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
Saluting our LGBTQ+ Heroes of 2020: Check out these Photos from the Spectacular Drag Pageant of Superheroes!
June 30, 2021–On Thursday, June 24th, over 100 VNSNY staff, friends, and family made their way down to La Mama Experimental Theatre Club on East 4th Street for a drag pageant like no other— honoring the superhero staff of VNSNY who rose to the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the hard work and dedication they demonstrate every day in their unwavering support of all New Yorkers, including the city’s 780,000 LGBTQ+ residents. Emceed by renowned drag queen Jasmine Rice LaBeija, the pageant contestants faced off in Swimwear, Talent, Gown, and Q+A categories, before audience members voted for the overall winner— with drag queen Pissi Myles taking home the winning tiara! Below are some of the many photos submitted by VNSNY staff in attendance that night. Videos from the pageant are coming soon! We hope you had a great time, and once again, HAPPY PRIDE!
Frontline Asked Staff: “How Do You Think OKRs Will Add Value to VNSNY?”
June 28, 2021–Individual OKRs are due tomorrow, June 30th. Have you done yours yet? If you haven’t – and even if you have – you’ll want to watch this video in which “Ask VNSNY” host Amery Moultry asked staff from around the organization: “How do you think OKRs will add value to VNSNY?” To hear what they had to say, click here below.
Special Pride Video: We Asked LGBTQ+ Staff to Share a Coming-Out Moment That Now Makes You Smile
June 28, 2021–In this second video of our two-part series commemorating Pride Month, “Ask VNSNY” host Amery Moultry discusses the history and issues around coming out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and asks LGBTQ+ employees from around the organization to share a coming-out moment that they have come to find humorous. To hear their inspiring and poignant answers, click here below.
Special Pride Video: We Asked LGBTQ+ Staff to Share a Coming-Out Moment that Makes You Most Proud
June 24, 2021–Get ready to be incredibly moved. In this first video of our two-part series commemorating Pride Month and the start of Pride Weekend, “Ask VNSNY” host Amery Moultry discusses the history and issues around coming out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and asks LGBTQ+ employees from around the organization to share a coming-out moment that made them especially proud. To hear their inspiring and poignant answers, click here below.
PDV Health Podcast Features VNSNY CEO Dan Savitt and Hospice and Palliative Care Team
June 15, 2021–
Find Out What’s Happening … News from Around VNSNY
June 2, 2021–Welcome to the latest edition of “News Briefs from Around VNSNY”— featuring quick updates on recent news and virtual events across the organization. If you have a news brief you’d like to be considered for an upcoming edition, please click here to submit your idea. VNSNY on Exhibit! Need an idea for a quick day trip? The beautiful Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum in Norwalk, Connecticut, is featuring an exhibit called “Health, Healing & Addiction in 19th Century America,” open to the public through October 17th. It covers the history of health care, including the extraordinary breakthroughs that led to the birth of modern medicine and public health. The exhibit also looks at rising addiction rates, which were pervasive in the 19th century through easy access to unregulated, over-the-counter “remedies.” Also on display are rare artifacts, instruments, costumes, and photographs from the Lockwood and Mathews families, as well as loans from private collections and
OKR (Objectives and Key Results) Easy Reference Guide
June 1, 2021–In addition to the OKR foundational training and the OKR writing workshop that many of you have taken (or will take soon), we thought it would be useful to provide you with an easy reference guide on how OKRs will move us forward as an organization. 1. OKRs are a journey that we’re all on together. An OKR objective isn’t something that can be accomplished in a day or two—your OKRs are quarterly goals, and we will continue to revisit them over time. 2. OKRs allow us to be more focused both as employees and as an organization. They allow us to focus on a smaller number of key priorities, and also help ensure we’re aligned with our Mission; our 3 Core Values—Empathy, Agility, and Integrity; and our 5 enterprise-wide OKR objectives: Make leaps in our consumer experience so that we consistently exceed expectations Become the region’s employer of choice
“Who’s Your Nursing Hero?” Check Out This Special Nurses Month Slideshow!
May 28, 2021–At one point or another, we have all encountered someone who has inspired us in our work. So as National Nurses Month draws to a close, Frontline asked our VNSNY nursing staff to tell us about their own sources of inspiration— the individuals who motivated them as children, as nursing students, and now as health care providers. Below are some of the many responses sent in by VNSNY’s nurses from across the organization. Thank you all for sharing with us, and for touching the lives of so many of our patients, members and clients. Happy Nurses Month! If you’d like to contribute a hero, it’s not too late. Click here and we’ll add it to the slideshow.
VNSNY Commemorates Memorial Day: Hear What Memorial Day Means to Our VNSNY Veterans
May 26, 2021–On Monday, May 31st, America celebrates Memorial Day and honors those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and our freedoms. In this special Memorial Day video, Frontline interviewed several VNSNY staff who are veterans and asked what Memorial Day means to them. To hear their moving tributes, click on the video below. In addition to this special Memorial Day video, we are also pleased to share the following poem by Robert Longley, which was adapted by Joe Vitti, Director of VNSNY’s Hospice Veterans Program.