The Island’s surviving home health care agency has a full plate.
The Vineyard Nursing Association is moving quickly to absorb a 50 per cent increase in patients and a 20 per cent increase in employees while expanding its services and stepping up professional training for its employees, said Robert Tonti, chief executive officer of the association.
And Mr. Tonti has started the process of finding larger space to accommodate the unexpected growth.
It’s a benefit bivalve banquet: come to the annual clambake and auction to raise money for the Vineyard Nursing Association, the Island’s only home health care agency, on Wednesday, July 23, at 6 p.m. at The Field Gallery in West Tisbury.
The Vineyard Nursing Association has announced a plan to expand its services to include hospice care, directly competing with Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard, a 28-year-old Island institution which operates solely on donations, unfettered by the constraints of insurance regulations.
Vineyard Nursing Association has applied to become a licensed hospice provider certified under Medicare.
The Vineyard Nursing Association announced that Lena Vanderhoop received the Effie Chalmers Wadell award for exceptional service in the delivery of home care at the 40th Annual Home Care Aide Celebration, co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Council for Home Care Aide Services and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs.
The Vineyard Nursing Association has named Kathleen Samways, PT, DPT, manager of rehabilitation services and continuous quality improvement. The VNA said it created the new position to respond to the growth in demand for physical and occupational therapy services, which has more than doubled in five years. In 2007 there were 296 therapy patients, the VNA said; in 2011, 654 patients sought the same services.
