2011 Annual Report - Visiting Nurse Service of New York

VNSNY.ORG
11
“
W
hen I put my key in my own
front door, I feel my walls
put their arms around me. I feel so
warm and so safe.
– Agnes Venezia
”
and to ensure that she keeps current on her health care and other
benefits, such as food assistance. She also has a home health aide
to assist with daily tasks. “She’s definitely independent and wants
to get out every day,” says Kai Nee Cheah, a VNSNY CHOICE
nurse who visits once a month and checks in by phone between
visits. “But she does need help with things like shopping or
carrying something up the stairs. We help keep her safe in her
community.”
“Her body is 93, but her mind is much younger,” says Yu Yuan
Zheng, a New York University Master’s degree social work
student doing an internship with the VNSNY Chinatown
NNORC. “We work on ways to connect her mental and physical
abilities, to help her move smoothly into her aging life.”
Mrs. Venezia takes walks daily when the weather is good and
gets together for coffee with her 95-year-old neighbor upstairs,
who, like Mrs. Venezia, moved in as a newlywed and raised her
children here. Mrs. Venezia, now a great-grandmother, is an
enthusiastic hostess whose actions belie her age, as she makes
coffee, serves cake, and even shifts chairs around so everyone is
comfortable. She cooks for herself and recites a mouthwatering
weekly menu that includes such Italian specialties as pasta fagioli
(Tuesday) and spaghetti with clam sauce (Friday). “Although I
live here alone, I am not lonesome,” she says.