Visiting Nurse Services re-brands as Visiting Nurse Home and Hospice

PORTSMOUTH — Visiting Nurse Services of Newport and Bristol Counties re-branded Tuesday afternoon as Visiting Nurse Home and Hospice , with a new url, new logo and new sign outside their East Main Road location, making their long-standing hospice services obvious and removing geographical references.

“We’ve been offering hospice for the last 25 years,” said Janis Gordon, Director of Marketing and Development at Visiting Nurse Home and Hospice.

The independent non-profit home health agency, founded in 1950, provides skilled nursing, rehabilitation therapies, hospice and palliative care, and community wellness clinics. The agency is based at 1184 East Main Road in Portsmouth.

Gordon said the re-branding plan, which she and her colleagues have been working on for the last nine months, was geared to address a number of long-standing branding concerns, primarily widespread lack of awareness of the organization’s hospice services.

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“Our long-term referral sources would continue to say, ‘I didn’t know you did hospice,’ ” Gordon said.

Now, with hospice in the name, that common blind spot will be dispelled, she said.

The name change also allows the organization to eliminate the perceived geographic limitations of their old name, Gordon said.

Visiting Nurse Home and Hospice offers home care and rehabilitation services, for instance, in Fall River, Swansea and Somerset in Massachusetts, an element of their organization that isn’t well represented in the original name.

There are a number of patients who live in southeastern Rhode Island the Visiting Nurse Home and Hospice could service upon their release from hospitals in the those three communities, Gordon said. Now, when those patients are discharged, VNHH will be more likely to be part of their planning.

With the new name, corresponding web address, logo and building sign, the Visiting Nurse Home and Hospice has “A refreshed look that’s more appropriate for 2017,” Gordon said.

“We are here to stay, but feel there is a need to make the community aware of our Hospice Program which is ranked in the top 5 percent nationally for customer satisfaction. Our commitment to the local community will not change, but we feel it is essential to respond to the needs of our referral sources, patients, and community partners. During our 67-year history as a non-profit home health agency, we have had a few evolving names.  Visiting Nurse Home and Hospice is who we are now and who we will continue to be for the foreseeable future,” said Candace Sharkey, Visiting Nurse Home & Hospice CEO.

Rob Borkowski is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Borkowski@PBN.com.