VNSNY Hospice Bereavement and Emotional Support Team and Marki Flannery Are Honored in Crain’s 2020 “Notable in Health Care” Special Report

In recognition of their tireless support of VNSNY’s own staff during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the impact their work has had on the larger community, the VNSNY Hospice Bereavement and Emotional Support Team and VNSNY’s President and CEO Marki Flannery have been honored in the Crain’s New York Business 2020 “Notable in Health Care” special report.

The Crain’s annual “Notable” list was expanded this year to include individuals and select teams who helped lead the effort to combat the COVID-19 emergency in the New York metropolitan area. “This year’s Notable in Health Care special report… features the people who helped bend the region’s steep infection curve downward and are still working to alleviate the economic and humanitarian toll,” says Crain’s, and also honors “those working to fight health care disparities and other societal problems that the pandemic accentuated.”

The VNSNY Hospice Bereavement and Emotional Support Team began as a small ad hoc group and has steadily evolved throughout the pandemic. It now includes staff from across VNSNY Hospice who support thousands of nurses, home health aides, physical therapists, social workers, spiritual care counselors and other VNSNY clinicians, care coordinators and managers. Led by Willis Partington, Lead Bereavement Counselor, the team’s other members are Ben Cirlin, Lead Licensed Social Worker; Kei Okada, Program Manager, End-of-Life Spiritual Care; and Hospice Bereavement Counselors John Anderson, Janet King, Mary Kay King, Jean Metzker, Gladys Ortiz-Alvarado, Debra Oryzysyn, Dianna Sandiford, Elizabeth Santana, Monica Santiago, Pamela Yew Schwartz and Rosanne Sonatore.

Since the onset of the coronavirus crisis, the team has provided counseling and emotional support for patients, family caregivers and VNSNY colleagues alike. “Under the guidance of Willis Partington,” noted Crain’s, “the team offers continuing group support forums for processing stress, fear, anxiety and grief related to the daily task of caring for sick, dying and grieving Covid-19 victims.” Using video conferencing, added the publication, the team meets with staff “in virtual groups that permit participants to openly share their experiences. Co-workers are able to express feelings in a confidential, safe and nonjudgmental space during a time of social distancing as they learn powerful techniques for self-care.”

To Ben Cirlin, who has hosted weekly telephone support calls for Partners in Care Home Health Aides and similar calls open to all VNSNY staff, the team’s efforts are all about those they’re supporting: “The heroes in my mind are all the VNSNY staff who are out in the field, working with and listening to people struggling day in and day out,” he says.

Besides their counseling work, the team also played an instrumental role in VNSNY’s recent Virtual Memorial Service for VNSNY employees and their loved ones who passed away during the pandemic. “It’s quite powerful, this coming together,” says Pamela Yew Schwartz. “With this virus, there’s no control and there’s no end date. No one is on solid ground. But at least we can be together to witness, acknowledge, and let people know they are not alone.”

“The team has contributed immeasurably to the emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being of our own workforce as well as that of our patient population,” adds Marki Flannery.

For Marki’s “2020 Notables in Health Care” listing, Crain’s cited her work leading VNSNY through the pandemic at a time when the New York City region had the highest rates of cases, hospitalizations and death in the nation, including her oversight of VNSNY’s shift to working remotely, and the organization’s creation of a new supply chain to procure emergency supplies of essential personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline staff. “By providing uninterrupted care” under Marki’s leadership, noted Crain’s, “VNSNY helped ease the burden on local hospitals.”

“My selection is really a recognition of all VNSNY, and the remarkable work done by our entire 13,000 staff members throughout the pandemic,” says Marki. “Everyone has worked incredibly hard and selflessly for many months. Words can’t express how proud I am of the amazing people in our organization, and everything they’ve done to support the patients and plan members we care for during these unprecedented times.”