Farmington Valley VNA's Robin Baker Receives Top Nursing Award

The Farmington Valley Visiting Nurse Association is proud to announce a recipient of the highest state recognition in nursing this year. Robin Baker, Registered Nurse and Nursing Manager at Farmington Valley VNA, has received the 2018 Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing.

The Connecticut Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing was developed to recognize and celebrate the nursing profession. There are over 20,000 registered nurses in the state, and only a very few are recognized with this accolade. Nominations for outstanding nurses are submitted by health care organizations to recognize a nominee who has had significant impact on patient care, outstanding excellence in service going ‘beyond the call’, service to the community and held a career-long legacy in outstanding representation of the nursing profession.

Ms. Baker has been in the nursing profession for 25 years, managing and advancing the hospice as well as the home care programs at the VNA. For both departments she developed curriculum to train VNA nurses in home and hospice care and nursing homes in hospice care, and handled all federal hospice licensing requirements and training for the agency. She trained the home health aides and developed the curriculum for ongoing training. She is passionate about home care nursing and takes each new nurse under her wing to develop their talents, skill and compassion.

In addition to the management of the nursing staff, Robin also is the professional on staff at the VNA for information technology for day to day solutions. She assists in the development for electronic medical record product to meet federal guidelines. She is a key player in maintaining the financial stability in this nonprofit organization and how to better achieve timely, cost-effective, quality care. In addition to management roles, Robin also continues to make home visits, cover on-call, and bring her personal skill to those in need.

The Farmington Valley Visiting Nurse Association is a non-profit home health care agency located in Simsbury and serves the greater Farmington Valley and surrounding towns. For more than 100 years it has been serving the area by providing in home nursing and rehabilitation care, community wellness programs, home health services and hospice care and the Granby Food Bank. The primary focus is on healthy living and illness prevention by in home health support of individuals. For more information on the services provided or volunteer opportunities, call 860-651-3539.