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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New Software Streamlines Workflow for Partners in Care Nurses
December 7, 2017–Since June of this year, the nurses and support staff in VNSNY’s Partners in Care division have been using new documentation software that lets them draft and submit their clinical notes digitally, e-fax multiple physician orders instantly, and have their clients sign required paperwork by writing directly on a computer tablet touchscreen. The new software system, a Sandata Technologies product called Santrax Point of Care (SPOC for short), allows nurses to access their assignment calendars directly as well, and alerts clerical staff when physician orders need to be signed. “SPOC will avoid potential errors in documentation, since staff members no longer have to track clinical visits manually on spreadsheets, and it will improve our efficiency,” says Joseph Perry, Director of Private Care Services at Partners in Care. “For example, our Clerical Coordinators previously had to print out and fax each physician order separately. Now, they can send out a whole
PEARLS Program Helps Depressed NYC Seniors Reclaim Their Lives
November 30, 2017–When Natalia* was first contacted by Miriam Brand, a mental health specialist with VNSNY’s PEARLS team, she was suffering from depression and overwhelming anxiety, to the point where she refused to leave her apartment. After assessing her condition, Miriam spent a number of one-on-one sessions helping Natalia identify concrete problems contributing to her condition and brainstorm practical ways to address them. A half-year later, Natalia is meditating and doing yoga to cope with her anxiety, and goes outside by herself on a daily basis. “I’ve learned to take things in stride,” she says. “Not only has Natalia developed skills for resolving today’s challenges,” adds Miriam, “but PEARLS has prepared her for future challenges as well.” VNSNY’s PEARLS program is part of an innovative, citywide initiative launched last fall by New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The program’s goal is to provide screening and treatment for New Yorkers
VNSNY Provides Specialized Post-Op Care for Gender Affirmation Patients
November 30, 2017–Since the spring of 2016, VNSNY has cared for close to 100 patients who have had gender affirmation surgery One of the first issues VNSNY nurse Soraya Gomez faced with her new patient, Roberta*, didn’t involve medical care, but it was still vitally important. Roberta had just come home following gender affirmation surgery (GAS), in which her sexual organs were transformed from a man’s to those of a woman. But her mother, who she was staying with during her recovery, continued to call her daughter by her former male name. Drawing on the GAS training she had received at VNSNY, Soraya stepped in politely but firmly. “I pulled the mother aside and tried to explain in a nice way that it would be good if she addressed her child as she wished to be addressed,” she says. “Traveling from one gender to another is a big change, and patients going through
November 2017 Patient Letters
November 9, 2017–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 sibling of a Partners in Care private pay client who recently passed away sent a note of thanks to her sister’s home health aide, Marcia Williams. “Thank you for your kindness to my sister, and for everything you did to make her final days comfortable and peaceful,” she wrote. “Her friends all spoke about the wonderful care you gave her. It’s comforting to know you were with her when she died.” The writer signed off, “with gratitude.” Manhattan—A patient with an infected wound who received daily care from nurse Tharinee Kauper over a number of months wrote to say, “Tharinee is extremely knowledgeable, efficient and polite. She is
VNSNY Provides 440 Free Shingles Vaccinations to New York City Seniors in 2017
October 31, 2017–On October 4th, VNSNY held its final shingles vaccination and education event of 2017 at the Self Help Senior Center in Flushing, Queens. The gathering, which included a presentation in Mandarin, drew more than 100 attendees, over 70 of whom received a free shingles vaccination from a VNSNY nurse. “Overall, we held eleven vaccination events this year in every borough of the city, in which we vaccinated 440 seniors and educated several hundred more about the benefits of the shingles vaccine,” says Rhonda Soberman, VNSNY’s Manager of Program Development. The cost of the shingles vaccine, which runs $230 per injection if paid for out of pocket, was covered through a combination of individuals’ insurance and a $75,000 grant from the New York Foundation for Eldercare. “We’re very grateful to the foundation for giving us the ability to touch the lives of so many seniors and help them reduce their risk
VNSNY Community Mental Health Expert on Ground to Aid Victims of California Wildfires
October 26, 2017–Kerry Symon, Associate Director of Programs and Clinical Operations for VNSNY’s Community Mental Health Services, recently spent a week with the Red Cross, providing behavioral health support for people displaced by the wildfires in Northern California. This is Kerry’s report on her time there, as given by phone to one of our writers. When I first arrived here, you could see the smoke filling the sky. Now, a week later, the fires are 90 percent contained, but they’re still going, and every morning when I wake up it smells of smoke. My first night here, I stayed in a Red Cross staff shelter that had been set up at a race track. It was just a big room filled with a lot of Red Cross cots. It was an adjustment for me, but I also realized that it was a sliver of what other people affected by the fires were
Frontline VNSNY Exclusive: VNSNY’s Sasha Arana Shares Her Experience Delivering Relief Supplies in Puerto Rico
October 20, 2017–Sasha Arana, a Customer Service Representative in VNSNY’s Customer Call Center, recently spent a week doing volunteer relief work in Puerto Rico, where most of her family lives. Following is her report from the island, as told to our writer by phone. Through the selfless work being done in Puerto Rico by Sasha and her VNSNY colleague, Alicia Schwartz, as well as the efforts of VNSNY staff here in New York to collect supplies for hurricane victims, our employees are truly walking in the footsteps of Lillian Wald—going above and beyond to serve the community and help those in need. I’ve been working with the Puerto Rican Family Institute, a non-profit organization in New York that has been coordinating its efforts with United for Puerto Rico, a relief organization started by the Puerto Rican governor’s wife to help in the hurricane recovery. I had been gathering donated supplies from my
October 2017 Patient Letters
October 11, 2017–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—A patient recovering from a hip replacement procedure sent an email praising the work of physical therapist Thobile Sibanada. “I have been in the care of Thobi for the past three weeks,” the patient wrote. “She has been an exceptionally caring, competent and skilled physical therapist who has accelerated my recuperation.” Manhattan—“I am writing to thank the VNSNY team who treated my 96-year-old father after he came home from the hospital in early January of this year,” noted the daughter of a Manhattan patient. “Leslie Cohen, RN, Ling-Wai Fung, MSW, Levi Estrera, PT, and Dina Klein, OT, are an exceptional crew who treated my dad with professionalism and gave him
VNSNY Hospice Fellowship Program Educates Area Physicians on End-of-Life Care
September 6, 2017–In mid-summer, the 2017-2018 cohort of VNSNY Hospice and Palliative Care’s Physician Fellowship gathered for Orientation Day. Now in its 13th year of operation, this year’s Fellowship Training Program is made up of 45 Fellows from eight area medical centers. To get a direct, hands-on experience, the Fellows are embedded in designated hospice teams. Their rotations last for up to three months, giving the Fellows a unique, humanistic experience in providing skilled and compassionate end-of-life care. In addition to the Fellows, the VNSNY Hospice program also works with up to 15 Family Medicine Residents from Mount Sinai Health System throughout the academic year and up to 15 students from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons each fall.