Honoring Our Colleagues Lost to COVID-19: A Salute to VNSNY Partners in Care Home Health Aide Danny Almonte

The heroism shown by the staff of the Visiting Nurse Service of New York in tremendously challenging times is legendary. From the influenza epidemic of 1918 and the polio outbreaks of the mid-20th century, to the emergence of AIDS in the 1980s and the devastation of the 9/11 attacks and Superstorm Sandy, VNSNY’s courageous women and men have always been there to provide care and comfort to New Yorkers in troubled times, despite the risk to themselves.

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. Over the past two months, we have been working tirelessly and with unsurpassed determination under incredibly difficult circumstances so that our patients and plan members can continue to receive the care they need. Many of our colleagues have been stricken with COVID-19 themselves. Thankfully, most of them have recovered and many have even returned to work. Sadly and tragically, however, eight of our coworkers have died. They include six home health aides with Partners in Care, a physical therapist with VNSNY Home Care, and a social worker with VNSNY Hospice.

“These VNSNY heroes dedicated their lives to caring for others, and their contributions will never be forgotten,” says VNSNY President and CEO Marki Flannery. “We will remember them, honor them, and celebrate their lives.”

As part of this remembrance, we will be publishing Frontline tributes to our fallen colleagues over the coming weeks.

Danny Almonte

Danny Almonte was a Home Health Aide with Partners in Care in the Bronx for almost six years. “Over the past several years, Danny spent all her time caring for one client, an elderly woman who doesn’t speak,” says Partners in Care HHA supervisor Niya Ferdinand. “The client depended on her for everything—bathing, dressing, making meals. Even on the occasional days when Danny was out sick, she would call to check on her. The client’s son, who lives out of town, was very grateful knowing his mother was in such good hands!”

In addition to being reliable and a good communicator, Niya notes, “Danny was very helpful, and always willing to work an extra shift if the client’s other aide couldn’t make it. If asked, she would simply say ‘I’ll do it.’ That’s just the kind of person she was.”

Her daughter, also named Danny, says her mom was “the best mother that a kid could have. She was a very hands-on working mother, who worked hard for us even when we were adults to give us all a better life. She was a very strong, determined woman, who was there for us when we needed advice, and always supportive in everything we wanted to do.”

Danny, who came to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic, spent a lot of time in church, her daughter recalls, collecting and packing food for the homeless back in the country of her birth. She also enjoyed growing vegetables in her Bronx backyard. But what she especially loved was spending time with young Danny’s own daughter, her five-year-old granddaughter, Dhalyannies.

“Danny also loved her job,” says her daughter, noting that her two best friends came through work, including the daughter of one of her clients. When the family of her mom’s current client heard the news, she adds, “Her son reached out to me. They were just devastated.”

Danny is survived by five adult children—her daughters Danny Baez, Andrea Rodriguez, and Anna Medrano, and her sons Ramon and Julio Medrano, as well as 15 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

The family has set up a GoFundMe page to try and give Danny her last wish: to be buried in her native Dominican Republic, in Puerto Plata. To make a donation in Danny’s memory, please click here to visit her GoFundMe page. If you would like to submit a special story or remembrance about Danny, please send it using the Contact Us page on Frontline. We will post these responses as they come in.