Personal Care
Latest Personal Care News
Special Report: VNS Health Home Health Aide Teresita Carter Describes Her Visit to the White House!
August 16, 2022–When President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris hosted an event at the White House on April 5th to mark the 12th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), VNS Health home health aide Teresita Carter was in the audience, seated just a few yards from the podium. Teresita attended the event as a representative of the local 1199SEIU union. Because she chooses to work 17 hours a week caring for a single client in Far Rockaway, Teresita doesn’t qualify for union-sponsored healthcare coverage—which means she benefited directly from the ACA’s expanded access to health insurance. “As the largest healthcare workers’ union in the country, we want to make sure folks continue to have access to affordable health care,” says Katia Guillaume, Home Care B Vice-President, 1199SEIU. “Teresita, the only union representative from New York State to attend the White House event, was chosen from a pool of caregivers
“If You Work Hard, There is No Problem That Can’t Be Solved” – Meet Yuehua Wu, VNS Health Home Health Aide
August 3, 2022–“As long as you have a sense of responsibility and love, you don’t need to worry,” says Yuehua Wu, a VNS Health Personal Care home health aide, about her experiences caring for her clients. Wu, who is from Guangdong, China, has been working as a home health aide for VNS Health Personal Care since 2016, after a friend introduced her to the organization. Over the past six years, she has gone from being an uncertain rookie to an experienced aide whose clients trust like a family member. “At the very beginning, I didn’t know how to interact with seniors,” Wu says. She became a home health aide in her early 40s and she still remembers how nervous she was her first day on the job. “Aides only talk with their mouth without doing anything with their hands,” her client told Wu on her first day of work. Although she felt
A Day in the Life of Personal Care and MLTC Nurse Xiang Jin
July 11, 2022–Welcome to another edition of “A Day in the Life”—a Frontline series that follows team members from different parts of VNS Health as they go about a typical day at work. Xiang Jin, a nurse in VNS Health Personal Care, works three days a week calling on patients who belong to our Chinatown NNORC (Neighborhood Naturally Occurring Retirement Community), and two days per week caring for members of VNS Health’s MLTC health plan. We asked him to take us through a sample day of his (very full!) schedule. 5:30 a.m. I started at VNS Health six years ago as a per-diem nurse with the MLTC health plan, then I was offered three days a week as a NNORC nurse. I continue to work with the MLTC plan Mondays and Fridays because of the nursing shortage. I also do my own scheduling, which makes for a very busy week and long days! Because
Become a Caregiver and Start Again — Meet JinXia Huang, Partners in Care Home Health Aide
May 3, 2022–Man proposes, God disposes. What do you do with changes in life? Partners in Care HHA JinXia Huang was planning to reunite with her parents in the U.S., but her father passed away a few days before she arrived. Her American dream was broken. However, she didn’t lose faith and hope, she chose to be a HHA and start her new life. She said, “Thanks for this job as a home health aide. The flexible schedule allows us to be self-reliant and help others.” JinXia Huang is from Taishan, Guangdong. The three sisters of Huang’s family have been separated from their parents for many years. Their parents worked in the United States and supported the family. Before the US visa interview in 2012, the father suddenly passed away and he failed to see his daughters. Her American dream of family reunion was broken, and the pain and depression took more
May 2022 Patient Letters
April 28, 2022–Our VNSNY colleagues continue to prove how resilient, dedicated and just plain amazing the entire VNSNY organization 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. Bronx Thank You for the Wonderful Care! “I am writing to thank you for the wonderful care I received from your nurse, Sultana Alibasic,” wrote one Bronx home care patient. “My primary care physician connected me to VNSNY to care for a huge open wound that did not heal properly from abdominal surgery. Sultana treated me almost daily for over a month and would not discharge me until the wound was 100% healed.” The patient described Sultana as kind, caring and professional. “I am very grateful to Sultana and always looked forward to her visits. She wasn’t just
“Working with the Heart”: Meet Gladys Escalante, Partners in Care Home Health Aide
April 21, 2022–Gladys Escalante has only been with Partners in Care for a short time, but has two decades of experience in the field of home health care. “I switched to Partners in Care because they have better benefits than other companies; like health insurance,” she explains. Gladys came to New York City from Ecuador more than twenty years ago to care for her mother who lived here. The first years in this city were the hardest for her: “When I arrived, I didn’t know the language,” she says. “That was the most difficult. But once you learn the language, everything improves. This is a country where you can get ahead if you work and make an effort.” Today, Gladys lives in Woodside, Queens, with her three daughters, and her mother lives in the apartment across the street. “I’m very lucky that we’re all together,” Gladys tells us. Then she adds proudly,
Medium Features Partners in Care SVP Jim Rolla and HHA Geraldine Singleton on Bringing Joy to Homebound Seniors
April 18, 2022–
Hitting Home: A Ukrainian Colleague Shares Her Story
March 10, 2022–New York City is home to the largest Ukrainian American population in the U.S. Over 150,000 Ukrainians live within the city’s five boroughs, many of them residing in the Ukrainian communities of Manhattan’s Lower East Side and Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. The war in Ukraine has had a particularly devastating impact on these New Yorkers, including our Ukrainian American colleagues, patients, clients, plan members, and their families who are part of our VNSNY community. Our hearts, thoughts, and support go out to all of them at this extremely difficult time. Please meet Kateryna Vinarskiya, a Ukrainian-born home health aide who’s been with Partners in Care for a little more than two years. We thank her for taking the time to speak with us about how the situation has affected her and her family members back home. We spoke with Kateryna a little over a week into the war. I came to
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.