Ridgefield, Bethel and New Milford Visiting Nurse Associations (VNAs) Announce Plan to Join Forces and Expand Home Health and Hospice Services in Western Connecticut

Media Contact:
Nancy Rowe, Director of Marketing & Public Relations, RVNAhealth
nrowe@rvnahealth.org – 203-438-5555 x1033

Driven by a common commitment to deliver the highest quality health care to their patients and communities, Bethel Visiting Nurse Association, New Milford Visiting Nurse & Hospice, and RVNAhealth, announced plans today to merge their three organizations. The tri-union will result in a single not-for-profit, mission-driven organization, best able to meet the needs of the 36 communities they collectively serve in Fairfield, Litchfield, and New Haven counties, and highly sustainable for the long term. The agencies anticipate a close date by the end of 2020 and the unified organization will operate as RVNAhealth as approved by their respective Boards of Directors. This merger will make RVNAhealth one of the two largest home health and hospice organizations in Fairfield County and the seventh largest in the state of Connecticut.

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Congratulations to the following VNANE member agencies who made the SHP Best 2019 Home Health Patient Satisfaction Award Winners List (www.shpdata.com).

Berlin Visiting Nurse Association (Berlin, CT); Community Nurse Home Care (Fairhaven, MA); Community VNA (Attleboro, MA); Natick Walpole VNA (Walpole, MA); NVNA and Hospice (Norwell, MA); Stratford VNA (Stratford, CT).

Congratulations to the following VNANE member agencies who made the SHP Best 2019 Hospice Caregiver Satisfaction Award Winners List (www.shpdata.com).

Community Nurse Home Care (Fairhaven, MA); Nashoba Nursing Service & Hospice (Shirley, MA); NVNA and Hospice (Norwell, MA); VNA of Southern Worcester County, Inc. (Auburn, MA).

NVNA & Hospice SHP Best Home Health Patient Satisfaction 2019 Winner: Top 20% Superior Performer

Provided by Norwell VNA & Hospice:

Once again, [NVNA & Hospice] has been awarded the SHP Best Home Health Patient Satisfaction Award as a superior performer for 2019. The award, from Strategic Healthcare Programs, a nation vendor for home care and hospice benchmarks and patient satisfaction measurement, recognizes [NVNA & Hospice] for achieving an overall score that ranked [them] in the top 20% of agencies in the SHP national HHCAHPS benchmark (Medicare patient satisfaction benchmarks).

VNANE is excited to announce that our LinkedIn page is up and running as part of our Social Media Campaign.  The intention of the page is to continue to provide education to the public, our payer partners, and to our valued Non Profit, Community Based VNA and Hospice members in MA, RI & CT, on industry information that is relevant to Home Health Care and Hospice.

The page offers readers a link to our VNANE website (www.vnane.org) which contains educational information on Home Health Care and Hospice as well as the VNANE network.  The page can be accessed here https://www.linkedin.com/company/visiting-nurse-associations-of-new-england-vnane/ or by searching for Visiting Nurse Associations of New England from your LinkedIn account.  Please follow our page. The next phase of our campaign will be a VNANE Facebook Page.  More to come . . .

The Daily Patriot This year, Nurses Week has a whole new meaning.

By Renee McInnes
Posted May 6, 2020

The World Health Assembly designated 2020 the “International Year of the Nurse and Midwife” in honor of Florence Nightingale’s 200th birthday. Little did they know how truly deserving this designation would be. If ever there were a time to celebrate nurses, it is now.

The COVID-19 pandemic has attacked and sent shockwaves throughout the entire world, especially through the healthcare community. Every day, nurses are on the frontlines treating patients and slowing the spread of the virus. They are demonstrating clinical skill and innovation. They are learning and applying quickly changing guidelines. Nurses are responding as they always have, with talent and courage.

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Pictured above celebrating Stratford VNA’s 100 years are from left: Tracy Wodatch, CT Association President; Jason Chiodo, VP Business Development; Angela Leonzi, VP Patient Care Services; Mary Therien, President/CEO; and Courtney Verissimo, CT Association Membership and Event Manager.

The Stratford Visiting Nurse Association has been awarded a Top Workplaces 2019 honor by Hearst Connecticut Media Group while also celebrating 100 years serving the greater Stratford area. This is the ninth year this Top Workplaces award has been offered, and the Stratford VNA has made the list five times once ranked as number one. The list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey administered by research partner Energage, LLC, a leading provider of technology-based employee engagement tools. The anonymous survey measures several aspects of workplace culture, including alignment, execution, effectiveness, and connection, just to name a few.

 

 

Pictured, front row, from left: Julie Gold, Alice Meenan, RVNA President & CEO Theresa Santoro, Betty Avery, and Clint Layog. Back row, from left:  Yhon Zuluaga, Deb Trevlin, Laurie Peffers, and Lesa Ciofalo

Contact: Tracy Brady, RVNA Assistant Marketing Manager

RVNA: (203) 438-5555, ext. 1081

Email: tbrady@ridgefieldvna.org

October 1, 2018

RVNA Wins Top Workplaces Award for Seventh Time

Ridgefield, CT – For the 7th time since 2011, RVNA has received a Top Workplaces award from Hearst Connecticut Media. The award is given to local companies that lead the way in workplace culture based on employee surveys. At RVNA, those employees include clinical staff – such as nurses, rehab therapists, and home health aids – as well as non-medical caregivers and administrative staff. RVNA falls into the mid-sized company category which includes companies with between 100 and 999 employees.

“RVNA has been caring for our community since 1914,” says, RVNA President and CEO Theresa Santoro. “Our ability to sustain the quality of care we provide is directly related to the excellence of our employees, who really are the heart of our organization. The more we support them in their roles – with training, an atmosphere of teamwork and respect, and a fabulous work environment – the more they succeed. It is so gratifying to hear that they continue to feel valued and appreciated at RVNA.”

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RVNA, the Ridgefield Visiting Nurse Association, was recently awarded a Readers Choice Award for “Best In-Home Care” by TownVibe/Ridgefield Magazine. The Readers Choice Awards, introduced this year, reflect the votes of over 800 TownVibe/Ridgefield Magazine readers, who weighed in on categories ranging from food and drink to beauty, shopping, and health.

 “RVNA has been serving Ridgefield for over 100 years,” said Theresa Santoro, RVNA President and CEO (in photo, at front center), “and we’re proud and grateful to still be going strong in our home community as well as the many other Connecticut towns we serve.  The opinions and feedback of our patients and customers are of utmost importance to us.” 

About RVNA

Founded in 1914, RVNA is an accredited non-profit Medicare-certified home healthcare agency that also supports public health and safety, and promotes the highest quality of life. RVNA provides compassionate care to all individuals, whether young or old, through a continuum of care that encompasses health care at home and in the community. RVNA also provides home health aides and companionship through a non-medical subsidiary called HomeCare by RVNA, and provides out-patient physical therapy and other rehabilitation therapies through Rehab by RVNA.

 To Contact RVNA

Call RVNA at 203-438-5555. Visit RVNA at www.ridgefieldvna.org.

Two Boston Area Visiting Nurse Organizations Set To Merge

Contact:  Bill Connors, CEO, GMVN&CH

BConnors@gmvna.com

(781) 396.2633

Medford, MA – February 22, 2017 – Two venerable non-profit home care agencies serving a combined 52 cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts have announced their intent to merge.

The plan to combine Greater Medford VNA, founded in 1900 in Medford, and Visiting Nurse & Community Health, founded in 1898 in Arlington, is currently under review by state regulators. Leaders of the two agencies anticipate that the merger will be approved on or before February 28, 2017.

The name of the merged organization will be Greater Medford Visiting Nurse & Community Health. The merged agency will consolidate its operations and administrative staff at 37 Broadway in Arlington and will maintain its presence in Medford by opening a new satellite office there.

Bill Connors, president of GMVNA, will serve as Chief Executive Officer of the new entity. The management teams and boards of both organizations will be combined to guide the new organization forward. The merger will create a staff of nearly 200 full-time and part-time employees.

“This move to join forces represents a perfect strategic fit for both agencies, and will result in an organization that is better able to compete in today’s healthcare marketplace,” said Connors. “The added size and depth of resources will allow us to bring new levels of care to the patients, their families and the communities we both serve – a mission these two agencies have always had in common.”

Connors went on to list the complementary strengths that brought the two organizations together after almost two years of exploratory discussions. GMVNA has a growing private pay practice and a robust clinical coordination system. VNCH has significant rehabilitation therapy capabilities and an established hospice program, he said.

Connors expects an expanding private pay market and greater demand for hospice services to provide most of the combined agency’s growth over the next several years.

“This merger will broaden the scope of our service menu,” said Louise A Mallette, chairwoman of GMVNA, “and will ensure better continuity of care and even more comfort to our patients and their families.”

“We are delighted to have found a merger partner with such complementary strengths,” said Jane Puffer, chairwoman of VNCH. “Together, these two organizations will continue their 100-plus year commitment to provide the very best in community-based care.”

About the merging organizations

Greater Medford VNA and Visiting Nurse & Community Health share a strong and long-standing reputation for quality homecare services in the 52 eastern Massachusetts communities they serve.

The organizations provide skilled nursing, rehabilitation, home health aide, social work, hospice and other specialty services through dedicated, professional staffs.  Services are covered under programs sponsored by Medicare and Medicaid, as well as through commercial health insurance and patients’ private resources.

For further comment and analysis, contact:

• Tim Burgers, Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts

tburgers@thinkhomecare.org            (617) 482-8830

• Ed Devaney, President and CEO, Visiting Nurse Associations of New England

edevaney@vnane.org                         (508) 480-0060

Cities and towns to be served by Greater Medford Visiting Nurse & Community Health:

Name                          Population                                                     Continue reading →