For Immediate Release

CONTACT: Erin Vadala, Warner Communications 978-468-3076 or erin@warnerpr.com

SAY THANKS AND CELEBRATE! NATIONAL VISITING NURSE ASSOCIATION (VNA) WEEK, MAY 8-15, 2011

(Natick, MA – May 8, 2011) – Having served the communities of MetroWest Boston for over 100 years, the nurses and clinicians of the Natick Visiting Nurse Association (www.natickvna.org) join the Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA) and hundreds of organizations across the country in celebrating National VNA Week, May 8-15, 2011. Home healthcare nurses embrace the single most important principle promoted during national VNA Week: compassionate, patient-centered care for all patients.

The second week of May has been set aside as a special time for expressing our appreciation to thousands of home healthcare clinicians and homecare providers who tirelessly care for millions of patients across the country.

“The Natick VNA is proud to pause and celebrate our clinical staff and the significant impact they have on people’s lives,” said Judith Boyko, CEO of the Natick VNA. “Home health care is one of the fastest-growing segments of the health care market. As hospitals and other facility-based health care providers continue to move toward shorter length stays, patients find themselves going home more quickly than in the past. Many patients leaving a hospital need to have home health care - nursing, rehabilitation therapies, or personal care by an aide. Home care helps speed recovery and can be crucial to a person’s ability to safely stay at home.”

And the Natick VNA offers care that goes beyond what’s expected to patients in MetroWest Boston. In October, Natick VNA was the first area VNA to establish a formal program of palliative care available to patients in their homes. Known as “ComfortCare”, the program offers comprehensive symptom management and pain control for patients suffering from serious, chronic or terminal conditions. In addition, the agency’s “state of the art” home telemonitoring service enables nurses to monitor patients’ vital signs, weight, blood oxygen levels, and more from the Natick VNA’s office—all while these patients are able to remain at home. Home telemonitoring is an effective means of helping patients avoid unnecessary emergency room visits and/or hospitalization.

“Nonprofit Visiting Nurse Agencies treat patients where it matters most…in the home. There is no better time than now to recognize their contributions to healthcare and to express appreciation for the service and added value they offer society and our healthcare system,” said Andy Carter, VNAA President and CEO.

For more information on how you can celebrate National VNA Week, go to www.VNAWeek.org.

About Natick VNA

For over 111 years, the Natick Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Natick, Massachusetts has been serving more than 20 communities in MetroWest Boston. As the area’s premier free-standing, not-for-profit home health care agency, Natick VNA helps patients of all ages reduce hospitalizations and live with maximum independence in their own homes. Utilizing the latest in home care technology, Natick VNA’s highly skilled, professional and compassionate caregivers make over 60,000 home visits each year to more than 2,100 people, seeing 350 patients every day. The Natick VNA endeavors to provide care, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. The organization’s primary service area includes: Ashland, Dover, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hudson, Marlborough, Medfield, Medway, Millis, Natick, Needham, Newton, Northborough, Sherborn, Southborough, Sudbury, Wayland, Wellesley, Westborough, and Weston. For more information, please visit: www.natickvna.org.

About VNAA

The Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA) is a national association that supports, promotes and advocates for community-based, nonprofit home health and hospice providers that care for all individuals regardless of complexity of condition or ability to pay. For more information on the VNAA go to: www.VNAA.org.