Visiting Nurse Home Care & Hospice Serving Community’s Homecare Needs Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

March 20, 2020

Sandy Ruka, Executive Director of Visiting Nurse Home Care & Hospice of Carroll County, wants to assure the community that their team of nurses, therapists, home health aids, social workers and other helpers are still hard at work despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 epidemic.

Ruka shared, “We are taking every precaution and at the current time have sufficient protective equipment to protect our staff and clients. We are maintaining services, although on a more limited basis, with everyone’s safety foremost on our mind.”

Visiting Nurse Home Care & Hospice is receiving daily CDC updates to remain current on the highly changeable situation. Despite this, Ruka added, “We are here. We are on top of the situation. We are making on-going plans but it’s always about safety and service to our clients.”

While their team of caregivers are still doing in-home care, including nursing care, physical therapy, long term care and home making services, some administrative staff is working from their homes to minimize the number of people in the office at any one time, following CDC requirements. However, clients should rest assured that staff working from home are still available, and all contact information for email and phone are still the same. 

Ruka continued, “We’ve had to move some services, such as clergy or social service visits, to phone calls to minimize everyone’s contact with each other. It’s still always available should that need arise and it will always be there.” She also welcomed calls from anyone with questions about home care and the impacts of COVID-19. The office number at VNHCH is 603-356-7006.
With so much subject to change due to ongoing events, the community is recommended to follow the organization’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/VisitingNurseHomeCareHospiceOfCarrollCounty/ or website at www.vnhch.org.