The holiday season is more than just a time for celebrations—it’s a chance to make a real difference. This Giving Tuesday, let’s focus on the power of local generosity and how it can transform lives in our community.
At Noozhawk, we believe that every act of kindness counts. Our Giving Guide is your gateway to discovering local organizations doing incredible work and in need of support. Whether it’s a small donation or volunteering your time, your contribution can spark positive change as we wrap up the year.
Explore our Good for Santa Barbara Nonprofit Section today and help brighten the season for those who need it most!
In this interview, Noozhawk spoke with Easter Moorman, Director of Marketing & Communications at VNA Health, to learn more about the nonprofit’s mission to care for our community with compassion and integrity.
VNA Health
Question: What is the name of your nonprofit, and what is its mission?
Answer: We are VNA Health, and our mission is caring for our community with compassion and integrity and our vision is that every person lives with health and dignity.
VNA Health provides Home Health Care, Palliative Care, Hospice Care, Bereavement Care, and Community Care charitable programs such as the Loan Closet, Music Services, Pet Therapy, We Honor Veterans, and Pediatric Concurrent Care.
VNA Health also offers Serenity House – the largest, nonprofit in-patient hospice facility in California – as a home away from home for hospice patients who need 24/7 comfort care.
Q: How long has your organization been serving the community, and who founded it?
A: Founded in 1908, by a visiting nurse, Marian Watts, VNA Health is California’s third oldest Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) and continues to be a leading nonprofit medical provider of comprehensive in-home healthcare, helping patients at any age or stage in life – and their families – live well at home, wherever they reside and call home.
Q: What motivated the creation of your nonprofit?
A: Marian Watts and a group of “public-spirited and far-sighted women” founded VNA Health for the health and well-being of community residents unable to afford services or seek treatment.
In the early twentieth century, VNA Health helped lay the foundation for many of today’s public healthcare and social services in Santa Barbara County such as the first clinics for infant welfare, women’s health, dental care, cardiac care, urgent care, and immunizations; as well as the first nursing school programs, boarding homes for children, and summer health camps.
Q: How is your nonprofit primarily funded, and what are its biggest needs right now?
A: VNA Health is Santa Barbara County’s only nonprofit, medically licensed in-home provider of home health care, palliative care, and hospice care. In addition, VNA Health is committed to providing more than $2.4 million each year in subsidized care and charitable Community Care programs.
It is because of the generosity of individuals, organizations, and foundations, VNA Health continues to care for generations of families, friends, and neighbors. Whether facing illness, injury, surgery, end of life, or loss of a loved one, VNA Health is there when we need it most. Help us sustain our legacy of charitable care.
> 2023 Combined Agency Revenue: $28,128,445
> 2023 Combined Agency Expenses: $31,755,176
> 2023 Charitable Community Care Benefit: $2,482,239
Q: What types of events or programs do you run to engage your community and raise funds?
A: If compassion and care were the only currency needed to sustain VNA Health’s services, we would provide them in abundance. However, as a nonprofit we rely on our community’s support to continue delivering exceptional care for our families, friends, and neighbors, who depend on these services to live well at every stage of life. VNA Health has a few beloved annual signature events that offer exciting opportunities for our philanthropic communities to support and join. For sponsorship info call 805-690-6218.
PHORUM: PERSPECTIVES IN HEALTHCARE (MARCH): Phorum is VNA Health’s free community education program. Designed to be an annual symposium featuring health care topics critical to Santa Barbara County, PHORUM brings together healthcare experts and stakeholders, community leaders, and the public at large in meaningful, progressive dialogue about relevant and timely healthcare issues. Learn more on our website.
MOTHER’S DAY LUNCHEON (MAY): VNA Health was founded more than a century ago by a group of public-spirited and far-sighted women led by an exceptional nurse, Marian Watts. Our community has been fortunate to have remarkable women and compassionate caregivers who have shaped the legacy of our community’s character, health, and ability to live well. In honor of our amazing mothers and caregivers, we gather each year on the Friday before Mother’s Day for our distinguished and beloved Mother’s Day Luncheon to celebrate two mothers – one living and one in memory – and to share our gratitude for their lives and contributions to our community. Learn more on our website.
SANTA BARBARA YACHCT CLUB CHARITY REGATTA (SEPT): Each year, the Santa Barbara Yacht Club (SBYC) comes together to race and raise funds to support VNA Health’s mission of caring with compassion and integrity. Over 20 years SBYC has raised more than $2.6 million cumulatively. Learn more on our website.
ANGELS AMONG US (DEC): Every year, VNA Health hosts our annual Angels Among Us remembrance services in December. Angels Among Us is a special offering over the holidays to honor and remember those who live in our memories. During the Holidays, the need for bereavement support is greatest, as memories and traditions can bring up grief and loss. Learn more on our website.
Q: How can people get involved with your nonprofit or volunteer?
A: Volunteers are vital at VNA Health. Thanks to the invaluable support of volunteers, VNA Health has been able to better serve our communities for more than a century.
Whether helping a hospice patient through a hard day or offering administrative assistance for staff or greeting guests at a special event, our VNA Volunteers make a difference. All of our volunteers are carefully screened and are required to complete volunteer training. An individualized, self-study training option is available.
To learn more about being an Administrative Volunteer, Trained Hospice Volunteer, or join our Veteran to Veteran Program, please contact Lucia Herrera at 805.690.6245 or email lucia.herrera@vna.health.
Q: What sets your nonprofit apart from similar organizations?
A: At VNA Health we are about PEOPLE over Profit, and we are 100% committed to sustaining our nonprofit charitable mission. We support, work for, and live in our communities. The work we do, the services we provide, the families we support are extensions of our own – and to us, THIS MEANS MORE!
At VNA Health we serve through our Circle of Care, which focuses on our patients and their families, and our goal to connect them to the best team of clinicians and caregivers so we can help them live with health and dignity. Unlike any other home healthcare provider in Santa Barbara County, we are committed to a charitable mission to ensure that the people of our communities have access to quality medical and therapeutic care at home.
Furthermore, VNA Health offers Serenity House – the only nonprofit and largest in-patient hospice facility within 150 miles of Santa Barbara. Serenity House stands as a beacon of hope and comfort for families and the communities of Santa Barbara County. The Serenity House team provides round-the-clock medical care by specially trained doctors, nurses, social workers, counselors, hospice aides, and volunteers who support emotional, spiritual, and practical concerns. Serenity House is a unique place where loved ones can transition at end of life with dignity and comfort, and their family caregivers can rest and just be present to spend quality time together.
Q: Can you share a fun fact or little-known detail about your nonprofit that would surprise people?
A: The VNA Health Loan Closet is likely the first local community healthcare program to utilize a “Sustainable Life Cycle,” decades before the launch of the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle campaign. Since its founding in 1908, VNA Health has always offered a “Loan Closet” initially providing bed linen, night clothes, and nursing appliances.
Today, the Loan Closet annually serves more than 4,000 residents of all ages from Carpinteria to Santa Maria, and continues to be the only nonprofit community resource in Santa Barbara County offering all residents free, short-term loans of basic Durable Medical Equipment (DME) such as wheelchairs, knee-scooters, walkers, shower safety seats, crutches, canes, and more.
The average wheelchair ($500-$1500) or walker ($40-$700) has a usable life span of more than five years. The Loan Closet helps protect our environment and helps our community residents save more than $1 million in retail costs for DME every year.
Q: What makes your organization trustworthy for donors, and are there other ways people can support your cause beyond donations?
A: Licensed to serve the communities of Santa Barbara County, Ventura County, and San Luis Obispo County, VNA Health has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® in Home Health Care, Palliative Care, and Hospice Care and 4-Star Patient Satisfaction Rating from CMS.
Achieving a 4-star rating ranks VNA Health as above average in comparison to home health agencies nationwide; and an organization that achieves The Gold Seal of Approval® shows its commitment to holding itself accountable to a high bar for quality and safety for those they serve.
As a nonprofit organization, VNA Health is honored to have received the Candid GuideStar Platinum Seal of Transparency, which is awarded to charities demonstrating the highest level of responsible fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency. At VNA Health, transparency and sustainability build excellence, which helps ensure that our services can be provided compassionately, and with integrity.
VNA Health is honored to be a 4-Star Level Member of We Honor Veterans. To earn a 4-star rating, the highest level, the organization must ensure that all staff is regularly educated about the unique needs of Veteran patients and their families, participate in community outreach and networking, and continually assess program improvements.
VNA Health is proud to be a member of the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation. NPHI is a member-comprised organization driven by passion and integrity to help people live fully through the end-of-life. Our most important priorities, policies and initiatives are learned at the bedside, not in the board room. Our members are community-focused hospice, palliative care, and advanced illness providers across the country focused on the highest quality, person and family-centered, end-of-life care.
The Pacific Coast Business Times (PCBT) once again recognizes VNA Health as a 2024 Best Place to Work along the Central Coast. VNA Health has been recognized as a Best Place to Work since 2017. In addition, PCBT has recognized VNA Health leaders as Champions in Healthcare in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2023.
Q: Can you highlight one immediate goal and one long-term vision your nonprofit aims to achieve in the next year?
A: Currently, in Santa Barbara County, there is no dedicated provider for Pediatric Concurrent Care services. VNA Health is working to change this so we can help families have an enhanced quality of life.
Starting in 2024, VNA Health is co-leading a dedicated group of providers to create a coordinated, specialty-trained Pediatric Concurrent Care program.
This program will provide services through an interdisciplinary team specializing in pediatric pain and symptom management, and pediatric end-of-life care, working with local pediatricians, providers, clinics, and health systems.
Children differ from adults anatomically, physiologically, cognitively, and psychologically. When very sick children qualify for Concurrent Care, it means they may receive two levels of care at the same time, avoiding the impossible choice between life-prolonging curative treatment and hospice care.
Curative treatment focuses on curing a condition and can range from fighting an infection with medication to fighting cancer with chemotherapy. Hospice care (end-of-life care) helps patients not expected to live longer than six months stay as comfortable as possible through pain and symptom management, mental health care, and family caregiver support. Through VNA Health’s leadership of this collaboration, the first dedicated Concurrent Care program for children living with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition will launch in 2025.
Click here to support VNA Health’s mission to care for our community with compassion and integrity and their vision that every person lives with health and dignity.
Check out Noozhawk’s Guide to Giving for a full list of nonprofits to donate to this giving season.
If you would like to include your nonprofit in our Good for Santa Barbara section and Giving Guide click HERE.