Nonprofit Agency
Rose to the Task

Lost in the shuffle in the recent news that Vermont's only for-profit home care company could go out of business and leave 250 people without service is the fact that the 11 Visiting Nurse Associations and nonprofit home health agencies were set to fill the gap and make sure that no Vermonter is without needed home care.

Three weeks ago, state official told the members of the Vermont Assembly of Home Health Agencies, the trade association for the VNAs, that the Professional Nurses Services would likely close by Dec. 22. The state was worried that some patients would not get the care they needed. PNS has since signed an agreement with the Bayada Nurses, based in New Jersey, and will not close.

In dealing with this crisis, what the state found out is what everyone in the home care already knows: the VNAs provide home care to everyone in need, period.

Theresa Wood, deputy commissioner for the Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living, praised the VAHHA members in an e-mail to the agency directors.

"The effort that all concerned have put forth during the last several weeks to insure continuity of services for the people served by PNS has been nothing short of remarkable. We at DAIL want to extend our most heartfelt appreciation for the spirit in which these discussions have happened," Wood wrote.   Unfortunately, it often takes a crisis to remind us that we have something special here, a home care system dedicated to care, not profit, cooperation not competition.

Peter Cobb, Director

VAHHA