Carlos Sosa, Physician Fellowship & Medical Staffing Coordinator, VNSNY Hospice
“Knowing that my daily actions are contributing to providing these families with comfort and peace of mind is what I find most rewarding.”
When he first started working at VNSNY, Carlos had heard of hospice care, but he wasn’t yet fully aware of the incredible impact it had on people’s lives. “I started out as a customer service representative for VNSNY Hospice, which was a good introduction to what we do. I had recently lost my father, so it was a rather emotional time for me,” he says. “I was often the first person to get a phone call from a family informing us that a patient had passed away, so it was both difficult and touching.”
When Carlos transitioned from customer care to his current role—managing physician and NP schedules, credentials and requirements, EMR system training, and onboarding fellows to the Hospice Fellowship program—he felt he had come full circle, from the patient to the clinician side. “After working with the company for three years and interacting daily with our amazing hospice medical staff, I have witnessed firsthand how beneficial, rewarding, and paramount hospice care is for our patients and their loved ones,” he says.
Helping to spread the word about hospice as a positive and vital service—and helping to dispel the myths that it’s depressing, or all about death—is a great source of pride for him. “Even some of our physician fellows don’t fully understand the full benefits of hospice when they first come in. Hospice exposure is a mandatory and crucial part of their ongoing palliative-care training, and my role in preparing them for their rotation helps make their transition smoother,” says Carlos. “After they work with our MDs, RNs, spiritual-care counselors and social workers, they really learn to appreciate how important hospice is in making a difficult time so much easier for patients and their families. Knowing that my daily actions are contributing to providing these families with comfort and peace of mind is what I find most rewarding.”
