2006 marked the 100th anniversary of Sutter Care at Home, and of home healthcare in general in Northern California.
We're proud of our history! Visiting nurses are as welcome in homes today as they were 100 years ago. Throughout the century they have brought compassion, expert care, and comfort to patients and their families -- making it possible for people to recover or live with illness at home, surrounded by the people and things they love.
The Sutter Care at Home Timeline
Here are some highlights of Sutter Care at Home history, from 1906 to the present:
- April 18, 1906: A massive earthquake hits San Francisco and refugees flee across the bay to Alameda County. Within days, the Berkeley Free Clinic is established to provide community health and visiting nurse services for the influx of refugees.
- 1908: Visiting nurse services are formally established as part of the Berkeley Clinic at 954 University Ave. There were no transportation services, even few sidewalks. Long distances had to be covered by foot, except when the nurse's brother came to the rescue with a horse and buggy!
- 1918: The Berkeley Clinic changes its name to the Berkeley Dispensary. The influenza epidemic hits California and the dispensary responds with 8,429 home visits to those stricken. The following year, the Berkeley chapter of the American Red Cross agrees to provide salary and equipment for a visiting nurse to serve all of Berkeley.
- 1925: The VNA of San Francisco is founded to "teach lessons of right living in the home" and to provide teaching and bedside care to reduce the "high cost of being sick." By 1926, the San Francisco VNA (now Sutter Care at Home) cared for 6,711 patients and made 32,530 home visits.
- 1937: The Sacramento VNA and San Mateo VNA (both are now Sutter Care at Home) are founded as part of the local chapters of the Red Cross. The Sacramento VNA sees 151 cases and makes 1,369 home visits for a fee of $1.25 per visit, with a sliding scale. Collecting 1/8 of the fee is considered excellent. In San Mateo, a single visiting nurse makes 2,200 home visits in a year.
- 1941: The Sacramento VNA makes 2,598 home visits. By 1946, this number has grown to 19,244 home visits a year.
- 1960: San Mateo VNA becomes one of the first visiting nurse programs in the country to offer home-based physical therapy.
- 1962: The Berkeley program is now called Berkeley Visiting Nurse Association.
- 1965: Marin Home Care (now Sutter Care at Home) is established. The program became part of Marin General Hospital in 1986, and part of Sutter Care at Home in 2004.
- 1971-1973: Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley opens a home healthcare program to assist patients after discharge from the hospital. The Berkeley VNA eventually merges with this program.
- 1977: Home Hospice of Sonoma County (now Sutter VNA & Hospice), one of the first home hospice programs in the country, is founded in Santa Rosa. By 1982 the program has expanded its bereavement services to include schools, churches, and businesses, and is a national model for no-fee support groups.
- 1977: Hospice of San Francisco (now Sutter Care at Home) is founded and creates an AIDS care team. It is the first hospice program in San Francisco to be Medicare-certified.
- 1978: The Sacramento VNA expands to serve Yolo County.
- 1980: Alta Bates Hospital begins a home hospice program.
- 1980: Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento begins a home hospice program.
- 1982: Roseville Community Hospital establishes hospice services as a "grassroots" program. The program (now Sutter Care at Home) becomes Medicare-certified in 1995.
- 1995: Berkeley VNA, along with VNA of Alameda County, becomes part of the Alta Bates Corporation, which is part of the California Health System.
- 1985: Tracy Community Hospital founds a home healthcare program, and in 1995, adds home hospice services (now Sutter Care at Home).
- 1985: The first children's bereavement art group is held in Sacramento. In 1987, Home Hospice of Sonoma County founds a children's bereavement program in Santa Rosa. Both programs are still in operation today.
- 1986: Berkeley VNA changes its name to Northern California Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice.
- 1986: San Francisco VNA and Hospice of San Francisco join Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center (which becomes California Pacific Medical Center), and is called VNA & Hospice of San Francisco.
- 1987: Roseville Community Hospital establishes home health services (now Sutter Care at Home).
- 1989: San Mateo adds the services of an on-call nurse for advice and visits between 5:00 pm and 8:00 am on weekdays, and 24 hours a day on weekends—a service that continues throughout Sutter Care at Home today.
- 1992: Northern California Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice merges with Alta Bates Hospice and changes its name to Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice of Northern California (VNAHNC). VNAHNC adds a Contra Costa County location.
- 1993: Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice of Northern California begins a community flu shot program that continues today. In 2005, the Sutter VNA & Hospice program administered 74,000 flu shots, mostly to those at highest risk from the flu.
- 1993: Sutter Health purchases the Sacramento and Roseville VNAs and renames them Sutter Visiting Nurse Association.
- 1995: San Mateo VNA merges with VNAHNC.
- 1996: Home Hospice of Sonoma County merges with VNAHNC and adds home health services.
- 1996: The VNA & Hospice Foundation is established to raise money to provide home health and hospice services to all who need them, regardless of ability to pay.
- 1997: California Health System and Sutter Health merge, making VNAHNC part of Sutter Health. VNAHNC merges with other Sutter-affiliated home health agencies at Sutter Solano, Sutter Delta, Eden (San Leandro), and Mills-Peninsula hospitals.
- 2000: Sutter Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) & Hospice is created by the merger of Sutter VNAs in Davis, Sacramento and Roseville with the Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice of Northern California (VNAHNC). Sutter Infusion & Pharmacy Services becomes part of Sutter VNA & Hospice, expanding Sutter VNA & Hospice's home-based infusion programs.
- 2002: Sutter Tracy Community Hospital Home Health and Hospice becomes part of Sutter VNA & Hospice.
- 2003: Sutter VNA & Hospice introduces the Advanced Illness Management (AIM)® program, after a three-year pilot project. AIM is an innovative way to meet the needs of chronically ill patients not enrolled in hospice care.
- 2004: Marin Home Care becomes part of Sutter VNA & Hospice.
- 2005: Visiting Nurses and Hospice of San Francisco becomes part of Sutter VNA & Hospice.
- 2005: Sutter VNA & Hospice adds home medical equipment and respiratory therapy to its continuum of services, through the merger of Sacramento-based Timberlake Corporation with Sutter VNA & Hospice. In 2006, Timberlake expands its operation to the East Bay with a San Leandro site (formerly Advanced Respiratory Care).
- 2005: Sutter Infusion & Pharmacy Services expands its services to the Bay Area with a new pharmacy located in Emeryville.
- 2006: Sutter VNA & Hospice celebrates its 100th anniversary! Our average daily census of about 7,000 patients makes us one of the largest not-for-profit "hospitals without walls" in the country!
- 2008: Developed and enhanced key clinical programs, including Advanced Illness Management (AIM)®, Cardiac Outpatient Resources, wound care and home infusion nursing.
- 2008: Partnered with Novato Community Hospital and Hospice by the Bay to implement a palliative care program to better care for patients at the end of life.
- 2009: Launched the Advanced Illness Management (AIM)® pilot in the Sacramento area. AIM® helps Medicare patients with late-stage chronic illness and their families make person-centered care decisions at the end of life. The program, designed to address the gaps in the healthcare system that these patients routinely experience, employs principles of care coordination and transitions, palliative care, and self-management.
- 2010: Began offering a telehealth program from two home health branch locations, connecting patients with a high-risk diagnosis with remote telemonitoring of weight, heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation and other symptoms. Registered nurses monitor the patients and dispatch a nurse to the home if needed.
- 2011: Sutter VNA & Hospice changes its name to Sutter Care at Home.
- 2011: Became a We Honor Veterans partner. The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs created this innovative program which is designed to improve care available to dying U.S. veterans and their caregivers.
- 2012: Implemented technologies to help improve care quality and efficiency, including Android tablets and Internet-based voice, data and messaging communications. As a result, doctors and nurses can transmit treatment updates and other critical patient information quickly and securely to site offices.
- 2012: Began training healthcare providers in acute, ambulatory, home health, palliative care and hospice settings nationwide on our Integrated Care Management model of care.
- 2012: Collaborated with Sutter Delta Medical Center on a Heart Failure Transition program in local skilled nursing facilities to reduce patient readmissions to the hospital. A pilot program will be expanded to the entire East Bay region in 2013.
- 2012: Collaborated with Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital to expand a home telemonitoring program, one designed to support patients discharged from the medical center who have a high risk for readmission (congestive heart failure patients were the initial focus).
- 2012: Fully integrated the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Santa Cruz and obtained regulatory approval for change of ownership.
- 2012: Continued to expand the Advanced Illness Management (AIM)® program to San Mateo and Santa Rosa counties.
- 2012: Began collaborating with HealthWyse, consulting in the ongoing development of HealthWyse’s chronic care management solutions.
- 2013: Fully integrated the Visiting Nurse Association of the Central Valley and obtained regulatory approval for change of ownership.
- 2013: Began developing health literate patient education materials, including Stoplight forms, medication management forms and a personal health record.
- 2014: Began equipping caregivers with tablet computers to improve access to information and care coordination among its mobile workforce. The tablets use a mobile version of the Epic electronic health record that Sutter Health uses, providing read-only data from prior hospitalizations, office visits and laboratory results.
- 2015: Acquired Hospice of the Valley and offers home health, hospice, Advanced Illness Management, and infusion therapy services to Santa Clara County.
- 2015: Acquired Alliance Home Health and offers home health services to Monterey County.