Home Health Archives

VHS Home Health Care & VHS Hospice introduce Director of Operations

Andi Petrini on June 18, 2024

Ariane Minette, LMSW, was recently named Director of Operations for VHS Home Health Care and VHS Hospice. The move follows the resignation of Administrator Cheri Garner-Brnich, who joined the VHS team about 10 years ago to start operation of VHS Home Health Care.

“Cheri has been instrumental in the establishment and growth of Home Health Care and Hospice; we thank her for all of her years of service and wish her the best in her next chapter,” Donna Marchant-Roof, Vice President of Home and Community-Based Services, said in an email to the organization.

About Ariane

Ariane has been a social worker on the VHS Hospice team and oversees the volunteer program. She also is a field instructor for students in master’s social work programs.

“It’s a great opportunity,” she says. “It’s a learning curve for sure, but so, so phenomenally lucky to have amazing staff on both home health — which is so established and doing a great job — and hospice.”

Ariane oversees the day-to-day operations of both service lines. She says she is big on communication and having standard operating procedures established so the team is “confident and comfortable about what we’re doing and have accountability moving forward so we can build additional relationships like the one we have with Brookdale.”

She has formed a committee to start planning the annual Celebration of Life that VHS Hospice typically hosts in November for loved ones of former patients. The event helps provide closure for those close to the individuals, including members of the hospice team.

New focus

Ariane still visits patients — “they’re my heart, my soul. That’s why we’re all here, that’s my drive,” she says. “I love touching base with my patients and seeing how all this impacts them. It’s always humbling.”

Her main focuses right now are understanding the foundation, evaluating policies and practices to see if they are the best and most efficient ways of doing things, growing census, and focus on how the team works together to be cross-sectional.

“I just want to get to know everyone better, and let them know me — be that person who’s consistent. I just want to make it easier for the team to do their job well,” she says.

While her dog Darby is a little unsure about the longer days in the office, Ariane is excited for all of the opportunities for growth the area has to offer.

“It’s a really exciting time right now, in terms of where healthcare is,” she says. “I truly, truly believe in the home aspect of home health and hospice — being where you are. It doesn’t have to feel so medicalized and pull you away from people you love. I truly believe in bringing healthcare to the home. I see how well we do it, and how well we can continue to do it, so I want to be able to get people to understand how it helps them. … I want to help the people and give them the things they need.”

Volunteer with VHS Hospice

Volunteers are the heart of what we do. VHS Hospice is looking for compassionate and thoughtful volunteers to assist those in our care, their caregivers and our team members. You’ll provide emotional support and companionship. Some responsibilities include assisting our clients with tasks such as gardening, lawn maintenance and pet care. Your duties may include providing relief to caregivers or assisting our team in the office with a variety of tasks. We provide all the necessary training.

Share your interest here.

Follow us on Facebook

Learn more about VHS Hospice and VHS Home Health Care on Facebook.

VHS Home Health Care rolls out mobile health units to patients

Andi Petrini on August 3, 2023

VHS Home Health Care has rolled out use of mobile health units to its clients – under their doctors’ orders.

The mobile kit provides patients enrolled with VHS Home Health Care an automatic way to take readings and for nurses on the team to monitor patient progress in real time.

Tia Hunter, LPN, handles initial setup and monitoring for those using the unit.

“I set up the actual machines and show them how to use it. A nurse goes out first to start the care. Every patient has different orders from their doctor, depending on their diagnosis,” she says.

Tia Hunter has been a LPN with VHS Home Health Care for more than two years. She handles initial setup and monitoring of the mobile kits.

Equipment in the kit can record weight, blood sugar, oxygen level, blood pressure, temperature and heart rate. It includes a tablet to which each piece of equipment is Bluetooth-enabled and records and transmits the results. The home health team is alerted to the new updates to monitor the patient.

“If something is really off, I can go to their home. I can send text messages, video calls and reminders, all through the system. And they can do the same,” Tia says.

There also are educational videos available to the patients to help them better understand their care, like what are carbohydrates diabetics should or should not eat.

The VHS Home Health team began implementation of the kit in June. The monitored results also are sent to the doctor for assessment.

“The purpose is to try to keep them home and avoid hospitalizations,” Tia says.

It’s cost-saving and a game-changer for many of the team’s patients.

Learn more

VHS Home Health Care helps individuals get back to living their best life by providing skilled care in the safety and comfort of an individual’s home. The team coordinates care with a patient’s doctor.

The team of professionals include nurses, therapists and social workers who will train and educate and individual and their loved ones to help the individual gain independence.

Research shows receiving care at home with home health services can effectively prevent hospitalizations and costly stays. It is typically covered by Medicare and most commercial insurances.

Learn more about VHS Home Health Care at vahs.com/homehealthcare.

VHS Rehabilitation physical therapist shares best part of job is focus on individuals

Andi Petrini on June 6, 2022

Nancy Funkhouser doesn’t mind putting 100 to 125 miles on her car in a day. It’s part of the job.

And it’s a job she loves. Funkhouser is a physical therapist with VHS Rehabilitation whose patients are all coordinated through VHS Home Health Care.

“To have the privilege to do something that makes you happy, and that pays your bills, that’s like the best of both worlds. I don’t know why you’d work anywhere else or do anything else,” she says.

Focus on individuals

The role allows her to focus solely on an individual.

“The thing I love about home care is it’s you and your patient one-on-one,” Funkhouser says. “That patient gets 150% of your attention, 150% of your effort and it’s just you and them. No other outside distractions or pull to your focus.”

VHS Home Health Care helps get individuals back to living their best life by providing skilled care in the comfort of their home. The home health team contracts physical, occupational and speech therapists through VHS Rehabilitation as part of Virginia Health Services’ spectrum of services.

The VHS lines of service give individuals the best access to their care needs regardless of where they live in southeast Virginia.

Because of the nature of skilled home health care, time is often determined by insurance. Funkhouser says, “You really need to pack in as much as you can in those sessions to get as much potential and gain and recovery of function as you can.”

The supervisors make an initial visit to open a care plan and create goals with the individual. The treatment plan is rolled out to the clinical team.

“Everybody is focused on giving the patients what they need. You hope that by the end of your time with them, you’ve met the goals for your patient.”
Nancy Funkhouser

The team’s consistency allows individuals to see the same faces, “which is always better for overall patient recovery,” Funkhouser said.

Status changes can be identified and dealt with quickly when you and your team members know a patient. And the more you see them, the more they get to know you.

“When I’m with them, I give them as much as I can in the time we have,” she says.

Being a PT

Funkhouser knew she wanted to be a therapist since she was a teenager. She observed the therapists who worked with her father after he had major open-heart surgery.

That exposure to therapists in the hospital inspired her to be a therapist. She volunteered in high school and then went to school for therapy.

She spent 20 years in a hospital setting before working in home health settings a decade ago. She joined VHS Rehabilitation about six years ago and started with VHS Home Health Care a few months after it launched in 2015.

Working with VHS Home Health Care and VHS Rehabilitation put Funkhouser “in an optimal position to do what I do best, and that’s get wrapped up with the patient and get them better.”

It’s rewarding. There is independence and autonomy for the clinical team in providing quality care to the individuals VHS Home Health Care and Rehab serve.

“Here, everybody is focused on giving the patients what they need,” she says. “You hope that by the end of your time with them, you’ve met the goals for your patient.”

The passion for patients and for the job come through in Funkhouser’s voice.

“At the end of the day, I feel like if it’s a job you really like a lot, you tend to give a lot of yourself to it,” she said. “It’s just a win-win.”

Individualized patient care key for VHS Home Health Care nurse

Andi Petrini on May 2, 2022

Virginia Health Services is shining a light on our team members. We want to spotlight the roles our team members play to support individuals to live their best life and showcase the VHS culture. With National Nurses Day on Friday, we are spotlighting VHS Home Health Care nurse Tia Hunter.

Tia Hunter heard about VHS Home Health Care from a friend.

She had done some one-on-one visits with patients as a certified nurse assistant (CNA), but hadn’t conducted skilled visits.

A nurse since 2009 — she’s getting ready to take her boards after graduating RN school with Medical Careers Institute — Hunter said she trusted her friend’s suggestion to work together for VHS Home Health Care.

“I love it,” Hunter says of working as an LPN with VHS Home Health Care for the past year and a half.

“For me, I like having that one-on-one with the patient. I’m not rushed; I have that time to focus. And I’m reachable to them.”

Hunter said nurses see on average five to six patients a day.

Day in the life

Portrait of Tia Hunter, an African-American RN with VHS Home Health Care. — Tia Hunter has been a nurse with VHS Home Health Care for more than a year.

VHS Home Health Care serves the Peninsula, Gloucester and Southside. Hunter said where patients live factors into a day’s schedule to account for the travel time.

She said she always has been drawn to senior care.

“I just love them. I think they’re so cute. … My grandma passed and I wanted to know her so bad; I get that when I see my patients,” Hunter said.

The culture at VHS Home Health Care is patient-based.

“For me, I like having that one-on-one with the patient,” Hunter said. “I’m not rushed, I have that focus time, I’m reachable to them.”

Team effort

Working with patients in-home pairs physical, speech and occupational therapists from VHS Rehabilitation with the clinical team at VHS Home Health Care.

“I think it’s a great place to work,” Hunter said. “… We have a good staff. (The clinical team) communicates well with the therapists with VHS Rehab. It’s rare to find a team that blends this well as a whole.”

The team comes together under the leadership of Cheri Brnich, Kelly Cofield and Donna Marchant-Roof, who is the executive director of VHS Home Health Care and Hospice.

“I genuinely just love our management,” Hunter said of Brnich. “I’ve never really had a boss like Cheri. She genuinely cares about us and how we’re doing, are we OK, even outside of work. … It’s very rare you find a company that somebody cares about you as a person. She values us as employees.”

The team of nursing staff, therapists, social workers and other individuals develop a care plan to return an individual to their best life.

“Aha moments”

Hunter takes pride in the “aha moments” that get the individuals she works with back to where they want to be. As individuals usually see the same team of clinicians, if there is a change in status, it can be determined quickly.

“When we’re in the home, sometimes we can stop them from having something happen and could save their life,” she said.

Calls, Google reviews and hearty thank-yous stay with you long after the home health care period ends, Hunter said. “It’s so appreciated.”

The quality of care and consistency of the team is also appreciated.

“Going into a home, sometimes even just 45 minutes, it changes their whole day,” Hunter said. “They love it.”

Join our team

We are hiring full-time LPNs and a full-time RN for our VHS Home Health Care team. For a full list of opportunities, visit vahs.com/careers.