WE’RE

HIRING OPEN ROLES:

RN and LPN

PT and PTA

SLP Per Visit

Hospice HHA or CNA

Hospice RN

APPLY TODAY: vnacare.org/careers

WM-33409869

Home health and hospice care is uniquely rigorous and exceptionally rewarding. Although it requires a specific set of skills and characteristics, our nurses ease into their new roles while working with a preceptor and educator through our strong orientation program. If you see these qualities in yourself and are interested in joining our team, please check out our careers page. We would love to meet you and welcome you to our team!

We refer to our clinicians as “healthcare heroes” because the work they do truly is life-changing and enables patients to stay in their homes. Working directly with patients as a home health or hospice nurse requires a distinct set of qualities as they deliver care in our communities. To succeed in these roles, VNA Care looks for these characteristics in candidates for our home health and hospice nursing positions.

Independence and Critical Thinking: Home health and hospice nurses work at the top ·of their licensure in an environment unlike any other in healthcare. They must possess high levels of aptitude and autonomy to operate independently while caring for patients with a wide range of needs. Our nurses must possess the ability to independently communicate assessment findings and care needs of the patient. This requires keen assessment skills, critical thinking, creative problemsolving, and self- motivation to empower patients to meet their health care goals.

Teamwork: Although home health and hospice nursing require autonomy there is a community of support at VNA Care. Nurses draw on the expertise of, and learn new skills from, VNA Care’s nurse specialists. They have support from clinical services managers and participate in interdisciplinary collaboration with other team members to provide the best possible patient care. teach it to your child. But even if you don’t, use everyday situations to introduce international words and phrases. It can be as simple as telling children that in Italian “bath” becomes “bagno” or in French, “bed” becomes “lit.” Easy! English itself is a product of many cultures so when your child learns a new word identify its origin. You can use the Online Etymology Dictionary to show the origin of words like dinosaur (Greece), shampoo (India) and barbecue (Haiti).

Organization: Organizational skills are critical in this role, particularly when working independently in the field. Our nurses visit with multiple patients per day with complex and unique needs. Organization helps them handle multiple priorities and adapt quickly to unforeseen changes if necessary.

Empathy and compassion: The people we serve may be recovering from surgery, managing an illness or other health conditions or they may be on their end-of-life journey. Empathy and compassion are important parts of support. An empathic and compassionate approach to care makes all the difference in creating that source of support.

Passion for the work we do: VNA Care nurses enjoy working face-to-face with patients and being an integral part of our communities. They build meaningful relationships with patients and families, becoming trusted partners to help live their best lives at home.

Home health and hospice care is uniquely rigorous and exceptionally rewarding. Although it requires a specific set of skills and characteristics, our nurses ease into their new roles while working with a preceptor and educator through our strong orientation program. If you see these qualities in yourself and are interested in joining our team, please check out our careers page. We would love to meet you and welcome you to our team!

5. Travel often – even if it’s only virtually.

Mark Twain wrote that travel is “fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.” Apply for passports for your children even if no immediate trip is planned. Use it when possible, but also consider visiting ethnic communities closer to home. Take virtual tours of cities and “walk” the halls of famous museums and buildings. Time For Kids provides an excellent site where children can “travel” around the world through ageappropriate news articles.

6. Turn up the music.

Music moves children of all ages and places. Plug into their iPods and talk about tunes that travel the globe. From country to pop, from reg gae to rap, international influences heavily shape the melodies we love. You can tell your toddler about the Wiggles’ Australian home or share with your pre-teen the British punk roots that spawned Green Day or even discuss Jamaican contributions to hip hop. Use an online radio service like Pan dora to create stations to expose your kids to African music, French songs, or even just a “world music” station for a variety of cultures.

7. Connect to other children.

Children are fascinated by other children. Describe what children do in other countries and how their lifestyles differ. There are many resources. Penpalworld. com, for example, connects kids with other children in the world. Also, explore ways for children to communicate with other children, through letters or email. They may even want to help other children through groups like We.org, Kids Can Make a Difference or UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund.

8. Where was it made?

Even young children can be introduced to basic facts about the global economy and the global production system. One simple way to do that is to connect the clothes on their backs to where they were made. Children can also trace the origin of common household items and learn how they were assembled. Locate these nations on the map and find out about their culture. More in-depth lessons might explore the lives of workers who made these items, some of whom are children.

9. Discover the United Nations.

Despite its flaws, the United Nations is the dominant international organization of our time and has united people from all over the world in many critical efforts. It also provides many great resources. For example, learn more about the U.N.’s history, its 193 member nations and important global causes. Also, introduce your children to other international organizations that link countries and cultures.

10. Stay on top of the schools.

Encourage and support schools to introduce and expand global studies programs. Applaud those who champion such programs, and work to convince and persuade those who do not.

There are many ways to raise world citizens. As parents who have seen, for better and for worse, how well our own children can mimic behaviors, we’d like to offer one last bonus suggestion: Always keep in mind the power of your example. Stay curious about your world. Seek new and different perspectives. Converse with those who are different. And, perhaps most important, offer examples of ways to translate values into action. After all, tomorrow’s world citizens must not only understand their world, they may be called upon to save it. Y

Article originally provided by J. Michael Adams and Angel Carfagna and updated by Boston Parent staff.