Here’s the Story Behind This Moving Letter

As a Care Manager in the Health Home program run by VNS Health’s Behavioral Health team, Saheed Kinoshi knows there is more to a home than four walls—and that, in some cases, there’s more to home care than attending just to a person’s health care needs. He’s also a big believer in the VNS Health mission and our Core Value of Empathy. 

These qualities were all on full display recently when Saheed walked into the studio apartment of his new client, David*, to help him with his multiple chronic health conditions. The first thing Saheed was struck by was something he knew he had to change right away: His client had no furniture at all, except for a broken-down bed.

“I have empathy for all my clients,” said Saheed, who thinks of VNS Health as a “family business” – taking care of families.  “I don’t want him to have to live like that. If I have power to change somebody’s life, that’s what I’m going to do. You have to take care of family.”

Saheed, who visits David twice a month and helps him manage his medications and appointments, told his supervisor, Nicola Redway, about the situation. Immediately embracing Saheed’s advocacy, she helped set things in motion. The Health Home team contacted a local furniture store and ordered the furniture David needed to live safely and comfortably at home: a high-quality bed with a new mattress and storage drawers underneath, a dresser, and a couch. The team also arranged to get him food vouchers he could use at a nearby grocery store, to help keep him on the path to better overall health and so he could take his medications safely with food.

“Now he is comfortable to be in his apartment,” says Saheed, noting that David’s Bronx studio now looks very homey. “He has a big smile on his face.”

With Saheed’s support, David is compliant with all his medications, and he is making and attending his necessary doctor’s appointments. He’s enormously grateful to VNS Health and to Saheed for understanding and meeting all his health care needs. “Thanks to Mr. Saheed for advocating for me,” David wrote in a letter to VNS Health. “I now have a brand-new bed as well as a new dresser to put my things in and a new couch to sit on. I’m forever so thankful.”

David also knows that he has someone in his corner, someone to talk to and advocate for him.

“That’s my job—to be there for my clients and make them feel good,” says Saheed, who has been a care manager with VNS Health for 20 years. “I want to see them moving from Point A to Point B, and doing well in life.”

* The client’s name has been changed for privacy.