Skip to content
March 28, 2024

Valora Ford is Honored With the James R. Withrow Jr. Award, Home Health Aide of the Year

October 12, 2022

The 2022 James R. Withrow Jr. Award for Home Health Aide of the Year is a tradition that began in 1988. This award is given in memory of James R. Withrow Jr., one of the original members of the Personal Care Board of Directors. The Home Health Aide of the Year best personifies the qualities of the ideal paraprofessional. The criteria for the award were developed by a team of Home Health Aides and Supervisors. This year’s Home Health Aide of the Year is Valora Ford. Valora has been a VNS Health team member since 2012. When you have Valora Ford on your side, you know you’re in very good hands. That’s because Valora makes sure you’re taken care of. For Valora, restoring a person’s dignity and confidence as they age or after they’ve had an illness and reassuring her patients that they have the right to live life on their own terms, is the most rewarding part of her job. “I encourage my patients to speak, and I let them know they are being heard,” Valora says. “I also advocate for them when they are afraid or unable to do it for themselves.” Valora says there’s one case in particular that she keeps close to her heart. It happened during the COVID pandemic and it’s a perfect example of how she advocates for her patients. “While the patient’s family members were testing positive and dealing with COVID,” she recalls, “they overlooked the importance of having my patient vaccinated. Thank God, they allowed me to make an appointment and get her protected.” For her, receiving this award means she has fulfilled a lifelong goal of excelling in providing care for — to quote Valora — “the whole mind, body and soul of my patients.”