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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New York’s NORCs: A “Lifeline” Connecting At-Risk Seniors to Care
May 21, 2020–Imagine being a senior living alone during the coronavirus pandemic, in your 80s, 90s, or even older, mostly homebound, needing medication refills or perhaps battling symptoms of illness—all while trying to reach a primary care physician whose office may be closed, or seeking healthcare information in your own language about COVID-19 or chronic conditions such as hypertension and diabetes. This is where VNSNY/Partners in Care nurses and other clinicians in the NORC program (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) come in. This program identifies communities with large senior populations, then provides them with clinicians who attend to these seniors’ needs. The NORC teams connect vulnerable, often isolated seniors to the care they need, speaking with their physicians, advocating for their health and safety, helping them access needed medications, and bringing them trusted information on the coronavirus and other health conditions that they live with every day. Embedded in building complexes or neighborhoods
The Brooklyn West VNSNY Hospice Team: ‘We’re All in This Together!’
May 21, 2020–With the large number of patients dying from COVID-19 in New York City and community resources stretched thin by the coronavirus pandemic, the teamwork at the heart of interdisciplinary hospice care has never been more important. For VNSNY’s close-knit Brooklyn West Hospice Team, this collaborative approach is helping them provide care and comfort to distraught families under even the most difficult circumstances. When a young woman’s grandmother recently died of COVID-19 and she had to wait for the funeral home to remove the body from the home, VNSNY Hospice Social Worker Carolyn Gartner and Spiritual Care Counselor Anna Jenkins took turns checking in on the granddaughter regularly by telephone to ensure that she didn’t feel alone. Remaining present in this way for families in dire need “can be exhausting,” Carolyn says. “That’s why we work as a team. It’s invaluable.” This hospice teamwork is essential in order to support patients
The Man in the CHOICE Van — Going the Extra Mile for His VNSNY Colleagues
May 14, 2020–When the alarm goes off at 4:00 a.m. for VNSNY CHOICE Community Event Officer Igor Kebadze, it’s the beginning of a long but very fulfilling—and never boring—day. Like so many VNSNY staff members, Igor has seen his duties change considerably in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, not only is Igor adapting and going the “extra mile,” but he’s doing it in the VNSNY CHOICE Community Outreach van! “We always make the CHOICE van available for the organization’s needs,” explains Diane DeFerrari, VNSNY CHOICE Community Outreach Manager. “It was clear the van would be a big help during the pandemic, and Igor volunteered right away to drive it.” As New York businesses began to shutter in mid-March and VNSNY’s employees transitioned to home offices, Igor’s first job was bringing laptops, phones and printers to employees working remotely, as well as transporting mail from VNSNY’s Manhattan and Brooklyn offices to be scanned.
Thank You, VNSNY Nurses — A Special Nurses Month Photo Salute!
May 12, 2020–As we battle the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses have never been more important to our own organization or to America’s health. In honor of National Nurses Month, employees from across VNSNY have crafted their own special “thank you” messages to our amazing nursing staff. To see these shout-outs, watch the slideshow immediately below. Also for Nurses Month: View a special Happy Nurses Month video below the photo slideshow! If you haven’t already submitted a photo in celebration of nurses month, but you would like to, please email us your photo here and we’ll add it to the slideshow. And watch the Happy Nurses Month video here!
Overcoming COVID-19 to Bring Families Together at the VNSNY Goodman Brown Hospice Residence
May 7, 2020–The VNSNY Shirley Goodman and Himan Brown Hospice Residence on Second Avenue in Manhattan is a rare oasis of calm in the storm of the coronavirus pandemic. As they care for a reduced patient census due to room renovations—the residence now has three residents rather than the usual eight—VNSNY Hospice nurse Cynthia McGill and her Goodman Brown colleagues are fulfilling VNSNY Hospice and Palliative Care’s mission to the utmost, increasing quality of life at the end of life. “It’s much more than custodial care,” says Cynthia. “We can really spend time with patients, getting to know them and building a deeper relationship.” Besides tending to symptoms and other physical needs, the VNSNY Goodman Brown Hospice staff’s days include sharing patients’ memories of lives fully lived and helping them connect with loved ones. With no visitors allowed because of the coronavirus, this means connecting by FaceTime, which brings great joy to
Helping a Queens Family Survive a Multi-Generational Impact of COVID-19
May 6, 2020–In East Elmhurst, Queens, one of New York City’s neighborhoods hardest-hit by the coronavirus, VNSNY Home Care nurse Cidric Trinidad has been making regular visits to the home of a multi-generational family heavily impacted by the pandemic. The family was mourning a grandmother lost to COVID-19, their grandfather had just come home from the hospital, and seven out of eight other family members were asymptomatic but testing positive for the illness. In addition to delivering much-needed clinical care for the grandfather, Cidric, a nurse with Queens Branch 1 who has been with VNSNY for 15 years, was also there to educate the family. “They were not aware of a lot of things,” he says. “In the hospital, nurses and doctors don’t have a chance to explain things to them. And while there’s a lot of information on television, it can be confusing.” The family is primarily Spanish-speaking, and while Cidric
VNSNY Hospice Liaison Nurses: Providing Vital Connections at the End of Life
May 4, 2020–As the name suggests, VNSNY’s hospice liaisons are true connectors—and never has that role been more important than today, when New York City’s hospitals are overwhelmed by patients in the final stages of COVID-19. These courageous, compassionate hospice liaisons, all of whom are nurses, are finding ways to connect families to their loved ones in hospital ICUs, even though quarantine and social distancing protocols prevent face-to-face visits. At the same time, the nurse liaisons are also connecting these patients with the palliative care they need to live their final hours comfortably, free of symptoms such as pain and distressed breathing. “There’s never been a greater need for hospice services,” says Diane Lynch, a VNSNY hospice liaison who is working out of a makeshift trailer behind busy NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn. “Every little step we take to give comfort, reduce symptoms, and give families emotional support is so important. It’s what we
Providing Physical Therapy to COVID-19 Patients: “They are People Who Need Us”
April 28, 2020–Physical therapist Leah Sansano was apprehensive at first about visiting patients recovering from COVID-19. But the minute she met her first COVID-19 patient—an older man just discharged from the hospital—and his devoted daughter, she immediately understood the power of her role and its deep rewards. “These are human beings—they are not the virus,” says Leah, who works in VNSNY Home Care’s Queens Branch 2 and has been with VNSNY since 2005. “They are people who need us and shouldn’t be left behind.” To care for her COVID-19 patients, Leah puts on personal protective equipment (PPE) and conducts an initial in-home evaluation to assess functional ability and develop an exercise plan. She also assesses the need for (and orders, if necessary) equipment such as a walker, commode and wheelchair. Recovering COVID-19 positive patients are generally extremely weak and need considerable therapy to recover and restore prior function, including walking and performing
For This COVID-19 Patient, Home Care Made Coming Home Possible
April 27, 2020–As a caring daughter, Judith Harrison knew she wanted to bring her mother, who had recently tested positive for COVID-19, home from the nursing home where she was staying. Her mother clearly wanted that too. Beyond physically moving her mother, though, Judith didn’t know what should happen next. Fortunately, VNSNY Home Care nurse Nina Miro did. “Judith told me, ‘I’m going to pick up my mom with all her belongings, and after that, I don’t know what to do.’ I said, ‘We’ll help you get doctor’s orders to take care of your mother at home,’” says Nina, a member of Queens Branch 2 who has been with VNSNY for 20 years. Nina’s husband, an NYPD sergeant, works with Judith, who is also employed by the NYPD as a Deputy Chief. “Like so many people, she was unclear about what steps to take next and exactly how home care could help.”