Provider Services
May 2022 Patient Letters
April 28, 2022–Our VNSNY colleagues continue to prove how resilient, dedicated and just plain amazing the entire VNSNY organization is! The following are excerpts from a few of the many recent letters, phone calls, and emails we’ve received from grateful patients and clients as well as family members that reflect an outstanding consumer experience. Bronx Thank You for the Wonderful Care! “I am writing to thank you for the wonderful care I received from your nurse, Sultana Alibasic,” wrote one Bronx home care patient. “My primary care physician connected me to VNSNY to care for a huge open wound that did not heal properly from abdominal surgery. Sultana treated me almost daily for over a month and would not discharge me until the wound was 100% healed.” The patient described Sultana as kind, caring and professional. “I am very grateful to Sultana and always looked forward to her visits. She wasn’t just
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11 Interesting Facts about VNSNY’s Rehabilitation Therapists
October 3, 2018–In recognition of National Rehabilitation Awareness Week, which ran from September 16 through September 22, we’re pleased to share the following interesting facts about VNSNY’s outstanding rehabilitation therapy staff: 1) VNSNY has approximately 400 rehabilitation therapists on staff. VNSNY’s home-based rehabilitation therapists make up the organization’s second largest group of healthcare clinicians, after registered nurses. 2) VNSNY’s physical therapists are experts not only in improving mobility and strength, but also in making patients’ homes safer. In addition to working with patients on gross motor skills in order to improve their mobility, balance, and strength, our physical therapists (PTs) specialize in identifying and eliminating fall hazards like loose carpeting and poor lighting, and will also arrange for assistive equipment like chair lifts, shower chairs, and grab bars. VNSNY has a number of physical therapy assistants (PTAs) on staff as well, who provide similar services under the supervision of our PTs. 3) VNSNY’s
An Interview with Roger Herr, VNSNY’s New Home Care Regional Vice President
September 28, 2018–In late August, Roger Herr returned to VNSNY after a 15-year hiatus to take over the management of VNSNY Home Care’s operations in Queens, Long Island and Westchester following the retirement of Eloise Goldberg. Q: Welcome! How does it feel to be back? Wonderful! I’m happy to see many people here that I knew from my previous time at VNSNY. That longevity really speaks to how passionate everyone at VNSNY is about their work. And of course, there are a lot of new faces, too. Q: You know VNSNY well from your previous time here, in the late 1980s through the early 2000s. What jobs did you have back then? I started at VNSNY as a physical therapist in the field, when I was still in grad school. Spanish Harlem was my first neighborhood. I was studying healthcare management at the time, and after I graduated an opportunity arose to work
“A Really Good Feeling”: VNSNY Gets Positive Feedback at New York Case Management Conference
September 27, 2018–When the New York Chapter of the American Case Management Association (ACMA) held its annual conference at the Westin Hotel in Times Square on September 8th, Account Directors Jody Johnson and Gloria DiFeo were on hand to represent VNSNY’s Business Development team. Hosting VNSNY’s booth at the conference, they greeted a steady stream of case managers and administrators from New York-area care providers, including major medical centers, skilled nursing facilities and hospice programs. “Many of those attending were referral sources with whom we deal directly, day in and day out,” reports Jody. “We had a good chance to share information with them about innovative VNSNY programs such as our SAGECare LGBT cultural sensitivity training and our specialized hospice services for COPD and heart failure patients and U.S. veterans.” At the same time, notes Jody, “We got tremendous positive feedback from the other attendees about VNSNY as an organization. Virtually everyone we
August 2018 Patient Letters
August 23, 2018–The following are excerpts from a few of the many recent letters, phone calls, and emails that we’ve received from grateful patients and family members. Together, they reflect the outstanding work done each and every day by VNSNY’s entire frontline staff. Brooklyn—”As my term with Partners in Care has just ended, I wanted to let you know how delighted I was with the help of my home health aide Charmaine Forbes,” wrote a Brooklyn patient. “Charmaine was highly professional, smart and knowledgeable, and in addition, good company. She can figure out the patient’s needs and adapt herself to them. All of these skills are not easy—Charmaine was perfect! Thank you for sending her to us.” Manhattan—A Manhattan patient emailed her appreciation for the care provided by physical therapist Richard Brooks. “I’ve been a patient of Richard’s for the last two weeks following my total knee replacement,” she wrote. “I wanted to
Partners in Care Has a New Look!
August 23, 2018–Store windows and magazine covers are full of new looks for the fall season. At the same time, VNSNY is unveiling a new visual identity for Partners in Care. The new logo, which will be used for all communications and signage going forward, combines elements of the traditional Partners in Care logo (including the heart icon) with the enterprise-wide VNSNY “seal” logo. “Incorporating the trusted master brand ‘seal’ into our visual identity means that Partners in Care is now clearly recognizable as part of the VNSNY family, with our mission-driven legacy and positive reputation as the largest not-for-profit home- and community- based health care organization in the country,” says Jennifer Rajewski-Brullo, Senior Vice President of Partners in Care. In addition, notes Jennifer, “The new branding communicates our ability to provide continuity of care for all of our VNSNY patients, clients and members, whether they’re receiving Home Care, Hospice & Palliative Care,
VNSNY Salutes Ginny Field and Eloise Goldberg
August 15, 2018–Since arriving at VNSNY in 1979 and 1976 respectively, the remarkable careers of Ginny Field and Eloise Goldberg have touched countless lives. While both have announced they will be retiring next month, their indelible impact on our organization will live on. For three decades, Ginny Field has led and inspired the Manhattan Region of VNSNY’s certified home health agency. Read her story here. If a historian wanted to research pivotal moments that helped shape VNSNY over the past four decades, there would be no better place to start than with Eloise Goldberg. Read her story here.
Nassau NFP Graduation Ceremony Honors 18 Moms and Their Kids
August 8, 2018–On August 1, VNSNY’s Nassau County Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) held its third annual graduation ceremony at the Yes We Can Community Center in Westbury, New York. The slideshow below features photos from the inspiring event, which honored 18 graduating first-time mothers and their children. The ceremony included remarks from Nassau NFP nurse manager Snober Lakhani and VNSNY President and CEO Marki Flannery, as well as presentations by two of the graduating NFP moms, Kendra Walker and Annalisa Collins. The gathering was also addressed by New York State Senators Elaine Phillips and John Brooks, State Assembly member Michael Montesano, North Hempstead Councilperson Anna Kaplan, and a representative from the office of Assembly member Michaelle Solages. Watching with pride—and handing out graduation certificates—were the Nassau NFP nurses, who have worked closely with the NFP graduates starting in pregnancy and continuing through their child’s second birthday, teaching the young mothers how to support their baby’s
Homecare Homebase Goes Live in Manhattan!
July 26, 2018–Monday, July 16, was the Manhattan “go live” date for VNSNY Home Care’s new electronic medical records (EMR) system, Homecare Homebase. After two months piloting the new system as well as weeks of staff training, Homecare Homebase was now being rolled out across the entire Manhattan region. To learn how things went during the first week with the new EMR, Frontline VNSNY spoke with three Manhattan Home Care staff members—Clinical Field Manager Shannon Whittington, Branch Director Patricia Johnson, and field nurse Seana Mohammed. Here are their reports: Shannon Whittington, Manhattan Home Care Clinical Field Manager “I think the hardest part of the launch was fear of the unknown,” says Shannon Whittington, Clinical Field Manager for Manhattan Home Care Branch 3. “I’d spent hours poring over the Homecare Homebase training modules, but I wondered if I’d really absorbed what I needed to know to support my branch staff and work the
June/July 2018 Patient Letters
July 10, 2018–The following are excerpts from a few of the many recent letters, phone calls, and emails that we’ve received from grateful patients and family members. Together, they reflect the outstanding work done each and every day by VNSNY’s entire frontline staff. Brooklyn—The parent of a child who received care from VNSNY Community Mental Health Services wrote a letter praising the work of VNSNY’s Home-Based Crisis Intervention Service. “Your program was key in supporting us in the time period where we were looking for new doctors in a more structured supportive setting,” she wrote. “Your program, which treated my son at our home, allowed me to continue my employment with minimal disruption, and gave me and my son the tools to think we could get through this. Thank you for being there and for this program. All New Yorkers benefit from these services.” Manhattan—The sister of a Manhattan hospice patient wrote a