From Helping Out with VNS Health’s Rebranding Efforts to Caring for Clients, Meet Home Health Aides Tanai Blanco and Marta Rivera
Tanai Blanco
It’s easy to make Tanai Blanco laugh. She’s also easy to talk to. Tanai, who was born in New York City but grew up in Puerto Rico, has been working as a Home Health Aide (HHA) with VNS Health for just a few months. But her good nature and positive energy caught the attention of her supervisor, who included her in the team helping to implement VNS Health’s new name and branding this summer.
“I’ve been working in VNS Health’s 220 East 42nd Street office for the past few months,” she explains. “I’ve been helping to call other Home Health Aides to come in and pick up their new uniforms and I.D. badges.”
Tanai has experience in office work. Before working as an HHA, she worked in Bellevue Hospital and later served in New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services. “I’ve always liked to help people,” she says. “I also love to keep learning.”
In recent years, Tanai started taking care of her 84-year-old mother, who has several health conditions. She was working under the Consumer Directed Personal Assistant Program (CDPAP), which allows older people to have relatives taking care of them. “I felt lonely, and I didn’t know how to take good care of the elderly,” she remembers. “I didn’t have the resources or the knowledge of conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes or high blood pressure, among others.”
Because she always wants to learn more and help others, Tanai enrolled in HHA training classes at VNS Health. “I took VNS Health’s HHA training course—it’s free,” she notes. “I learned a lot. I passed the test, and I started working for the organization.”
Working for VNS Health ended up being a good idea. “Since I came to VNS Health, I’ve learned about so many different health problems,” she says. “And I was able to help my mother, which was my main goal.”
In her short time as an HHA, Tanai has already had beautiful experiences. “My first client was a physics professor,” she recalls. “I was nervous, but his family liked me very much. They didn’t want me to leave.” Now that most VNS Health HHAs have received their new uniforms and I.D. badges, Tanai will soon go back to providing care within the home as a VNS Health Home Health Aide, which is very rewarding for her. “I’ve met wonderful families,” she says, “and I was getting along great with my clients!”
Marta Rivera
Marta Rivera also worked at VNS Health’s 220 East 42nd Street Office this past summer, calling up other HHAs to let them know that their new VNS Health uniforms and I.D. badges were in the office, waiting to be picked up.
Like Tanai, Marta speaks Spanish, and that was an important part in her work supporting VNS Health’s rebranding efforts. “I have the advantage that I speak Spanish and English,” she says. “When people call, if the person speaks Spanish, they send me the call.”
Born in the Dominican Republic, Marta arrived in New York more than 40 years ago. Since then, she’s made NYC her home. “I have several sisters here,” she explains, “and my two children.”
Before working for VNS Health, Marta was taking care of a friend’s relative. “I was working without a certificate,” she recalls. That’s why, at the beginning of this year, Marta enrolled in VNS Health’s training course and obtained her Home Health Aide (HHA) certificate. “I started the course in February, and in April I was already working!”
For Marta, working at VNS Health is a great improvement. “I like it more than the company where I was working before,” she says, “because at VNS Health they give you the HHA certification and they help you find clients. In the other company, they didn’t give you the certification and they wouldn’t help you find clients. Also, VNS Health has benefits, like health insurance.”
Once she’s finished helping to distribute new uniforms and I.D. badges, Marta will go back to work as an HHA. “I like taking care of older people,” she smiles. “Because even though some of them get a bit difficult with age, I have a lot of patience. Not only that,” she adds, “I also feel empathy for them.”
