Mission & History
Mission & History
Our Mission
To promote the health and well-being of patients, members and families by providing high-quality, cost-effective healthcare in the home and community.
To be a leader in the development of innovative services that enable people to function as independently as possible in their community.
To help shape healthcare policies that support beneficial home- and community-based services.
To continue our tradition of charitable and compassionate care, within the resources available.
Our Guiding Principles
Commitment to the VNSNY Community
To achieve the best possible outcome for each patient and member and embrace a customer service philosophy.
Commitment to VNSNY Employees
To exhibit respect to our colleagues and to work together as a team toward common goals.
Commitment to VNSNY as an Organization
To ensure the organization’s long-term financial viability and to maintain the highest ethical standards.
The History of VNSNY
At the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY), we are dedicated to providing high-quality health care in the home and the community. We’ve been a vital part of New Yorkers’ lives since 1893.
1893-
1929
Lillian Wald’s vision to bring nursing services into the home leads to the founding of the Henry Street Visiting Nurse Service. Ten nurses, based at the Henry Street Settlement, provide services to residents of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The Settlement expands throughout Manhattan and the Bronx. Wald’s nurse service cares for the city during the 1916 polio outbreak and 1918 influenza epidemic. Healthmobiles are established to test for diseases like diphtheria and to administer immunizations; by the end of the decade 292,000 children had been inoculated.
