VNA Hospice NWI

The Visiting Nurse Association of Northwest Indiana is a not-for-profit home health care agency established in 1970. With administrative offices and the VNA Hospice Center located in Valparaiso, Indiana, the VNA of Porter County serves Porter County and contiguous portions of Lake, LaPorte, Starke and Jasper counties. The VNA provides hospice care in patient's homes, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, in the home of a caregiver and inpatient hospice care at the Arthur B. and Ethel V. Horton VNA Hospice Center. The VNA also provides Meals on Wheels, Lifeline and children's grief support at the VNA Phoenix Center. A wide variety of ongoing and one-time volunteer opportunities exist within the VNA. Volunteers are the backbone of the agency, enabling the VNA to meet their missions of helping those in need remain safe and independent in their own homes. Volunteer recruitment, training, support and recognition are vital components of the comprehensive volunteer program. The VNA of Porter County is a United Way member agency .

The Visiting Nurse Association of Northwest Indiana is a not for profit organization committed to providing the highest quality of care to persons in the community. In 1970, nurses from Porter Memorial Hospital in Valparaiso, Indiana, voiced their concerns about patients who were discharged but still needed medical care. In answer to their plea, the Visiting Nurse Association was founded in September, 1970 to become the first home health care agency in Porter County, offering nursing and physical therapy. Over the years, the VNA has responded to the changing needs of the community by adding services including speech and occupational therapy, home health aide services, nutritional counseling, medical social services and hospice. The VNA of Porter County established its home hospice program in 1983. The 10-bed VNA Hospice Center, opened in 1994 in a leased wing of a local nursing home, set precedent as the first free-standing inpatient hospice facility in Indiana. The VNA undertook a $2.85 million capital campaign in 2000 for the construction of a 20-bed inpatient center. The VNA was awarded a $250,000 Kresge Foundation challenge grant to cap off the capital campaign and in 2002 opened the 20-bed Arthur B. and Ethel V. Horton VNA Hospice Center. In 2015, the home health care and therapy division of the VNA was acquired by Porter Home Health, a division of Community Health System, which also operates Porter Regional Hospital. The VNA continues to provide home and inpatient hospice care, VNA Meals on Wheels, Lifeline and children's grief support at the VNA Phoenix Center.