ABOUT VNA
HISTORY
For a century Visiting Nurse Association has been caring for people in their home.
Home health, or private duty nursing, was conceived in 1865 in Liverpool, England, where a wealthy English gentleman hired a nurse to care for his ailing wife. In 1895 the Provident Association of St. Louis, VNA's original parent organization, organized the area's first nursing committee to care for "the indigent sick" in their homes. Provident's visiting nurses preferred horse and buggy to streetcar services, finding it to be a more efficient mode of transportation to homebound patients. It has been said that the visiting nurse would arrive at a patient's home with clean linens, sheets, and gowns. Frequently a small white dog would accompany the nurse to guard the buggy's contents during the visit.
On January 6, 1911, Visiting Nurse Association was officially organized as an independent, nonprofit agency dedicated to providing the highest quality home health care. VNA has come a long way since the days of horse and buggy but their commitment quality remains as steadfast today as it was a hundred years ago. While VNA no longer offers traditional home nursing care, VNA provides a variety of health care services throughout the Greater St. Louis Area and beyond.
