Home Care Nurses:  The Beating Heart of Community Health  File Photo By Constance Washington, RN, Care Coordinator VNS Health Health Plans  Bronx Voice  May 5, 2025 NEW YORK - Many people might think that for nurses the workplace would be a hospital, clinic, or doctor’s office. But for the 180,000+ New York home care nurses who provide care to people at home, the “workplace” could be a basement apartment, a 30-floor high-rise, a house with a 2-car garage, a park bench, or just about anywhere someone actually lives. In my 19 years as a Home Care Nurse and Care Coordinator with VNS Health, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit home- and community-based health care organizations, I’ve pretty much seen it all. And one thing I know—home is where people want to be if they can when they’re recovering from surgery, illness or other health conditions. This special group of frontline heroes is the “beating heart” of community he...