Cornerstone VNA Celebrates 110 Years

Cornerstone VNA Celebrates 110 Years

 

Rochester, NH – January 2023, marks the 110th anniversary of Cornerstone VNA, a local nonprofit home health and hospice care organization serving Strafford, Rockingham, Belknap and Carroll Counties in New Hampshire and York County in Maine.

 

Cornerstone VNA is excited to celebrate its 110th year and is proud to look back on their impressive history of providing care at home.  In 1913, the Rochester Women’s Club, led by president and philanthropist, Norma Snow, and the Ladies Aide of the First Church Congregational founded the VNA to provide homecare services.  For more than a century, Cornerstone VNA has been committed to bringing services to people of all ages, so that families can stay together at home, even when facing the challenges of aging, surgical recovery, chronic or life-threatening illnesses or end of life care.  As a full-service home care organization, Cornerstone VNA provides award-winning care and support through five distinct programs: Home Care, Hospice Care, Palliative Care, Life Care-Private Duty and Community Care.

 

Julie Reynolds, RN, MS, President/CEO states, “I have proudly worked as a home care nurse since 1987 and joined Cornerstone VNA in 1994. I have experienced so much personal and professional growth in my time at Cornerstone VNA, and it has been an honor to lead this organization as the President/CEO for the past 10 years.” Julie continues, “Although we have grown tremendously in recent years, we still pay tribute to our founder and our remarkable history of providing high quality care to our patients and our community.”

 

Particularly in the last decade, Cornerstone VNA has experienced significant growth which earned them recognition as the Business NH Magazine 2020 Health Care Business of the Decade, as well as numerous other awards including most recently the Falls Chamber of Commerce 2022 Nonprofit of the Year, and the 2022 Best of the Seacoast Best Home Health Care.

 

As the region braced itself for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Cornerstone VNA was well-prepared thanks to their ongoing emergency preparedness efforts. They continued providing care to patients and developed innovative ways to remain connected to their local communities. They also broke ground on an important capital project in October 2020 to expand their building and renovate their existing space to address the growing needs of their patients, staff, and community members. Over the years, Cornerstone VNA has remained proactive in its approach to researching and implementing innovative specialty services, including a remote telehealth monitoring program, to meet the complex needs of their patients to ensure positive outcomes.

 

With a staff of over 170 team members, Cornerstone VNA has a depth of longevity that is quite extraordinary. Sandy Powers, RN, has been a nurse at Cornerstone VNA for thirty-one years, and is known fondly by her patients as “Nurse Sandy”. Sandy remarks, “I’ve had various roles over the last 30 years, and it has been a wonderful ride with all of them. I’ve gained so much knowledge working as an RN in home care.”

 

From longtime nurse, Sandy, to recently enlisted team member, Megan Casey, RN, BSN, the positive feeling of being a nurse and working in home care is just as strong. Megan shares, “There’s something remarkable and rewarding about caring for patients in the home setting, often at their most acute and vulnerable states, and being part of an agency (family) that provides endless support and appreciation. I don’t just love what I do, I live for it.”

 

To learn more about Cornerstone VNA, visit www.cornerstonevna.org or call 800-691-1133. Visitors to the website can also learn more about Cornerstone VNA’s history by reading their historical blog posts, which will be posted each month throughout the year.

Cornerstone VNA Receives Donation from The Fabulous Find

Cornerstone VNA Receives Donation from The Fabulous Find

Rochester, NH – Cornerstone VNA, a local nonprofit home health and hospice care organization, recently received a generous donation of over $8,500 from The Fabulous Find, a boutique style resale shop at 139 State Rd (Route One) in Kittery, ME.  This unique resale boutique partners with different worthy, local nonprofit organizations each month, as determined by their Board of Directors, and Cornerstone VNA was selected as one of four nonprofit recipients for the month of October, alongside the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, Triangle Club and Pro Portsmouth. All four nonprofits received a check for over $8,500 each, which represents the total profits from the month of October.  Marcye Philbrook, Board President of The Fabulous Find notes, “The Fabulous Find is so happy to be able to partner with Cornerstone VNA. Most of us have had family members or people we know who have benefitted from the amazing care of visiting nurses. Cornerstone VNA is one of those quiet organizations that do so much good in our community.”

 

Erika Lee, MHA, Director of Advancement shares, “Cornerstone VNA was so honored to have been chosen by this wonderfully resourceful store that gives so much to local nonprofits.” Lee adds, “The generous funds they awarded us will be used to support underfunded programs such as Palliative Care, non-reimbursable specialty training, such as lymphedema, as well as access to care for those in need.”

 

Founded in 2010 by a small group of Seacoast Maine and New Hampshire women, The Fabulous Find has given over 2.3 million dollars to well over 150 area nonprofits. In addition to their monthly partners, there are schools and other organizations that they give smaller gifts to. To learn more about The Fabulous Find and how you can help, visit www.thefabulousfind.org or call (207) 439-8669.

 

Cornerstone VNA currently serves Rockingham, Strafford, Belknap and Carroll Counties in New Hampshire and York County in Maine. The team at Cornerstone VNA provides award-winning care and support through five distinct programs: Home Care, Hospice Care, Palliative Care, Life Care-Private Duty, and Community Care. For 109 years, Cornerstone VNA has been committed to bringing services to people of all ages so that families can stay together at home, even when facing the challenges of aging, surgical recovery, chronic or life-threatening illnesses or end-of-life care. To learn more about Cornerstone VNA, visit www.cornerstonevna.org or call 800-691-1133.

Longtime Cornerstone VNA Nurse Receives Two Awards

Longtime Cornerstone VNA Nurse Receives Two Awards

 

Rochester, NH: Cornerstone VNA, a local nonprofit home health and hospice care provider, recently recognized Cheryl Bonar, RN, with the 2022 Nightingale Award. Cornerstone VNA created this award for their nurses in 2015, which is presented to a person who exemplifies Florence Nightingale’s work through best practice, mentorship, education and change. Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) is known for her work in fundamentally changing the role of nursing and introduced the concept of nursing standards.

According to Jen Gullison, RN, MSN, Vice President of Operations at Cornerstone VNA, “Cheryl helps Cornerstone VNA keep its operations flowing seamlessly, 24/7, including providing direct patient care to those with an active COVID-19 diagnosis.” Gullison continues, “She works with very young kids who require home infusion therapy to older adults who need teaching to be able to self-manage their disease or condition.”

Julie Reynolds RN, MS, President/CEO adds, “As a team member at Cornerstone VNA for over 28 years, Cheryl has been a role model to many nurses because of how skilled she is in her nursing practice. She performs co-visits with other nurses to train them in skills such as intravenous therapy, complicated wound care, and other complex procedures.” In response to the honor of this award, Cheryl shared, “The patients keep me going in this career, I love meeting new people and caring for them.”

In addition to the Nightingale Award, Cheryl Bonar also received the 2022 New Hampshire Healthcare Hero award for the Seacoast Region. Since late 2020, NH Healthcare Heroes has honored dozens of those working in healthcare who repeatedly go above and beyond the call of duty. This special award was presented to Cheryl by NH Healthcare Hero Committee Member, John Desmond of Cookson Communications. During a special pinning ceremony at the Cornerstone VNA office, Desmond shared, “We continue to recognize these Heroes for their powerful stories and the inspiration they provide to others considering a career in healthcare.”

 

Cornerstone VNA currently serves Rockingham, Strafford, Belknap and Carroll Counties in New Hampshire and York County in Maine. The team at Cornerstone VNA provides award-winning care and support through five distinct programs: Home Care, Hospice Care, Palliative Care, Life Care-Private Duty, and Community Care. For over 109 years, Cornerstone VNA has been committed to bringing services to people of all ages so that families can stay together at home, even when facing the challenges of aging, surgical recovery, chronic or life-threatening illnesses or end-of-life care. To learn more about Cornerstone VNA, visit www.cornerstonevna.org or call 800-691-1133.

32nd Annual Gingerbread House contest and exhibition

32nd Annual Gingerbread House contest and exhibition is here at the Discover Portsmouth Center. The Contest Exhibition runs thru December 22nd. This years theme is fictional places and characters. Make your voice heard. Cast your vote for People’s Choice Awards. Categories include: most creative building materials, most whimsical, most attention to detail, and best in show. All ballots must be cast in-person at 10 Middle Street. Take the fun downtown with our scavenger hunt. Collect all the stamps and enter to win a raffle of gift cards and prizes from participating retailers!

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