VNHC 2011 ANNUAL REPORT - Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care

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“VNHC helped us tremendously in taking special care of our auntie Alice. They made her comfortable & gave us peace of mind.” AWARDS & RECOGNITION South Coast Business & Technology Awards V isiting Nurse & Hospice Care was honored for their “Excellence in Service” at the 17th annual South Coast Business & Technology Awards in June. Community PalLiative care outstanding Achievement Founded in 1995, the awards honor five prestigious individuals and businesses who have shown an extraordinary commitment to helping the South Coast stay economically vital by growing Lynda Tanner (center) accepted the award on behalf of VNHC (photo: Noozhawk) and expanding their business or technical professions. “VNHC was founded in 1908 by 14 amazing women who joined together for the good of the community and compassion for the less fortunate,” said Lynda Tanner, president and CEO of VNHC, who accepted the award on behalf of the century-old nonprofit. “I’d like to think that if those 14 amazing women from 1908 came to Santa Barbara today, they would stand tall, proudly nodding their heads in affirmation of the excellence and service that we continue to provide.” The Community Palliative Care Program, a collaboration between Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care and other community healthcare organizations, was awarded the Outstanding Program Achievement Award by the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association in October. Started in 2009 and targeting a previously unserved patient population, the Community Palliative Care Program is designed to alleviate suffering and enhance the quality of life for patients and their families who are facing a life-threatening illness. The program functions to raise palliative and endof-life standards in addition to creating an awareness of the importance of the quality of care for patients near the end of life. Since its inception, 228 patients have been referred to the program. Patients with a cancer diagnosis make up 84 percent of the population; other diagnoses include renal, hepatic, pulmonary, heart and neurological diseases. While the average age of patients is 61, the ages of patients in the program range from three weeks old to 101 years old.
Giving Back Last year, 100 volunteers provided over 7,628 hours of comfort and support to hospice patients and their families representing over $178,000. B eth Sprague is one of our hospice volunteers in the Santa Ynez Valley. In 2011, she single handedly acted as our Bouquet of Love coordinator for our hospice patients in the area. Every Wednesday growers at the Farmer’s Market donate flowers to Beth. She makes bouquets with these donated flowers and delivers them to patients who are new to our hospice program. We do a similar program in Santa Barbara in partnership with the Dream Foundation, but in the Valley, Beth does it all on her own. In addition to getting donations of flowers for the Bouquets of Love, Beth was also able to get a Christmas tree donated for the Angels Among Us celebration in December and roses for the annual Remembrance service. Last year 36 patients received her special delivery of caring from VNHC. In addition, Beth also serves individual patients needing companionship and support. In 2011, volunteer roles also bloomed with qualified individuals working with staff as part of the integrated therapy, bereavement, and spiritual counseling teams. Options for becoming a volunteer expanded with the introduction of a new training approach done with DVD’s and a workbook. Now, much like a college, the Volunteer Department can provide “rolling admissions” to allow people to complete the training requirements in their own time frame. VOLUNTEERS Community Partners In Excellence 2011 We are pleased to honor Heritage House and Sansum Clinic Internal Medicine Department at 215 Pesetas Lane as our 2011 Community Partners in Excellence. For this award our staff nominates extraordinary partners in our community who work with us to provide high-quality patient care. THE Sansum Clinic Internal Medicine dEPARTMENT at 215 Pesetas Lane provides services to adults focusing on disease prevention and treatment as well as promotion of overall health. The staff of 30 includes Internists Drs Michael Bernstein, Erno Daniel, Benjamin Diener, John Elder, William Golgert, Gloria Hadsall, Vikki Lane, Richard Ponce, Kurt Ransohoff and Avery Kenyon Wilmanns. Dr Daniel is also board certified in Geriatrics and Drs Elder and Golgert are certified in Nephrology. Our staff describes this department as “responsive, knowledgeable and genuinely concerned about their patients.” We appreciate being able to partner with this group in providing Home Health and Hospice services to their patients. Heritage House is an assisted living community that is owned and operated by the McGeever family, who, through their own experiences in caring for family members, discovered a need for high quality assisted care. Bill and Julie McGeever manage day-to-day activities with an extraordinary staff they consider as family. Within the facility is The Garden Neighborhood, a memory care program for individuals with dementia or other types of cognitive impairment. Among the ways our staff describe the Heritage House team are “warm, loving and caring.” It’s a place where “life is cherished, nurtured and celebrated.”
Page 1 and 2: INBLOOM VNHC 2011 ANNUAL REPORT
Page 3: Executive summary No matter how you
Page 7 and 8: Home Health Aide, these services ar
Page 9 and 10: Five nurses and a social worker fro
Page 11 and 12: VNHC’s bereavement program served
Page 13 and 14: VNHC loaned over $100,000 worth of
Page 15 and 16: VNHC’s certified music therapist
Page 17 and 18: Samaritan Society Stan Fishman, Mar
Page 19 and 20: Leadership Giving Our charitable mi

VNHC 2011 ANNUAL REPORT - Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care

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