April 2018 Patient Letters
The following are excerpts from a few of the many recent letters, phone calls, and emails that we’ve received from grateful patients and family members. Together, they reflect the outstanding work done each and every day by VNSNY’s entire frontline staff.
Bronx—A Bronx patient recently phoned to request nurse Fatima Shell-Sanchez as his regular caregiver, noting that “she is wonderful,” and “the best nurse.” When told about his comments, Fatima replied, “Thanks—it feels great making a special difference in patients’ lives.”
Brooklyn—“I am writing to let you know about my wonderful experience with VNSNY’s Home-Based Crisis Intervention Program,” a Brooklyn resident wrote, referring to the six-week program offered by VNSNY’s Community Mental Health Services (CMHS). “In particular, I’d like to let you know that the counselor assigned to our case, social worker assistant Crystal Cicero, was truly an exceptional professional. Crystal was my daughter’s counselor, mentor and friend. She genuinely cared for all of us as a family and she was truly amazing. Crystal was joyful, ready to support our family and help us during our most vulnerable moments and times of crisis. She responded to our particular situation with preventive planning, assessments and support. Throughout the home visits, she provided us with materials and tools to guide us along the way. She taught us how to manage situations and look for signs of self-harm and behaviors in order to prevent future crises. She was very respectful, and helped us open up and feel safe in the process. It also helped that she had an amazing personality as well. Crystal was efficient, detail-oriented, and extremely competent. The excellent rapport that she had with my daughter made it possible for her to respond to future intervention programs and build better relationships with me, her family, friends, teachers and therapist. Although our biggest hurdle continues to be to help her learn to love herself and build up her self-esteem, Crystal has made it possible to facilitate the process. She helped open up the door and became a beacon of hope for our family.”
Manhattan—A Manhattan patient sent a letter of appreciation for the care provided by physical therapist Peter Wu. “Not only was he a caring person, he was an excellent therapist,” the patient wrote. “I feel fortunate to have had my care in his hands. He was firm in his direction (which I needed) and kept me on track. Thank you for sending him to me.”
“Three weeks ago, I had knee replacement surgery,” wrote another patient. “The following Tuesday, physical therapist Milissa Mondestin arrived at my house. She has been great. She pushed me in the right way, made sure I was doing my exercises in the right positions, and kept adding ‘one more thing’ I should be doing. I have had too many stints in rehab over the last 30 or so years to count, and I know the difference between average and exceptional. Melissa is an exceptional PT. You should be proud to have her on your staff.”
“I recently had surgery,” noted yet another Manhattan patient. “I am a senior, and recovery was hard. Physical therapist Billy Campbell came to my rescue. He gave me confidence in myself again. I am now walking normally, and Billy is the one who got me to this point.”
A client in CMHS’s Health Home program wrote a note thanking Suzette Toussaint, the program’s assistant director, for her help. “I understand that it was you who approved VNSNY’s purchase of a mobility scooter for me,” she said. “I want you to know how much I appreciate this. My mobility is poor and my income is fixed and inadequate. When my old scooter died I felt as if my legs had been cut off—so when I received the new one, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning who got exactly what she’d dreamed of. In Yiddish, this is what’s known as a mitzvah: a particularly kind, generous, and understanding effort on someone else’s behalf. Johanny Madera, my Health Home care manager, is a smart, warm, intuitive, and proactive advocate, and in just a few months has already done a great deal to help me begin to rebuild my broken life. Your support of her, and me, is a remarkable gift. As you may know, I have no living family and all but one of my many local friends have either died or relocated to distant places. I turn 66 on Wednesday, and while I don’t mind getting older per se, doing it alone is frightening and deeply lonely; it shapes my life in a hundred difficult, important ways. VNSNY has become a true blessing in my life. Thank you for being an integral part of that.”
Queens—A patient’s sister phoned to thank her brother’s clinical team for their “wonderful work in helping him through this trying time.” She had special thanks for nurse Milana Kaziyeva, social worker Elza Moskowitz, and psychiatric nurse Romane Abbensetts. “Milana has been wonderful, Elza was so supportive and helpful, and Romane was terrific,” she said.
A patient being cared for by physical therapist David Friend expressed how “very happy” she was with David—adding, “he is very thorough and patient, and has been a pleasure to work with.”
A Queens patient phoned to say that she was “very appreciative of VNSNY services and staff” for “doing everything they can to help me.” She added that she was especially grateful to nurse Marie Crosswell for being “very caring and gentle.”
The husband of a patient phoned and sent a follow-up email praising the assistance he and his wife received from social worker, Carol Powell and the rest of his wife’s VNSNY caregiver team. “My wife has ALS,” he said. To get her enrolled in Medicaid, he added, “Carol came to our home with a litany of information and left me with a list of documents to pull together. In light of the responsibility I have caring for my beautiful wife, and nursing a broken back, Carol’s list was like Mt. Everest to me mentally, but Carol persisted to set a follow-up appointment. My wife guided me to complete the gathering of information and Carol showed up for the second meeting, calm, very professional, and started going through the application packet. She did all the work, and looked at me and said, ‘It will be fine, I will take care of getting your wife enrolled—don’t worry.’ Peace of mind is a very strong emotion, and thanks to Carol that mountain disappeared. She is the consummate professional, hands on, motivational and empathetic.”
Staten Island—A patient’s sister sent a note complimenting the outstanding care provided by nurse Vicenta “Betsy” Clemente. “Betsy is a steady nurse for my sister, who is mentally handicapped,” she wrote. “We rely on her tremendously. She has a very special way with my sister, for which I am so grateful. She is dedicated, wonderful, kind and caring. She has the qualities of a very special person. May God bless her.”
Westchester—I have been receiving the services of VNSNY for over a year,” wrote a Westchester patient, “and I believe it’s high time I wrote to you about how pleased I am to have Kelly Guich as my occupational therapist!”
