Visiting Nurse Association 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).

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.

A solid foundation was laid in 1969 as Douglas County VNA’s founder, Lyn Rothwell, RN, and a group of community leaders formed a corporation to provide home health care in Douglas County.

By the early 1970’s, VNA nurses had offices in three low-income housing communities in Arbor Hill.

In 1976, the VNA moved to its present, much larger home, at 35 Colvin Avenue in Albany.

The year 1983 was a big one for VNS Health, with the creation of two major programs: Hospice Care and Personal Care.

To give the agency a vehicle to raise money for these unfunded services, the not-for-profit VNA Foundation was established in 1984.

Visiting Nurses Home Care (VNHC), an affiliated licensed home-care service agency, was founded in 1988 to provide supportive services including certified home health and personal care, licensed practical nursing, and registered professional nursing.

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.

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.

In 2009, Essex Valley Visiting Nurse Association, serving residents in Essex and Hudson counties, joined the VNACJ family.

In 2011, VNA of Central Jersey, its affiliates and partners joined together as Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) Health Group and added, its most recent member VNA of Englewood.

In 2014, the agency began providing services in eight additional Capital Region counties.