Hospice Care
Improving Hospice Quality of Care by Supporting and Empowering Families
April 30, 2024–Here is the latest in the series, “Objectives in Action.” Each month, we’ll feature a team from across the organization that’s working to make one of our 4 Top Company Objectives a reality. Next up, our Hospice Care team. The VNS Health Hospice Care team has a challenging pair of Objectives: To lead the New York City hospice market in quality and improve the financial sustainability of our Hospice program. By making this happen, the team will also be helping VNS Health achieve our Top Company Objective of bringing our operating margins and cost structure in line with the rest of the industry. Here’s the story behind the many exciting patient-centered initiatives the Hospice team has launched to achieve their Objectives and support and empower families, all with an eye towards improving quality of care. The situation: The goal of hospice care is to have a patient remain comfortable and
Over 300 People Volunteer to Help Us Fulfill Our Mission. We Spoke to Four of Them.
April 22, 2024–It’s National Volunteer Week—a perfect time to celebrate our dedicated volunteers! Volunteers help teams in all parts of our organization, including Hospice Care, Gender Affirmation, Finance, Business Development, and Home Care. They visit Hospice patients at home, provide comfort and companionship to Home Care patients, assist with administrative functions, even help write educational materials. In 2023, a total of 323 individuals from Home Care and Hospice volunteered 20,243 hours of their time to VNS Health. In dollars, this comes out to about $650,000 in estimated savings to the organization. More importantly, what volunteers provide to our patients, members, and clients – as well as to our organization – is invaluable. No doubt about it, volunteers play a vital role at VNS Health. We recently interviewed four of them to learn more about their experiences as VNS Health volunteers. Here are their stories. “I feel I’m doing something important, and it
Latest Hospice Care News
Bronx Voice Features Social Workers Shana Maltzman and Christine Garcia for National Social Work Month
March 2, 2022–
January 2022 Patient Letters
February 1, 2022–The COVID-19 pandemic continues to prove how resilient, dedicated and just plain amazing the entire VNSNY team 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. To find by region, click below: Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Nassau Queens Staten Island Suffolk Westchester Bronx Guiding Us with a Smile and Empathy “I would like to submit some words of kindness for our branch manager Patricia Johnson from her staff,” wrote BSC/Team Assistant Lisa Burrell. “She has aided us all during the hard times and throughout workdays with so much kindness—guiding us with a smile and empathy!” Truly Caring About Patients A Bronx patient included a note along with a donation to VNSNY, thanking social worker Bridgette Wynter for helping her set up her Medicaid benefits.
10 Things You May Be Surprised to Know About VNSNY Hospice’s Bereavement Program
January 25, 2022–This article is part of an ongoing series highlighting different teams across VNSNY. Our aim in running this series is to enhance the VNSNY employee experience by spotlighting all parts of VNSNY, revealing things you may not know about another team, and bringing our organization closer together. If you know of a VNSNY team that you think should be included in this series, please let us know by clicking here! VNSNY’s Hospice Bereavement Program provides extensive support for the surviving family members of VNSNY’s hospice patients, helping them deal with the grief they are experiencing. “Bereavement is an essential component of hospice care,” explains VNSNY Lead Bereavement Counselor Willis Partington. Here are 10 things you may not know about the Hospice Bereavement Program—and the grieving process that family members and loved ones go through: 1) VNSNY Hospice employs 14 Bereavement Counselors. Each week, these counselors collectively hold about 75 individual sessions
NPR Features Michelle Drayton and Black-Owned Hospice Seeking to Bring Ease to Families
December 29, 2021–
National Association of Black Journalists Features VNSNY’s Elaine Gillard, RN and Denise Simmonds, RN
December 13, 2021–
Find Out What’s Happening… Here Are the Latest News Briefs from Around VNSNY!
November 30, 2021–Welcome to the latest edition of “News Briefs from Around VNSNY”— featuring quick updates on recent news and happenings across the organization.If you have any news or announcements that you’d like to submit for consideration in an upcoming edition, please click here. VNSNY’s (Virtual) Gala Raises More Than $1.4 Million! Despite fervent hopes that the 2021 Benefit Gala would be an in-person event, VNSNY made the difficult decision not to host a large, indoor celebration quite yet this year. “Even though we had to pivot to a virtual event, we released a pre-recorded program video on November 11th that people can watch at their convenience,” says John Billeci, VNSNY’s Vice President of Special Events. “It contains many of the same elements that our in-person event usually has, including a video about VNSNY and the presentation of our Lillian D. Wald Award to this year’s honorees.” Emceed by Emmy-Award-winning PIX11 anchor
BronxNet TV Features Joe Vitti for Military Families Appreciation Month
November 24, 2021–
Manhattan, Queens, Bronx Voice and Your Health Voice Feature Joseph Vitti and VNSNY Veterans Liaisons for Veterans Day
November 18, 2021–
New York City Patch Features Joseph Vitti and VNSNY Veteran Liaisons
November 18, 2021–