Personal Care
Latest Personal Care News
How Team Members Are Harnessing AI in Their Daily Jobs
July 14, 2025–In his July CEO Zoom, CEO Dan Savitt introduced VNS Health’s new Top Company Objective: Harness AI to transform how we engage, support, and care for those we serve, empowering our teams to achieve superior health outcomes. This transformation has already begun, with team members from across the organization using AI to empower how they do their daily work. If you would like to share how you are using AI, please click here to answer a very short survey. We’d love to hear from you! To give you just a small example, here is how 16 team members said they’re using AI to help them in their jobs:
Going the Full 100% for a Cognitively Impaired Client
July 7, 2025–When home health aide Jane Budd began caring for a new client suffering from dementia, she knew it would be a challenge. The client, Sandra*, lives at home in Nassau County with round-the-clock support from VNS Health Plans. Like many people with dementia, she goes through periods when she is agitated and can be aggressive, lashing out verbally. Caring for a client with cognitive impairment is never easy—it requires experience, understanding and emotional resilience. The way Jane connects with Sandra and manages her dementia is a wonderful example of how our HHAs draw on their skills and VNS Health’s Core Values of Empathy, Agility and Integrity to navigate even their most difficult cases. “When a client has dementia, they can be good, then suddenly not good,” says Jane. To keep agitation to a minimum, Jane uses listening and careful observation to learn each client’s unique patterns. Whether it’s a
First Cohort Completes Leadership Development Program
June 24, 2025–On June 18, 14 Vice Presidents and Directors from across the organization completed our first “Leadership Unlocked” program, a dynamic 15-week Leadership Development Program designed to deepen each participant’s leadership capabilities through interactive learning experiences, coaching, assessments, VNS Health site visits and internal networking opportunities. Our first cohort concluded with two final projects, focused on Patient Satisfaction and Member Experience. A second cohort will be launched in the Fall, and additional cohorts will be offered in 2026. See the photos here of their final presentations and graduation!
“An A+!” … “I Would Cry My Eyes Out If She Left!” … Check Out These Outstanding Consumer Experiences!
June 10, 2025–Over the past four months, more than 70 team members and teams from across the organization provided such an outstanding consumer experience that people wrote letters, called, emailed, or posted about them. To view their grateful notes and comments, simply scroll down or click on any of the areas below: Bronx “A wonderful combination of compassion and competency.” A Bronx Home Care patient left a compliment on social media for nurse Donna Marcu. Donna is “a wonderful combination of compassion and competency,” the patient wrote. “She is an absolutely lovely person and is a credit to her profession, your organization, and to herself. Working with her was an absolute pleasure.” “I would cry my eyes out if she left.” Home health aide Naomi Zampaligre was recently praised by a client’s mother who noted how “thorough, professional, kind, and compassionate” Naomi is in caring for her son, who is deaf. “The
VNS Health Celebrates Nurses Month! Photos! Videos!
May 29, 2025–To celebrate our truly amazing nurses, VNS Health held Nurses Month events in all five NYC boroughs as well as in Westchester and Long Island. To view photos from each of these celebrations – plus videos of government officials giving special tributes to VNS Health – click here below! Manhattan — May 1, 2025 Queens — May 7, 2025 Westchester — May 13, 2025 Bronx — May 14, 2025 At our Bronx event, Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson celebrated VNS Health Nurses with an inspiring talk and a proclamation. She also dedicated five full nursing school scholarships at Touro University for residents of the Bronx. To view the video click here below. NY News 1 and Bronx News 12 also covered the event, which included honoring Jean Verlus, our 2025 Nurse of the Year, and the announcement of the scholarships dedicated to residents of the Bronx. Click here for NY
125 VNS Health Kids Enjoy “Bring Your Child to Work Day”—See the Photos!
May 5, 2025–If you were in our offices at 220 East 42nd Street or 5 Penn Plaza on April 24th, you might have noticed some unusually young team members on the premises. You weren’t imagining things—but then again, those weren’t actually VNS Health employees. This was “Bring Your Child to Work Day,” and many of our team members did exactly that, inviting 125 of their kids to spend the day at their workplace. For the children in attendance, it was a day of learning about health care and the organization in fun and creative ways. Following breakfast, attendees could choose from a menu of activities that included a scavenger hunt, various healthcare demos—where kids could watch a nurse removing staples from a simulated “leg,” as well as demonstrations of occupational therapy in action and how breathing and swallowing issues are managed—plus a presentation on healthcare careers. Lunch featured pizza, ice cream and
McKnight’s Gives Special Spotlight to Rosa Marcus, a 2025 “Unsung Hero”
April 15, 2025–
Talk About Inspiring! Read What Our HHAs Say They Most Look Forward to When Visiting Clients.
April 15, 2025–Just recently, we asked our Home Health Aide team members: “What do you most look forward to when visiting your client each day?” Their responses all had two things in common: they were heartfelt and they were truly inspiring. To see for yourself, here are a few. “She is my friend. I love to see her happy.” “I want to see my patient do everything she wants to do,” says Helena Akhtar, an HHA in Queens. “Talking, smiling, going out, eating good. She is my friend. I love to see her happy.” “Trying new things.” “My client likes when I come because I encourage her to try new things,” writes Carlotta Bishop-Britton, who works in Brooklyn. “There to meet her goals.” “I look forward to seeing that my client is relaxed in knowing what she is looking to achieve each day,” says Josephine Charles, who works in Brooklyn. “My presence
VNS Health Honorees Attend 2025 McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards in Chicago
April 1, 2025–On March 20th, Rosa Marcus, Director, Personal Care, Margaret McDonald, Associate Vice President of The Center for Home Care and Policy And Research, and Grace McGhee, Director, Health Plans were among a select group of 32 awardees from across the country to receive an award from McKnight’s. To read more about their awards, click here—and click on the slideshow below to see photos of the awards ceremony.