Catch Up Fast on What’s Happening Across VNS Health! See the Photos and Videos
Here are the Spring News Briefs—your quick and easy way to catch up on news, updates, and happenings from across the organization over the past few months.
If you have any news or announcements that you’d like to submit for consideration in an upcoming edition, please click here.
Behavioral Health Team Hosts 13th Annual Children’s Mental Health Fair!
From start to finish, the Behavioral Health team’s 13th Annual Children’s Mental Health Fair was a huge success. Held at our FRIENDS East 153rd Street location on Thursday, May 30th, current and past VNS Health clients as well as the families in the Bronx community were all invited to participate in the festivities. Invitees included clients from various Behavioral Health programs including the FRIENDS Clinic, Children’s Mobile Crisis, HBCI, Promise Zone, and Safe Pathways to name a few. It is estimated that over 120 residents of the community attended. Check out the photos below!
Here They Are: Our Latest ABCD and Initiative Award Winners—All 692 of Them!
692 team members received ABCD and Initiative Awards during the past few months. Click here to see the full list!
Headwinds… Tailwinds… New “10 Minutes with Keith” Video Series Spotlights VNS Health’s First-Quarter Financial Performance
Hosted by Chief Financial Officer Keith Patterson, this new quarterly video series is designed to keep us all up to date on VNS Health’s financial picture. You can check out the first episode, in which Keith reviews our first-quarter 2024 results, by clicking here.
VNS Health 2024 Golf Classic Raises Over $272,000 for Veterans Program!
This year’s VNS Health annual golf outing took place on May 13 at a new venue—the beautiful Whippoorwill Club in Armonk, New York. The event sold out once again this year, reaching its maximum of 128 players and raising more than $272,000 for the VNS Health Veterans Program. Special thanks go to EVP and Chief Legal & Risk Officer Kerry Parker and VNS Health Board Member Ray Falci for co-chairing the event. See the photos here below.
VNS Health Acquires 2,000 Upstate MLTC Members, Serving More Vulnerable New Yorkers
VNS Health’s Medicaid Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) health plan has acquired approximately 2,000 new members from three recently closed MLTC plans in upstate New York. Most of the providers serving these plans will also become part of the VNS Health provider network. With these acquisitions, VNS Health now serves plan members in over 35 counties across New York State.
The three outgoing MLTC plans are Elderwood Health Plan in the Buffalo/Rochester area; Prime Health Choice in the Albany/Hudson Valley area; and Senior Network Health (SNH) in the Utica area. Elderwood and Prime members who did not elect to go elsewhere were automatically enrolled in VNS Health MLTC on May 1. Likewise, SNH members who didn’t choose otherwise were moved to VNS Health MLTC on June 1. For more on how these acquisitions are contributing to our Top Company Objectives, click here.
How Do You Brighten Your Client’s Day? HHAs Share Their Insights and Win Prizes in “Question of the Month” Raffles
Earlier this year, the Personal Care Team launched a new “Question of the Month” series for our home health aides (HHAs). Each month, a new question is posed to HHA team members about the care they provide for their clients and members. From the HHAs who answer the questions, three aides are then chosen at random to receive a prize. Questions have included topics like what HHAs do to brighten a client’s day, what it’s like to work at VNS Health, and ideas on social activities to engage clients. Thanks to everyone who has participated in this series, and congratulations to all the raffle winners!
NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams Visits a VNS Health NORC in Queens
On March 5, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams paid a visit to the Rochdale Village Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC) in Southeast Queens to see how city funding is enabling VNS Health to provide nursing services to Rochdale Village and other NORC locations across New York City. The funding, supplied through the City Council’s NORC Nursing Initiative, supports VNS Health nurses’ presence one or two days a week at NORCs, where they provide health care management and assistance for 20,000 NORC residents so they can successfully age in their communities. Council Speaker Adams was moved by the visit, and shared her experience, mentioning it in a City Council Budget Committee Hearing (click here for a video of the hearing, then go to the 24:45 mark) and inviting the Rochdale Village seniors to her State of the City address. The Government Affairs team continues to advocate for funding in the City Council to sustain and expand the NORC Nursing program.
130 VNS Health Social Services Team Members Earn Continuing Education Credits at National Social Work Month Event! Photos!
As part of an event honoring National Social Work Month in March, VNS Health’s licensed social workers had the opportunity to earn free continuing education credits. The course, “Exploring the Ethical Obligation to Maintain Professional Boundaries,” by Kathryn Krase, Ph.D, J.D., MSW, was offered in-person on March 14 and virtually on March 26. The two sessions were attended by a combined 130 social work professionals. To see photos from the in-person event, click on the slideshow below.
Calling All Mets and Yankees Fans: Catch the Yanks Versus the Mets on July 23!
Join your VNS Health colleagues for a fun-filled day at Yankee Stadium and support our Nurse Residency Program at the same time! Watch as the New York Yankees take on their crosstown rivals, the New York Mets, in a Subway Series contest on July 23 at 7:05 p.m. Three ticket options are available, and all of them include a custom Yankees hat with the VNS Health logo. $10 from each ticket purchase goes toward the VNS Health Nurse Residency Program. You can purchase tickets by clicking here. Hurry if you want the hat as the deadline is almost here. Tickets must be purchased by Thursday, June 13 to receive the hat.
Sue Caputo Wins HCA’s 2024 Ruth F. Wilson Award!
Former VNS Health Senior Vice President of Business Development Sue Caputo received the Ruth F. Wilson Award on May 8 at the Home Care Association (HCA) of New York’s Annual Conference in Saratoga Springs, New York. HCA’s highest honor, this prestigious award is given to a dedicated individual who has significantly contributed to home care over their career. Sue retired from VNS Health in January 2024. Congratulations to Sue!
Raising Hospice Awareness in New York’s Chinese Community
A series of educational workshops hosted by VNS Health is raising awareness and dispelling common myths about hospice care among New York City’s Chinese residents. “By addressing these misconceptions, our aim is to help more people in New York’s Chinese community access the compassionate care that hospice provides,” said Teresa M. Lin, Vice President, Cultural Market Development. To date, over 15 educational workshops have been held at VNS Health’s community centers in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn as well as senior centers around the city, with more than 1,000 people attending. Conducted in Mandarin and/or Cantonese, the workshops are part of a broader campaign that includes print articles in major Chinese-language media outlets.
VNS Health Celebrates Occupational Therapy Month and National Speech-Language-Hearing Month! Photos!
Over the months of April (Occupational Therapy Month) and May (National Speech-Language-Hearing Month, VNS Health honored our over 70 Occupational Therapists (OTs) and Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants (COTAs) as well as 21 Speech Language Pathologists (SLPs) with online recognition events and in-person breakfasts to celebrate the outstanding care and unwavering commitment they provide to our patients. On April 17, Dina Klein was named Occupational Therapist of the Year. Read more about Dina’s award here. On May 17, Whitney Thomas was named Speech-Language Pathologist of the Year. Read more about Whitney’s award here. Photos taken at the in-person breakfast events are here below!
“20 Minutes with Dan” Focuses on Specialized Care for Complex Conditions
In case you missed April’s episode, which featured complex health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and dementia, you can view it here. Coming soon: The next episode of “20 Minutes with Dan” airs later in June.
New Health Plans Storefronts Open in Queens and Brooklyn
As part of the ongoing commitment by the Health Plans team to the communities we serve, a new storefront location recently opened in Far Rockaway, Queens and another storefront location is scheduled to open in Flatbush, Brooklyn later this month. The Brooklyn location will be staffed by Health Plans community liaisons who are bilingual in English and Haitian Creole and well-equipped to serve the neighborhood’s Haitian community. These storefronts will serve as enrollment locations for our Health Plans and will also have the capacity to act as service centers for our current plan members and provide education and access to other areas of VNS Health.
Foundational Leadership Excellence (FLX) Program Graduates First Two Cohorts. See the Photos!
VNS Health’s Foundational Leadership Excellence (FLX) program, which focuses on developing and empowering people-leading managers and supervisors to positively impact their employees’ experience, graduated its first two cohorts on May 8. In total, 45 managers and supervisors attended the six-part training program, which includes practical tools, relevant resources, scenarios/case studies, networking events and more. “The feedback so far has been very positive. We’re hearing again and again from attendees that they wish they had a program like this when they first became a people leader,” said Satyam Dave, a Specialist with HR’s Organizational Effectiveness, Learning & Development team—the team that created and is running the program.
The FLX program is just one example of how our Human Resources team is focusing on empowering our employees to positively impact the employee experience – in this case through leadership development which is key to an organization’s culture. With the goal of reaching every people manager and supervisor in the organization, including those new to the role, three additional cohorts started in May and three more are scheduled to begin in September. To register in Workday for virtual sessions, click here and for in-person sessions, click here.
See the photos from an event held for the first FLX cohort here below.
Honoring VNS Health’s Nurses for National Nurses Month! See the Photos and Videos!
To celebrate National Nurses Month in May, events honoring VNS Health’s 1,100-plus nurses were held in every New York city borough plus Westchester and Long Island. See photos from all eight of the events by clicking here.
Raquel Webb Geddes Named UFT Home Care Nurse of the Year!
On May 9, the Federation of Nurses/United Federation of Teachers (UFT) celebrated National Nurses Month by commending 21 honorees for their hard work. The union has chalked up some hard-fought contract and arbitration wins in recent months thanks to individuals like Home Care nurse and leader of VNS Health’s union chapter, Raquel Webb Geddes, who was honored with the UFT Home Care Nurse of the Year Award for her exemplary dedication to patient care and union service. You can read more about the event here. Congratulations, Raquel!
Margarita Roldan Receives Special Citation from Bronx Borough President
Margarita Roldan, asenior social worker with VNS Health Home Care, received a special citation from the Office of the Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson during Bronx Week Health Day, for Margarita’s exemplary dedication to her clients. The May 11 event was hosted by the Northeast Bronx YMCA in partnership with the NYPD Community Baby Shower, with a focus on empowering women and making their health a priority. In addition to her citation, Margarita was also a nominee for the People’s Choice Award in Healthcare. Kudos, Margarita!
Behavioral Health Team Transitions to Netsmart Electronic Health Record System
In April, the VNS Health Behavioral Health (BH) Team transitioned to a new electronic health record (EHR) system, Netsmart myEvolv. The new system will help enhance the BH team’s outcome reporting, streamline documentation workflows for clinicians, and optimize billing. “With this transition, BH reaffirmed our commitment to leverage technology in order to improve health outcomes, patient and employee experience, and financial sustainability,” said Jess Fear, SVP, Behavioral Health. The BH team has worked closely with the IT and Revenue Cycle Department (RCD)/Finance teams since May 2023 to initiate, configure, validate, and adopt myEvolv. IT, RCD, Strategy and HR have also provided invaluable support to BH team and end users by helping to develop communications and training plans for pre- and post-go live activities.
Helen Sit Presents at 2024 Association of Oncology Social Work Conference
On May 22, Helen Sit, Manager of VNS Health’s Chinatown NNORC (Neighborhood Naturally Occurring Retirement Community), was invited by Mount Sinai’s Cancer Center Supportive Services to participate on a panel at the 2024 Association of Oncology Social Work Conference. The theme of the discussion was “Pathway to Culturally Adapted Cancer Care: Clinical Work and Program Development with Latinx and Chinese Immigrant Patients.” “It’s my honor to be part of this panel,” said Helen. “I am so glad that I can use my professional knowledge and personal experience to increase understanding about the cultural perspective on Chinese immigrant cancer care.”
VNS Health Featured on American Physical Therapy Association Podcast
Joseph Gallagher, Director of Clinical Operations Support and Allison Simms, Associate Director of Rehab Services, took part in the podcast series “APTA Home Health—Home on the Go,” which is produced by the American Physical Therapy Association’s Home Health Academy. Their 30-minute episode covers topics that relate to physical therapists in the home care setting, and includes a discussion about PT Student Affiliations in Home Health. The podcast episode can be found on Spotify and you can listen to it here!
18 Team Members Run/Walk in Corporate Challenge 2024! See the Photos!
Eighteen VNS Health team members participated in the 2024 Corporate Challenge on May 29th in Manhattan’s Central Park. While some participants ran and others walked the 3.5-mile course, everyone had a terrific time getting to the finish line! See the photos by clicking below.
Sharing Her Vast Health Care Expertise, Hospice’s Bonnie Lauder Has Written a Textbook!
Bonnie Lauder, MS, MIS, RN, PMHNP, CPHQ, VP, Operations with VNS Health Hospice Care, has co-authored a new textbook: Evidence-Based Practice Improvement. This insightful book, which Bonnie wrote with Rona Levin, PhD, RN, “serves as a blueprint for guiding health care improvements based on evidence that incorporates potential changes of direction, which often happen midstream,” says Bonnie. The book is written for both the academic and clinical health care communities, she adds, with the aim of helping to advance health care’s Quadruple Aim: enhancing the patient experience, improving population health, reducing costs, and improving the work life of health care providers. Evidence-Based Practice Improvement is available in paperback in bookstores everywhere, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
And the Winner Is… VNS Health Videos Receive Prestigious Industry Awards!
Several VNS Healthvideos were honored by two prestigious organizations this year: The Communicator Awards and Telly Awards. For The Communicator Awards, three episodes of Neighborhood Spotlight were given the “Award of Excellence.” Read more by clicking here.
For the Telly Awards, three episodes of 20 Minutes with Dan were awarded a Bronze Telly Award in the Interview and Talk Show category, while five episodes of Neighborhood Spotlight were given a Silver Telly Award in the Online Documentary Series category. The VNS Health Home Care Clinician 2024 Recruitment video also received a Silver Telly Award in the category of Non-Broadcast Recruitment Video. To read more about these notable awards, click here.
