Day In the Life
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Supporting Those Who’ve Lost Loved Ones: A Day in the Life of Willis Partington
January 30, 2024–Welcome to “A Day in the Life”—the Frontline series that follows team members from different parts of VNS Health as they go about a typical day fulfilling our organization’s mission—to improve the health and well-being of people in the home and in the community. Today, we feature a day in the life of… Willis Partington, Lead Bereavement Counselor for VNS Health’s hospice program. Besides supervising the bereavement team and providing solace, and a listening ear to bereaved family members and caregivers, he also offers support to members of the hospice team—and beyond. We asked Willis to take us through a typical day. 6:30 a.m. I wake up at 6:30, which is when things start happening around the house; my wife is getting ready for work and waking up my son, who’s in high school. At around 7:00, I’ll have my morning coffee and juice and a breakfast of scrambled eggs
Helping Bronx Students: A Day in the Life of Social Worker Keshia Lewis!
January 9, 2024–Welcome to “A Day in the Life”—the Frontline series that follows team members from different parts of VNS Health as they go about a typical day fulfilling our organization’s mission—to improve the health and well-being of people in the home and in the community. Today, we feature a day in the life of… psychiatric social worker Keshia Lewis. Keshia oversees the Promise Zone, a program that provides short-term crisis support for children and adolescents with emotional and/or behavioral needs in nine Bronx elementary and middle schools. She sees clients for the Bronx FRIENDS Clinic in the afternoon as well. We asked Keshia to walk us through a typical day. 5:00 a.m. My days are busy and start early. I wake up between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m. in order to get to the gym and work out, or just to use the time for some mindfulness before I start my day.
A Day in the Life of Jim Rolla, SVP, VNS Health Personal Care
November 14, 2023–Welcome to “A Day in the Life”—the Frontline series that follows team members from different parts of VNS Health as they go about a typical day fulfilling our organization’s mission—to improve the health and well-being of people through high-quality, cost-effective health care in the home and community. As Senior Vice President, Personal Care, Jim Rolla is responsible for managing thousands of VNS Health team members—including approximately 6,000 home health aides (HHAs) as well as HHA supervisors and schedulers, the nurses who do assessments and draw up and oversee Personal Care clients’ plans of care, and other team members in various support positions. To learn how Jim keeps everything running smoothly, we asked him to walk us through his typical day. 5:15 a.m. I get up at the same time every day. If this was the weekend, I would go to the gym now. Since it’s a weekday, however, I start
Today, Queens, Tomorrow the Bronx … Meet On-Call HHA Arcina Batista
September 26, 2023–As a VNS Health on-call home health aide (HHA), Arcina Batista has gotten to know New York City very well. That’s because on any given day, at any time, she could be asked to work anywhere across the city’s five boroughs. While Arcina may not know what part of NYC she’ll be providing care from day to day, one thing is for sure: She looks forward to what each day brings. Last year alone, Arcina saw more than 220 patients in all parts of the city. Her patients come from some of New York’s most vulnerable communities, and often suffer from multiple comorbidities. Admittedly, this kind of work isn’t for everyone, but Arcina loves her job. For Espanol, cllck here. For Chinese, click here. Being Fast and Agile and Going Above and Beyond Arcina has been assigned to cases that would be challenging even for the most accomplished aide. But
Living the Mission: A Day in the Life of RN, Emperatriz Rivas
July 12, 2023–Welcome to “A Day in the Life”—the Frontline series that follows team members from different parts of VNS Health as they go about a typical day fulfilling our organization’s mission—to improve the health and well-being of people through high-quality, cost-effective health care in the home and community. When Emperatriz Rivas joined VNS Health last year as a Home Care nurse in Staten Island, she brought a wealth of nursing experience with her, having spent seven years working as an ICU nurse in her native Colombia and then as a visiting nurse after she emigrated to the U.S. in 2016. For Emperatriz—or “Em,” as her patients call her—nursing is all about the patient. “To see a patient improving under my care, and know that I’ve helped them, is incredibly satisfying to me,” she says. Here is how Emperatriz describes a typical day on the job: 5:00 a.m. I like to
Nurses Month Special: A Day in the Life of Brooklyn Nurse Preceptor Bridget McQuilkin
May 8, 2023–Welcome to another edition of “A Day in the Life”—a Frontline series that follows staff members from different parts of VNS Health as they go about a typical day at work. Frontline recently met up with Bridget McQuilken, who works in VNS Health Home Care’s Brooklyn region as a nurse preceptor. In this role, which is part of VNS Health’s Nurse Residency Program, she mentors recent nursing school graduates who are just starting out in the home care field. Bridget has been with the organization since 2018. Born in Grenada and raised in England, she was a schoolteacher before transitioning into the health care field. With over a decade of nursing experience in both the hospital and the home under her belt, she started at VNS Health as a field nurse in Manhattan before becoming a nurse preceptor last year. We asked Bridget to take us through a typical day
Follow Physical Therapy Professional of the Year Simon Chan as He Takes Us Through a Day in His Life!
October 27, 2022–Welcome to another edition of “A Day in the Life”—a Frontline series that follows team members from different parts of VNS Health as they go about a typical day at work. October is National Physical Therapy Month—which makes this the perfect time to highlight physical therapist Simon Chan, VNS Health’s 2022 Physical Therapy Professional of the Year. (Congratulations, Simon!) A 26-year VNS Health veteran, Simon tends to clients across Queens, doing home visits from Monday through Friday each week as well as occasional weekend assignments. We asked him to walk us through a sample day in his action-packed schedule. 7:20 a.m. The first thing I do after I wake up is take my kids to school. I get back home a little after 8:00 and have a big breakfast, because I eat lunch very late—and sometimes skip it altogether if I’m extra busy. While I’m having breakfast, I also schedule
A Day in the Life of Personal Care and MLTC Nurse Xiang Jin
July 11, 2022–Welcome to another edition of “A Day in the Life”—a Frontline series that follows team members from different parts of VNS Health as they go about a typical day at work. Xiang Jin, a nurse in VNS Health Personal Care, works three days a week calling on patients who belong to our Chinatown NNORC (Neighborhood Naturally Occurring Retirement Community), and two days per week caring for members of VNS Health’s MLTC health plan. We asked him to take us through a sample day of his (very full!) schedule. 5:30 a.m. I started at VNS Health six years ago as a per-diem nurse with the MLTC health plan, then I was offered three days a week as a NNORC nurse. I continue to work with the MLTC plan Mondays and Fridays because of the nursing shortage. I also do my own scheduling, which makes for a very busy week and long days! Because
A Day in the Life of Queens Speech-Language Pathologist Whitney Thomas
May 26, 2022–Welcome to another edition of “A Day in the Life”—a Frontline series that follows staff members from different parts of VNS Health as they go about a typical day at work. In honor of May being National Better Hearing and Speech Month, we’re featuring speech-language pathologist Whitney Thomas.