VNSNY Heroes of 2020
“We Are All Heroes!” Don’t Miss this Hometown Heroes Parade Video!
July 13, 2021–On July 7th, VNSNY staff representing all parts of the organization marched through the Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan, in a historic parade celebrating the contributions of all essential workers throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Health care employees, transportation workers, food service professionals, and other groups gathered together to participate in what is now being called one of the largest ticker tape parades in the city’s history. Starting at Battery Park, VNSNY made their way up Broadway to City Hall, meeting with press, government officials, and countless grateful New Yorkers along the way. See for yourself! Click below to watch the moving video, and thanks to everyone who marched for representing VNSNY! The following are the VNSNY Heroes who participated in the parade: Partners in Care: Denise Mallette, Home Health Aide, Yeasmin Mehli, Home Health Aide, Elvira Ruiz, Home Health Aide, Veronica Ventura, Home Health Aide— CHHA: Eileen Baez, Registered
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VNSNY CHOICE MLTC Care Managers Help a Member Navigate COVID-19 at Home
August 13, 2020–When a 73-year-old member of VNSNY CHOICE’s Medicaid Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) plan was diagnosed with COVID-19 in his local emergency department, the physicians chose to send him back home rather than admit him. It was a decision based largely on the support he had in place there, which included his wife and daughter, a VNSNY visiting nurse, and Partners in Care home health aides (HHA), all delivering care under the watchful supervision of the CHOICE MLTC care management team. Once home, the member’s CHOICE nurse care manager, Marie Ledain, arranged to keep critical HHA services in place in order to provide the member with help in bathing, meal preparation and other activities of daily living. Marie also advised the member’s wife and daughter on how they could protect themselves from COVID-19 exposure. “As care managers, we are committed and dedicated to our members,” Marie explains. “During this pandemic,
Partners in Care Home Health Aide Supervisors: Supporting HHAs Through the Pandemic
August 4, 2020–As COVID-19 took over our lives last spring, the world stood up and took notice of a new set of heroes—the doctors, nurses, and other health professionals who bravely battled the virus on the front lines. Fewer people, however, are aware of the tremendous efforts of another set of heroes: the nation’s dedicated home health aides (HHAs), and the equally dedicated HHA supervisors who support them. At Partners in Care, home to 7,000 home health aides, the COVID-19 pandemic meant these supervisors had to help their HHAs deal with daily concerns around going into the community and risking exposure to the coronavirus, in addition to their normal tasks of managing their HHAs’ work status and schedule. “When the pandemic hit, we lost a lot of aides. Many were too scared to work, and some of them got sick,” says Shama Barrett, Manager, Certified Bronx/Queens Choice Unit, who 16 Partners in
How VNSNY’s Education Department Innovated to Train and Support Staff During the Pandemic
July 23, 2020–As the COVID-19 pandemic hit the New York metropolitan area last March, VNSNY’s Education Department had to leap to the occasion and find a way to continue providing training and support to VNSNY staff in an environment where social distancing and infection control were suddenly paramount. “Having to move on a dime and begin educating virtually in such a short turnaround time was a challenge,” says Elizer Cooper-Audain, Director of Education & Professional Development, Clinical Support Services. “My entire team did an amazing job in response to COVID-19. We were in the last week of our March orientation when we had to pack up and prepare to work remotely. We completed the orientation virtually, and then prepared for subsequent months of new hire orientation, as well as the new nurse resident program.” Accomplishing all this, Elizer adds, involved “setting up virtual orientation, training everyone on how to use the platform
Nurse Fatima Shell-Sanchez: An “Angel” Who Uses Education to Protect Patients and Families
July 13, 2020–Across New York, coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are dramatically lower now than they were only weeks ago, during the region’s peak. The state is embarking on a phased opening, and summer is beckoning people outside. But COVID-19 remains a clear and present threat, making careful preventive measures as important as ever, especially for vulnerable populations and people living in crowded conditions. VNSNY Home Care Nurse Fatima Shell-Sanchez has been caring for Bronx patients with and without COVID-19 throughout the crisis. These days she is actually ramping up her message on vigilance and commitment to patient education, because she knows that social distancing can be a real challenge—especially on a sunny afternoon—and that protocol updates can be confusing, particularly when there are language barriers. “In these neighborhoods, people know the disease is out there,” says Fatima. “They call it the 19—but they say, ‘I hear it’s dying down. They’re opening up
Letters and Commendations! Multitudes of Gratitude To VNSNY Staff During the Pandemic
July 9, 2020–The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to show the resilience and dedication of our entire VNSNY organization in delivering exceptional care and service to our patients and members. Over 35 staff members are featured in the latest patient letters and CHOICE member commendations. Read them here. Click here to read the patient letters. Click here to read the CHOICE Commendations To read other Letters and Commendations from previous months, click here.
VNSNY’s Volunteers Provide a Multi-Generational Outpouring of Support
July 7, 2020–When VNSNY volunteer Olga Ferguson learned that a member of her daughter’s Girl Scout troop was sewing cloth masks for her Silver Award project, Olga thought right away of VNSNY. That’s how seventh-grader Michaela Interlandi, assisted by her mother, Wendy, came to make 400 colorful and creatively patterned cloth masks for VNSNY staff. “It feels really great to do my part, knowing that the essential workers have what they need and they won’t be struggling as much,” says Michaela, whose cloth masks are used daily by VNSNY staff for commuting to work and other non-clinical settings. “I was happy when they posted pictures on Instagram in the masks.” Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, VNSNY volunteers have rallied to support and uplift VNSNY staff, patients and families. With hospice volunteers, who are an essential part of VNSNY Hospice, having to suspend in-person visits during the pandemic, hospice
CMHS’s Clinical Case Management Program—Helping New Yorkers Recover their Lives…and Help Others
June 30, 2020–Working under contract with New York City’s Human Resources Administration, VNSNY’s Clinical Case Management (CCM) program, administered by VNSNY’s Community Mental Health Services (CMHS), assists recipients of public assistance who are dealing with substance use disorders and other barriers to self-sufficiency, connecting them with vital community resources and one-on-one support. Besides providing links to specific services, the program’s case managers give clients moral support and guidance each step along the way, helping them identify and appreciate their accomplishments to date and maintain the confidence to keep moving forward. “We are really part of the social fabric of our clients’ lives,” says the program’s Clinical Case Manager for Staten Island, Christina Nichols. Because of COVID-19, VNSNY clinical case managers like Christina are temporarily conducting virtual visits and offering support to clients remotely. “It’s a definite adjustment—they miss seeing us, and I miss seeing them and observing their lives up close,” says
Cutting-Edge VNSNY Program Delivers Hospital-Level Services at Home
June 22, 2020–For the patient, an older woman diagnosed with COVID-19 in the Mount Sinai emergency department whose husband had just died of the illness, the path ahead was challenging. But there was a bright spot: she would be able to continue her treatment at home, where she most wanted to be, while still getting hospital-level care and attention through VNSNY’s unique Hospitalization at Home program. Delivered in collaboration between Mount Sinai Health System (MSHS), Contessa Health and VNSNY, the program’s hospital-level services include IV infusions, blood draws, wound care, nebulizer treatment, inpatient-level physical therapy, and X-rays, as well as patient and caregiver education. “For those who can be safely managed at home, the program is effective and comprehensive,” says Denise Simmonds, a VNSNY Home Care nurse specially trained to provide Hospitalization at Home care to patients. “We find a way to get them the care they need, when they need it.
Keeping Chinatown’s Homebound Elderly Connected—and Their Spirits Uplifted—During COVID-19
June 18, 2020–For Chinatown’s vulnerable elderly residents who have been homebound during the COVID-19 pandemic, beautiful music of Eastern and Western cultures—available in private sessions over Zoom—is bringing much-needed relief from isolation and anxiety In the darkness of this global pandemic, music reminds us of our common humanity, creating connections to pleasant memories and hope for a brighter time, explains Carrie Ng, manager of VNSNY’s Asian Community Centers. “Music is a universal language,” she says. “It has a healing power that can help us escape from the current health crisis.” These VNSNY centers include the Chinatown Community Center (CCC) on Mott Street in Manhattan, which offers its members biweekly virtual concerts with musicians in partnership with Si-Yo Music Society Foundation, Inc*. “As they listen, you can see from the expression on members’ faces that old memories are coming back, and they’re able to relax for a few minutes,” says Carrie. VNSNY’s Chinatown