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

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 several 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, ten of our coworkers have died. They include seven home health aides with Partners in Care, a physical therapist with VNSNY Home Care, a social worker with VNSNY Hospice, and a behavioral health nurse from VNSNY Home Care.

“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.”

Randall Bailey

Randall Bailey was an incredibly dedicated and caring Home Health Aide with Partners in Care. He joined VNSNY in 2017, after many years working at the Bronx Psychiatric Center. Randall spent much of the last three years caring for a long-term care plan member in Brooklyn. “It was a very hard case,” notes Christel Powley, Partners in Care Lead Supervisor. “The client’s family loved him, and was very happy when he moved from weekends to being with their loved one four days a week. Randall was very efficient, reliable, respected, dedicated, and always willing to help.”

“Randall was a wonderful person who really cared for his clients,” adds another Home Health Aide Supervisor with Partners in Care who worked closely him. “He could work with anybody.”

Randall, who lived in Brooklyn, came to the U.S. from Jamaica in the late 1980s. His sister Martha, one of seven brothers and sisters, followed in 1991. “Randall was a loving brother,” says Martha. “He always put his brothers and sisters first. My brother is the one who takes care of me. Everything I know is because of him.”

Martha adds Randall was also “Super Uncle” to his four nieces and seven nephews, including her son, Jeffrey. “At Christmas, Randall was the little clown at the table,” she recalls. “Anyone who was down, he could cheer them up. We are all asking, ‘What are we going to do this Christmas?’” For Martha, one of the saddest things about his passing is that Randall was supposed to go home to a house he’d built in Jamaica when he retired next year, with Martha to follow in 2022 to live in a house she built nearby.

Randall is survived by his sisters, Martha Clee and Maxine Passley, his brothers Nehemiah and Hughroy Bailey, and his nieces and nephews.

If you would like to make a donation in Randall’s memory, please click here to visit his GoFundMe page. If you would like to submit a special story or remembrance about Randall, please send it using the Contact Us page on Frontline. We will post these responses as they come in.