V & A Home Care Services history

Our organization began with a meeting of volunteers on June 24, 1912, at Brookdale Farm in Lincroft, NJ. The young organization set out to improve prison conditions and achieve a more humane approach to public assistance.

By 1918, the agency adopted the name Monmouth County Organization for Social Service (MCOSS).

First studied in 1928, this remained an unresolved policy dilemma in the United States.

In 1944, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) was established as an agency separate from the original Henry Street Settlement.

An active Southern Monmouth Auxiliary opened the doors of the Thrift Shop in Manasquan in 1960.

In 1988, the agency expanded to serve the people of Middlesex County through acquisition of the Visiting Nurse Association in Middlesex.

In an effort to make the organization’s identity clear in both Middlesex County and Monmouth County, the agency’s trustees voted in December, 1993 to adopt the name Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey (VNACJ).

VNS Health expanded offerings for children and families and in 1998 began offering health plans to help people stay in their homes and communities safely and independently.

A 2004 study found that one in five (22.9 million) United States households were involved in caring for a person older than eighteen.

In 2008, VNA of Central Jersey joined with Visiting Nurse and Hospice Services and partnered with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital to enhance and expand home and community care options for the residents of Mercer, Somerset, Union, Burlington, Gloucester, and Camden counties.