost overnight, Carolyn transformed the program’s manual patient records system into an electronic documentation system, then trained the NFP nursing teams in the new system so they could safely support their first-time mothers and moms-to-be—even as the health crisis grew day by day.

VNSNY’s NFP programs provide free, in-home nursing, parenting and career assistance to more than 1,000 low-income mothers and their children in the Bronx and Nassau County. As the pandemic unfolded and social distancing policies were put in place, nurses in the program began conducting telehealth encounters with their clients by phone and computer in lieu of home visits. The only problem were the traditional paper records that had to be completed to be in compliance with government regulations and VNSNY’s own protocols.

Janet Li, NFP Operations Coordinator

To address this barrier, Carolyn and Janet Li, Nassau NFP’s Business Operations Coordinator, swiftly began converting nursing assessment documents and other essential forms into electronically fillable PDF formats, creating what would become a fundamental component for the transition to the NFP’s new telehealth system.

“As a Nurse Manager, my focus is always to ensure we deliver NFP program content to our client families at the highest standards to achieve the best outcomes,” Carolyn explains. “Additionally, the safety and well-being of my clinical staff is of the greatest importance, because our work requires a team effort in all that we do.”

Carol Odnoha, Director of VNSNY’s Nurse-Family Partnership

“Without Carolyn’s quick and comprehensive efforts, we wouldn’t have been able to continue serving all of the families in the program,” says Carol Odnoha, Director of the VNSNY Nurse-Family Partnership. “Many of the women we serve are pregnant and don’t know what to expect when they arrive at the hospital, given today’s crisis. It’s critical that our nurses keep their clients up to date and informed about what to expect and how to best manage under the current circumstances, and help them identify and access a strong support system. For some clients, our nurses are their lifeline.”

One of the program’s community partners, upon hearing that VNSNY NFP continues to serve families via telehealth, gave this glowing comment: “Thanks for inspiring all of us who are working on continuing our services to children and families. Nurse-Family Partnership continues to lead the way! Thanks for your amazing work and for letting us know that we can stay in touch!”

Lynette Livingston, NFP Clinical Education Manager

“I am forever grateful to Janet for seeing the vision, being astute, staying positive, and working non-stop to make this plan a reality,” says Carolyn. “A lot of hard work went into this, and Janet was not afraid of the challenge.” Carolyn also credits her team of NFP nurses in Nassau for their patience during this transition time, as well as Lynette Livingston, NFP Clinical Education Manager, who collaborated with her on the telehealth training of the Bronx and Nassau NFP nurses.

“They conducted telehealth trainings, online presentations and early-bird support forums,” notes Carol. “Carolyn also worked with me on adapting multiple consent forms and policy and procedure documents.”

Carolyn’s vision hasn’t been limited to helping NFP clients. When Maggie Manetti, a Nurse Home Visitor in the Bronx, had trouble accessing her network drives on her computer late one evening, Carolyn used the “Share Screen” feature of Microsoft Teams to help Maggie solve the issue in less than an hour. “She’s absolutely every nurse’s hero! It’s not just me—there’s a lot of us who need and value her help,” says Maggie.

Carolyn and the Nassau and Bronx NFP teams continue to modify the process as new information comes in from the NFP National Service Office and state and city health authorities. “Although transitioning to telehealth was challenging on many levels, the process has been very rewarding and enlightening,” says Carolyn. “It’s given me the opportunity to live out my passion as a nurse leader—to learn new things, test my capabilities, and reach higher levels of performance—all of which I’m grateful for, in the midst of this worldwide pandemic and all the unknowns we’re experiencing.”

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