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Addison County Home Health and Hospice Hosts Awards Dinner

photo by Pat Chase Addison County Home Health and Hospice recognized twenty-four employees. For five years or more of service at their Annual awards dinner held during November which is National Home Health and Hospice Month.

Tuesday December 5, 2006

By Deborah Foster

    The annual recognition dinner for Addison County Home Health and Hospice was recently held at the Vergennes Opera House. The annual employee recognition dinner is held in November which is National Home Health and Hospice Month.

    Each year, two special awards are given which honor the late Jane Gardner RN and the late Mary Ellen Burpee, a home health aide with the agency. The dinner also celebrates the achievement and dedication of Addison County's local non profit health care agency employees with five or more years of employment with Home Health.

    Jane Kearns a nurse with the agency for the past nine years was the recipient of the Jane Gardner Award for Clinical Excellence.  The Gardner award is named after Jane Gardner  a Community Health Nurse and Health Educator with Home Health who died in 2003. The Gardner Award recipient is chosen by the clinical staff for exemplifying the qualities of integrity, caring, compassion, and creativity in teaching patients and families. Marcia Wheeler, Hospice Coordinator presented the Gardner award on behalf of the clinical staff to Jane Kearns and said “Jane Kearns embodies the characteristics that Jane Gardner reflected in her daily practice. She looks for the intrinsic value of each patient and works with them to achieve a positive outcome. She is self effacing and quietly goes about providing excellent clinical care,” said Wheeler. In making her remarks, Wheeler reflected on how the two Jane's actually worked together; “Jane Gardner would be delighted in Jane Kearns receiving this year's award,”   said Marcia Wheeler.  Ms Kearns name will be added to a plaque that is displayed in the agency.

    Claire Audet was the 2006 recipient of the Mary Ellen Burpee Award for Excellence. The award is named after a home health aide who died in 2001 after working at the agency for seven years. “The Burpee award recognizes the unique and outstanding qualities valued by families and patients,” said Cheryl Connor, Home Health Aide Supervisor
in presenting the award.  Marcia Wheeler, Hospice Coordinator stated, “Claire Audet has been with Home Health for Twenty-one years and is valued for her caring, compassion and spirit of cooperation. Her special interest and support of our hospice patients has made a huge difference in so many lives.” Claire received a beautiful bouquet and her name will be added to a plaque displayed in the agency.

    Longevity of service to patients in Addison County is a hallmark of the local Home Health Agency where the average nurse has twenty-two years of nursing service” said Larry Goetschius, executive director of the agency for the past five years. “Turn over in the health care industry is generally high but at Addison County Home Health caregivers derive a great deal of satisfaction and are committed to the home health model,” said Goetschius. The home care model is a unique partnership between families and patients with the support of the home health nurse. Since its beginning in 1968, Addison County Home Health and Hospice has expanded to meet the changing health needs and increases in population of Addison County residents. Last year alone staff traveled over 650,000 miles to meet the needs of close to 70,000 Addison County patients referred by their doctors for clinical care.

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