By Stephen Tweed
Congratulations to the Visiting Nurse Association of Hanover and Spring Grove in Pennsylvania for celebrating their 100th anniversary. I started my career in home health care back in Pennsylvania in the early 1980s, and I remember working with the then Executive Director of this VNA.
In my keynote presentation, Home Health Care 2020, I give a brief history of home health care in America, which goes back to 1880, and the fruit and flower mission of Albany, New York. The VNA movement really begain in the 1880s and 1890s in the northeast, in Albany, Buffalo, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. These agencies are still debating about which one was first, but I’ll let you decide.
In the mean time, we continue to celebrate this long legacy of serving the elderly and the disabled. We can all be proud that we are part of an industry that is leaving a lasting legacy.
What is the legacy you are leaving behind with your agency? What do you know about the history of home health care? Tell us in the comments below.
