Championing Community Care

Supporting VNAHSR to Make a Tangible Local Impact and Honor Personal Connection

Why did OneDigital decide to support the VNA? What inspired you to first give to our VNA?

OneDigital chose a theme for 2024 of “Make it Matter” to remind us that everything we do matters to our colleagues and our clients.  We also consider ourselves to be “fierce advocates” for our clients and or each other.  When looking to make a charitable contribution, we are looking for an organization that shares those values within our own community.  I can’t think of an organization whose work matters more than the VNA, and I know your staff advocate fiercely for their clients as well.  There are plenty of organizations on a national scale that share those values as well, but as Vermonters we want to help here at the local level when we can.

Is there a specific program of ours that you find most compelling?

This is a hard one because they are all so important.  For myself, Hospice and home health both come to mind as causes that are very close to my heart.  My father-in-law was able to pass away peacefully at home because of the beautiful services of Hospice, and I know anyone who has gone through the death of a loved one really values anyone who helped to reduce the stress of that event.  Similarly, I believe home health care is one of the most important services anyone can provide, which is sadly undervalued in our culture until we need it ourselves.  The ability to stay in one’s home to receive health care is incredibly important for overall wellbeing, especially for someone with a critical condition.

Does anyone at OneDigital have a personal relationship to our VNA or a VNA that motivated your giving?

The older I get, the more my life is touched by loss and loved ones’ health crises.  When my dad had open heart surgery last year, he had to receive IV infusions for three weeks after surgery, and it was a true blessing to have a nurse come to the home several times a week to do that, check his bandages, and overall put eyes on him in a very vulnerable time.  I live 500 miles away from my dad, so that was the first time home health care really became important to me.

What do you hope your charitable giving to the VNA will achieve?

I wish this type of care was more valued and better funded in our country.  By lacking that, it is incumbent on all of us in the community to support the agencies that may someday be supporting us or someone we love.  With the VNA’s presence throughout the state, these are our literal neighbors and family members being served.  At OneDigital, one of our core values is that when employers take care of their employees by offering good benefits and insurance, sound HR policies, and generous retirement plans, the employees become healthier, happier, and their lives are enriched.  There is a ripple effect that we hope will be mirrored in our donation to the VNA.  When an organization such as VNA is well-supported, the people it serves become healthier, happier, and their lives are enriched.

What do you believe makes the biggest impact on those we serve?

One of the side effects of our modern society is that families are more spread out than they used to be.  As a result, there are people who live alone and may not be able to care for themselves, generational wisdom is lost, people grieve alone.  Having a support system like the VNA can help to close these gaps.  Personal connection and care is the core of human society, so it really doesn’t get more fundamentally important than the work that you all do.