ArchCare to Sponsor Dominican Sisters Family Health Services

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As a way to better serve the health care needs of the Catholic community in the archdiocese, Dominican Sisters Family Health Services Inc., a nonprofit home health agency, signed a letter of intent last week to transfer sponsorship to ArchCare, the archdiocese’s continuing care provider.

Dominican Sisters Family Health Services (DSFHS) is a visiting nurse service that works with children, seniors and families in underserved communities. Registered nurses and licensed practical nurses provide nursing care in the home. Care is often paired with supportive services and therapies such as social work, rehabilitation services, pastoral care and more. The nursing staff assists people after hospitalizations, those with chronic illnesses and post-surgery recovery.

“Over the last several years, the health care, and especially the home care landscape, has drastically changed, so we began looking for a partnership,” said Mary J. Zagajeski, the president and chief executive officer of DSFHS.

“The cardinal…has encouraged Catholic providers to develop larger partnerships to promote the sustainability and future of Catholic health care,” she explained. “We believe this will secure a hopeful future for the patients that we care for, as well for the organization.”

ArchCare’s services include traditional long-term residential care and short-term rehabilitation, nursing home alternatives, home health services, health plans, end-of-life and palliative care, and specialized care for those with exceptional needs. It provides service in the five boroughs, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange counties, and in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.

Scott La Rue, the president and chief executive officer of ArchCare, said, “Cardinal Dolan is very focused on expanding our health care ministry and asked that ArchCare work closely with other Catholic-sponsored agencies to help ensure a sustainable future for all as well as expand our services into the Hudson Valley.

“The collaboration with DSFHS accomplishes all three goals. We partnered with a Catholic-sponsored agency, we expand our services into the Hudson Valley and we continue our transformation from institutionally based services to home and community-based services,” he said.

One initiative planned is the creation of a mobile health clinic in the Hudson Valley to serve the poor and disenfranchised.

Sponsors of DSFHS, including the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt, Dominican Sisters of Hope, Dominican Sisters of Sparkill and the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, agreed to transfer sponsorship to ArchCare.

ArchCare and DSFHS helped to develop the Catholic Providers Forum in 2011 to bring Catholic health care organizations in the archdiocese together to share insights and new ways to work together.

“We already had a wonderful relationship with ArchCare,” Mrs. Zagajeski said. “We are thrilled at the new relationship and the hope that it brings to Catholic home care.

“We believe that this is the best partnership that DSFHS could hope for because our missions are completely aligned and our identity as a Catholic homecare provider is sustained. That is very important to us.”