Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care of Southwestern CT

Description

VNHC at a Glance: Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care of Southwestern CT, Inc. is an independent, non-profit healthcare agency that has been serving area patients in their homes since 1912. Services: Visiting in-home services include skilled nursing, speech, physical and occupational therapists, medical social work, and home health aides. Hospice services are available in home and at the Richard L. Rosenthal Hospice Residence and at skilled nursing facilities and hospitals. Area Served: Nursing services, home health aides, and rehabilitation therapists are supplied to patients in the towns of Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, Norwalk, New Canaan, Wilton and Westport. The Rosenthal Hospice Residence welcomes patients from all over the tri-state area. Finances: VNHC provides thousands of dollars of reduced-fee or free care every year to those in need. We also provide a wide range of unreimbursed services such as bereavement counseling, pastoral care and volunteer assistance. Support from individuals, foundations, and corporations is vital to the ongoing vitality of VNHC, particularly to ensure care for patients who could not otherwise afford to pay for their care. Biggest Program Challenges: Like all entities relying on quality nurses, VNHC is faced with the national nursing shortage that has existed for over 20 years. Supplemental funding is needed to offer competitive wages and benefits to recruit and retain our nursing staff. Nurses report that the single most important factor in rendering quality care is a manageable caseloads. Technology Challenges: Currently, we are in the process of training our field nurses to use laptops for point of care data collection and reporting. This requires extensive time and training with a staff that already has little or no downtime. Biggest Funding Challenge: By far, VNHC's largest funding deficit is the Hospice residence. In order to secure the longterm survival of the residence, VNHC plans extensive development efforts and will need the financial support of the community and corporations.