NEWSLETTER OF VNS OF NEWPORT AND BRISTOL COUNTIES
VOL TWO
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ISSUE ONE
A Season of Philanthropy - Donors Enjoy 2012 Events
THE CHOCOLATE BRUNCH HELD AT OCEANCLIFF RESORT
From bagpipes chanting a welcome to Newport’s summer season to
a tap dancer celebrating Broadway’s “Singin in the Rain”... from golfers
contesting “the longest drive” to gourmands dining on the most creative uses of chocolate imaginable... this past summer and fall season
at VNS has been full of varied and fun events. While the event calendar is designed to appeal to different groups of guests with varied
THE GREENS AWAIT AT THE EDNA OPEN
interests and appetites, the overriding theme of the VNS season,
whether it was O’Brien’s Patio Salute to Summer or Edna Open Golf
or Casino Theatre’s Songman/Danceman or November’s Chocolate
Brunch, was support for the VNS mission of offering all our services
to our community members, regardless of ability to pay. Thank you,
donors, for attending our events and for celebrating with us!
SONGMAN/DANCEMAN JON PETERSON
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
I would like to dedicate this edition of Housecalls to Noreen Stonor
Drexel, former Board member and long time supporter of Visiting Nurse
Services, who passed away at age 90 on November 6 . Mrs. Drexel was
best known for her active role as a trustee of Salve Regina University and
the wonderful preservation of historic facilities there, for the Noreen
Stonor Drexel Birthing Center at Newport Hospital and for her stewardship of the Alletta Morris McBean Trust. VNS has been an annual beneficiary of the trust for many years.
My best recent memory of Mrs. Drexel was at the 2011 Newport
CEO JEAN ANDERSON AND BOARD PRESIDENT
Hospital Gala held in her honor on the lawn of Wakehurst at Salve Regina.
BARBARA WEATHERFORD AT
She wore a yellow summer dress and pearls, and she was surrounded by
SONGMAN/DANCEMAN
family on a perfect summer evening among 500 guests. In earlier years she
attended the Annual Meeting of VNS at Ochre Court, or she could be found in slacks and a barn coat at Save the
Bay or Potter League, actively supporting the organizations she believed in.
For National Philanthropy Day, November 24, 2009, I was honored to have nominated Mrs. Drexel for a Partners
in Philanthropy award and spend part of the day with her at the Rhode Island Convention Center. She joined
fellow benefactors on stage before a capacity audience of Rhode Island corporate and civic leaders.
November is Home Care and Hospice month. It is especially the time of year that Hospices across the country,
including ours, hold a Service of Remembrance and a Hospice tree Lighting. The first holidays without our beloved
family members and friends can be especially hard, and these short programs are a way for each of us to pay
tribute to their memories. We have also recently lost VNS staff nurse, Sarah Wood RN, who will be forever
in our hearts.
On November 1, we were pleased to learn that VNS was named a Home Health Elite agency for 2012, which is
determined through patient care and patient satisfaction performance measures. We were last named in 2006, so
it is certainly an honor to receive that distinction again. Many thanks especially to our nurses, certified nursing
assistants, therapists, social workers, and dieticians for making that happen. Please consider supporting their work
through year end giving.
Peace and joy as we end 2012 and start on the adventure that will be 2013. Our thoughts go out to our fellow
home care and hospice agencies in New York, New Jersey , Connecticut and West Virginia who are providing home
care and hospice under extraordinary circumstances.
Chief Executive Officer
Visiting Nurse Services
OF NEWPORT AND BRISTOL COUNTIES
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BARBARA WEATHERFORD, PRESIDENT
BRUCE WALSH, TREASURER
ALLENDRE MCGOVERN, SECRETARY
JEAN ANDERSON, CEO
JANE BARRY
STACEY CARTER
RICHARD ERWIN
GREGORY FATER
SANDRA MCCORMACK
JULIETTE MCCLENNON
REBECCA MCSWEENEY
LESLIE REED
MARIE THOMASEVERETT
FINTON WALLACE II
CHRISTINE WINSLOW
MONICA MAGLIOCCO,
HONORARY
Please email to us at optout@vnsri.org if you wish to have your name removed from the Philanthropy list in the future.
VNS OFFICES:
1184 EAST MAIN ROAD, PORTSMOUTH RI 02871
401-682-2100
21 CHAPEL STREET, NEWPORT, RI 02840
401-849-2101
624 MAIN STREET, WARREN, RI 02885
1162 GAR HIGHWAY #11, SWANSEA, MA 02777
508-916-2181
WWW.VNSRI.ORG
Jan Gordon, Editor
VNS Young Parents Program:
Charlotte Ringwood, Paying it Forward
CHARLOTTE AND DAUGHTER SHANTELLE IN 1991
We hear many stories and testimonials
at VNS…stories of compassion or
words of thanks. Charlotte Ringwood
has come back to the VNS 21 years after
being part of the Young Parents Program
and the Maternal/Child Health service
to say thank you and to “pay it forward.”
Charlotte is grateful for help when she
needed it by serving as a helper to children in adoption programs now. Her
story is compelling and heartwarming.
As a 17 year old high school senior,
Charlotte found herself pregnant and
isolated. Her relationship with the father
and unexpected pregnancy had forcd
her into an estrangement from her family and isolation from her North
Kingstown high school experience. The
Newport-based Young Parents Program
was the one source of counseling and
peer support where this teenage mother found “the support that I needed at
the time. It was a jumping point for me,
without which I would have floundered
before I eventually found my way. My
YPP counselor, Bridgett Rogers, was in
my corner and helped me get out of a
dangerous relationship and get on with
my life. I became a really good mother
who has created stability and safety for
my family. She helped me when I was
isolated during my pregnancy, and she
helped me get full custody and get out
of danger with Shantelle’s father. She
even went to court with me. “
Charlotte’s life course has taken her
directly into “paying forward” by helping
others. Currently Charlotte is a permanency coordinator for Adoption Rhode
Island, where she works with children
whose parental rights have been terminated. She is also working on her
Masters Degree in Art Therapy, which
she will apply clinically with children in
foster care. Not surprisingly, Charlotte
has also been a foster mother herself to
now 21 year old Sarah, who is the same
age as her teen pregnancy daughter,
Shantelle. Charlotte also has a 14 year
old daughter from her marriage.
VNS salutes Charlotte for her service in
adoption and foster care, her success as
a teen parent, and her achievements in
creating a stable and loving family. Talk
about paying it forward!!
CHARLOTTE TODAY
Diabetes: What Do I Do Now?
If you've recently been diagnosed with diabetes you are probably experiencing many feelings: anger, fear, denial and countless others. While
these feelings are all normal, they can be uncomfortable and make it very
difficult to decide what to do next. As of January 2011, the Center for
Disease Controlled (CDC) estimated that 25.8 million people (children & adults) have diabetes and another 79 million have pre-diabetes. Because of these staggering numbers, many communities have Diabetes Self Management
Programs to help those with diabetes better understand their disease, control their blood sugars and live normal,
healthy lives.
The VNS Diabetes Self Management Program is a great place to gain knowledge, address your feelings and take positive action. Classes taught by American Diabetes Association certified instructors associated with the Hallett Center
of Endocrinology at RI Hospital are offered in a group or individual setting, and topics include nutrition, meal planning,
blood sugar testing, goal setting, medications, exercise and many others. Becoming aware of what is happening in your
body when you have diabetes makes it easier to understand why controlling your sugar is so important.
VNS AND RESEARCH:
Vulnerable Patient Research
VNS was one of 26 agencies selected to participate in a national
research project conducted by the Center for Home Care Policy and
Research in collaboration with VNAA (Visiting Nurse Association of
America) called the Vulnerable Patients Study. The purpose of this
research was to identify whether characteristics of vulnerable patients
(e.g. clinical complexity, low socioeconomic status) are associated with
inadequate Medicare reimbursement. The primary goal of this study
is to ensure that vulnerable patient populations retain access to the
services that they need through sufficient payment to home health-
The study found that patients with the following characteristics
tended to have significantly lower Medicare reimbursement
compared to cost:
• Communities with lower median household incomes and less
racial/ethnic diversity
• Poorly controlled chronic conditions
• Complex clinical treatments
• Fragile overall health or serious progressive conditions
• Ulcers, skin lesions, wounds
• Urinary or bowel incontinence
• Absense of casegiver assistance
Based on this study, findings will have significant implications for future
Medicare reimbursement policies.
care providers.
In Memoriam:
Noreen Stonor Drexel
Friend,
Supporter,
former Board Member
1922 - 2012
Goodbye, Dr. Keigwin
Scott Keigwin D.O. has been the
Visiting Nurse Hospice Medical
Director since May of 1995.
In that time he has been instrumental in sustaining the program through our move to
Portsmouth, with the building of
our Advanced Illness in Palliative
Program, and in meeting increasingly more stringent regulatory
requirements from the state and federal government. In 2011
Dr. Keigwin began making home visits to some of our patients
as well. After 17 years we bid farewell and a sincere thank you
to Scott as he and his wife, Dr. Jane Mimet, join a new
practice group.
Elite Homecare Award
VNS of Newport and Bristol Counties has been named a
2012 HomeCare Elite agency, a compilation of the top 25%
home health agencies in the United States. Now in its seventh
year, the HomeCare Elite identifies the top 25 percent of agencies by various publically available performance measures in quality outcomes, process measure implementation, patient experience (Home Health CAHPS), quality improvement, and financial
performance. The HomeCare Elite is the only performance
recognition of its kind in the home health profession. The 2012
HomeCare Elite is co-sponsored by National Research
Corporation (also known as OCS HomeCare), the leading
provider of cross-continuum healthcare metrics and analytics.
“The 2012 HomeCare Elite winners demonstrate a commitment to providing patient-centered care and serving as leaders
in the home health community. Their success offers data-driven
proof of being well-managed and high quality care providers to
hospitals, managed care organizations, ACOs, and other potential
referral partners across the healthcare continuum,” said Susan L.
Henricks, president and chief operating officer of National
Research Corporation, the parent company of OCS HomeCare.
“Again, this year, we updated our methodology to reflect the rapidly evolving quality-focused healthcare landscape and national
value-based purchasing trends.”
VNS’s CEO Jean Anderson credits the dedicated and professional staff and the agency’s commitment to being a top quality
healthcare provider with our ability to achieve recognition as one
of the HomeCare Elite. “We are very proud of this achievement.
It demonstrates our commitment to providing quality, professional, and patient-centered care to our patients and the communities we serve." said Ms. Anderson.
Redesign of the VNS Website
Recently the VNS has updated our web site, www.vnsri.org. Our
goal in the updated site is to make it easier for you to focus on our
four main program areas: homecare, hospice, rehabilitation, and
community health. You should be able to find descriptions and
helpful information about any of these program areas under the
drop down menus.
Now you can also donate to our programs and buy tickets for VNS
events on line with your credit card. You can also send in a job
application on line for one of the job opportunities listed in our
employment section. These are new functions, designed to make
your participation easier and quicker with one-click navigating. The
calendar is also much more visual and, I promise, will be kept
current and relevant.
A GRATEFUL PATIENT STORY:
Kim Herrlinger
“When you have a surgery and
you live alone, you are particularly vulnerable. Your imagination can run wild with whether
what you are experiencing is
normal and expected or the
signs of a problem. I found VNS
nurses and occupational therapists very capable and experienced with what my recovery
should entail, so it was exceedingly reassuring for me to have their help.” So states Kim Herrlinger, a
One of the things we
hoped to achieve in
our new site is
to offer constantly
changing links to the
latest articles and
studies offered in the
home health industry.
recent young widow whose children live away from the area and who
found herself facing an unplanned rotator cuff surgery on her own. Kim’s
surgery was performed at Massachusetts General Hospital, where the discharge plans of returning home with VNS care were seamlessly and reliably set up before she left. “Nothing fell through the cracks when I came
home,” states Kim. Now well into her post-surgical recovery, Kim has
“graduated” from nursing care to occupational therapy. “Pam, my OT, is
Feel free to send me any testimonials and I will make sure they
get posted.
level of recovery without letting me go too fast, which my doctor had
Hope you like the new site... let me know!
warned me about. She is my barometer of how much and how little I
Jan Gordon, jgordon@vnsri.org
can do at each stage of recovery.” Thank you, Kim, for your kind words of
really good, and I look forward to her visits. She helps me get to the next
testimony to the good work of VNS!
Thanks to the Annual Fund...
Thanks to you, patients like an 89 year old widower living alone can have Lifeline. Thanks to you, a 55 year old wife and mother is able
to stay in her home for her last few months of terminal cancer and be surrounded by her teenage children and family. Thanks to you, a
vibrant 70 year old can look forward to returning to long afternoon dog walks due to his diligent post-stroke rehabilitation and therapy.
Stories such as these are possible because your support to our Annual Fund allows us to offer top quality homecare to everyone in our
communities, regardless of ability to pay. VNS relies on its Annual Fund to carry the bulk of our fundraising. As the majority of our unrestricted charitable money comes from individuals, we have traditionally sent a holiday greeting card which does double duty as our yearend appeal request. This year we decided to combine our year-end appeal into the Housecalls newsletter, as it is full of donor news and
articles that confirm the quality of our work and reasons why we ask for your charitable support.
We want to make it easy for you to donate. You can send your tax-deductible annual gift in the enclosed envelope, or now you can also
make a gift of any amount safely and securely on line at www.vnsri.org. Just click the Donate to VNS button!
This issue of Housecalls is full of photos from our various fundraising (and fun raising) events of the past year. We thank you again for
sharing these events and good times with us, and for donating through them to our philanthropy efforts. Events are opportunities to build
new relationships and to raise our profile in your sights, but the real meat and potatoes of our fundraising needs is met through the summer and year-end Annual Fund. We have such loyal, regular supporters... and to you we say thank you for your loyalty. To you who are
new to our agency, thank you for putting VNS on your personal radar for charitable support.
Now that event season has subsided, we look forward to sharing a letter, a phone call, a coffee date, or hosting you here to the agency to
cement your interest in us.
A Season of Philanthropy: Donors Enjoy 2012 Events
NOREY CULLEN, LOUISE WARREN, ANNE HAMILTON
BOB MURRAY, CAROL BALLARD, MUFFET BLAKE
MARY JENNINGS SELECTS HER CHOCOLATES
SONGMAN CO-CHAIR HAPPY VANBEUREN AND
TENNIS HALL OF FAME PRESDIDENT CHRIS CLOUSER
ANGELA FISCHER, DODO HAMILTON, KATE LEONARD
CO-CHAIR LESLIE REED, DICK ERWIN, GISELE BROWN, DIANE BEAVER
RYAN KIRWIN AND HIS SISTER LIBBY KIRWIN, CO-CHAIR
ANCIENT ORDER OF HIBERNIANS SALUTE TO SUMMER, O’BRIENS PUB