Jennifer Gullison Receives Home Care Service Award
At Cornerstone VNA
Jennifer Gullison Receives Home Care Service Award
Cornerstone VNA congratulates their own Jennifer Gullison RN, MSN, VP of Operations, on being awarded the 2020 Home Care Service Award from the Home Care, Hospice and Palliative Care Alliance of New Hampshire at their annual meeting, which was held virtually on September 25, 2020.
The Home Care Service Award is presented annually to an individual who has made a significant contribution to home health or hospice in the state through their work in education, research, advocacy, or leadership. According to Julie Reynolds RN, MS, President/Chief Executive Officer at
Cornerstone VNA, “In her 19 years at Cornerstone VNA, Jennifer has earned the respect of staff, community health partners and patients. She is a team player who shares her expertise willingly within her agency and among Alliance members.” Reynolds adds, “Jennifer has worked in our agency, her community and with the Alliance to improve health and well-being.”
There are many ways in which Jennifer has shared her expertise. For example, when Cornerstone VNA created a unique program to delegate basic wound care tasks to Licensed Nursing Assistants, Jennifer shared her agency’s training program through a webinar series for Alliance members. In 2019, the Alliance developed an initiative with the Quality Improvement Organizations to roll out a sepsis screening tool in home settings and Jennifer led the way. Sepsis is a life threatening condition that arises when the body’s response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs. Cornerstone VNA was one of the first agencies to train staff on sepsis care with the goal of preventing sepsis readmissions and deaths. She also worked with Frisbie Memorial Hospital, which incorporated the tool into their admission process, and she is currently training staff at local fire departments.
In addition, she expanded telehealth at Cornerstone VNA and has worked with their telehealth vendor to improve the educational components of the product, earning her national recognition. She has testified on telehealth at State House hearings, sharing examples of how telehealth has directly improved care for patients. As certified chronic care trainer, Jennifer trains all her clinical staff in chronic care management, including the uses of disease-specific protocols to deliver the best care possible to patients. According to Reynolds, “She most truly embodies what this special award represents.”
About Cornerstone VNA:
Cornerstone VNA is a nonprofit home health and hospice care provider, currently serving 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 107 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.
