Authors

  1. MARKEY, CAROLYN PRESIDENT AND CEO, VISITING NURSE ASSOCIATIONS OF AMERICA

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This past year, Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA) received a $4.5 million grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies to embark on a first-in-the-nation project to improve geriatric home care practice-VNAA's Curricula for Homecare Advances in Management and Practice (CHAMP) Program. Collaborating with the Center for Home Care Policy and Research at the VNS of NY, the development of a multimode training program for frontline homecare nurse managers is complete and classes have begun!!

 

National experts in the field of medication management, "managing for quality," and team building have created a practice improvement program that resonates throughout the country. How do we know this? Hundreds of home care agencies have applied to participate in CHAMP. Nonprofit and proprietary agencies alike are reporting that CHAMP is the right program at the right time. From coast to coast, providers have shared with us their desire to elevate home care practice, and their belief that CHAMP will fill a void of much-needed management training for frontline managers. They have also confirmed that CHAMP will help support nurse managers in their efforts to stay current with the latest best practice care for their geriatric patients.

 

VNAA is honored to report to Home Healthcare Nurse readers an update on the inaugural CHAMP class of 2006, composed of a diverse group of home care agencies selected from a large, impressive pool of applicants. These agencies will be innovators on the front lines of geriatric homecare. Approximately 140 participating managers at 36 home care agencies will develop valuable skills that they will, in turn, provide to the home care nurses they supervise. Take a moment to contemplate CHAMP's reach: 140 participating nurse managers training approximately 1,400 nurses who care for approximately 56,000 senior home care patients!!

 

Congratulations and welcome to the VNAA CHAMP class of 2006:

 

From New England: Baystate VNA, Springfield, MA; Connecticut VNA, Wallingford, CT; Day Kimball Home Care, Putnam, CT; Greater Medford VNA, Medford, MA; Home Health VNA, Lawrence, MA; Interim Healthcare, Farmington, CT; Rockingham VNA, Exeter, NH; Souhegan Home Care, Milford, NH; VNA of Care New England, Warwick, RI; VNA of Chittenden & Grand Isle Counties, Colchester, VT; VNA Healthcare, Hartford, CT; VNA of Southeastern MA, Fall River, MA; VNA of VT & NH, White River Junction, VT; VNA of South Central CT, New Haven, CT; VNA of Boston, Charlestown, MA.

 

In California: Butte Home Health, Chico; Central Coast VNA, Monterey; Pathways Home Care, Sunnyvale; Pioneer Home Health Care, Bishop; Sierra Nevada Home Care, Grass Valley; SunPlus Home Health, Corning; Sutter VNA, Emeryville; Tahoe Forest Home Health Services, Truckee; UC Davis Home Care Services, Sacramento; West Bay Home Health, Daly City.

 

From the Midwest: Covenant Home Health, Milwaukee, WI; Home Health United, Madison, WI; Horizon Home Care, Brown Deer, WI; Kenosha VNA, Kenosha, WI; Ministry Home Care, Marshfield, WI; Minnesota VNA, Minneapolis, MN; North Memorial Home Health, Robbinsdale, MN; St. Vincent Home Health Care, Green Bay, WI; University Hospital Home Care Agency, Middleton, WI; VNA of Linn County, Cedar Rapids, IA; and VNA of Pottawattamie County, Council Bluffs, IA.

 

For more information about the CHAMP Program, see http://www.vnaa.org/champ.