(Top Row L-R: Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, Taiwo Griffith; Bottom Row L-R: Daniel Lansen, Frederic Siegel)

(L-R: Dawn French, Sister Mary Anne Powers)

Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester (VNSW) will be celebrating 120 years of service at their 2022 Spring Benefit Gala on Thursday, June 2, 2022, at 5:30 pm at the Westchester Country Club located at 99 Biltmore Avenue in Rye, NY. This year’s gala will recognize Burke Rehabilitation as a 2022 Honoree; Taiwo Griffith, RN, MSN, Director, Community Care Navigation as a 2022 Honoree, Daniel Lansen, President, Anatomy IT as a 2022 Honoree; Frederic Siegel, President of Caring24 Health Technologies Inc., Founder Contact Health as a 2022 Honoree; Dawn French, Senior Vice President Marketing & Community Outreach, White Plains Hospital as a 2022 Community Hero; and Sister Mary Anne Powers, Congregation of Notre Dame, Blessed Sacrament Province as a 2022 Community Hero.

"We are excited to be celebrating 120 years at our 2022 Spring Benefit Gala,” said Timothy P. Leddy, President and CEO of Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester. “This milestone anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate our agency’s impact on the health and well-being of individuals and families for the past 120 years and would not be possible without the support of our sponsors. We look forward to toasting the past and celebrating the future as we continue to make a difference in the communities we serve through our wide range of programs and services.”

“We look forward to toasting the past and celebrating the future as Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester continues to make a difference in the communities they serve through our wide range of programs and services,” said Dr. Amy Ansehl, VNSW Foundation Chairperson. “This year’s honorees and community heroes have all made an impact in the healthcare and senior communities, and we are excited to recognize them for their hard work and leadership.”

Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, a member of the Montefiore Health System, is one of the nation’s premier leaders in rehabilitation medicine. For over 100 years, Burke has provided high-quality, innovative, and compassionate care to patients at its 150-bed adult acute rehabilitation hospital in White Plains, New York. Burke offers both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation care for the full range of neurological, musculoskeletal, cardiac, and pulmonary conditions resulting from illness, injury, or surgery. This also includes rehabilitation for patients recovering from a stroke, spinal cord injury, brain injury, amputation, complicated fracture, cardiac and pulmonary disease, and neurological diseases and disorders.

Taiwo Griffith is a registered nurse with over eight years of experience at VNSW providing outstanding client care. As a registered nurse at VNSW, her responsibilities include the safe delivery of quality home care to clients in the Bronx and Westchester, as well as assessing, planning, implementing, evaluating, and coordinating all care in the home. Griffith develops and coordinates the plan of care specific to the needs of individual clients in conjunction with all health team members, and works in conjunction with a patient’s physician to modify the plan of care accordingly. Griffith received her BSN from the Chamberlain School of Nursing and also holds a Masters in Nursing, both of which she received with honors.

Daniel Lansen is the President of ANATOMY_IT., one of the largest healthcare-focused Managed IT Services firms in the country. Prior to ANATOMY_IT., Lansen was the Managing Partner at Compufit, LLC, for over a decade. Under Lansen’s leadership, the company grew to one of the largest IT services firms in the region, being recognized as an INC. 5000 regional winner and a national Top 200 Cloud Managed Services Provider. Lansen has been honored as the recipient of the Business Council of Westchester’s “40 under 40” Rising Stars Award and the Westchester County Association’s Young Professional of the Year. Lansen currently serves on the boards of the College of Westchester Foundation, Community Capital of New York, and the Westchester County Association.

Frederic Siegel is a healthcare executive and serial entrepreneur with over thirty years of leadership experience in business and product development, strategic partnerships, and team building. In 2015, Siegel started Caring24 Health Technologies, a regional provider of PERS and 24/7 life safety monitoring services with over twenty dedicated employees. Caring24 is a dominant medical alert provider in the northeast providing vital communication services to dual-eligible populations through Medicaid Managed Care Plans, home care agencies and senior living facilities. While growing Caring24, Siegel successfully launched Contact Health, a SAAS-based virtual health and biometric monitoring company to connect chronically ill, isolated individuals with their professional and family caregivers.

Dawn French is the Senior Vice President for Marketing, Communication, and Community Relations at White Plains Hospital. In her role, French is responsible for overseeing the brand and public reputation of the Hospital through management of marketing, communications, and community relations as well as government affairs efforts. As a member of the executive leadership team, she also provides counsel that helps the organization prioritize strategies to deliver on its mission of providing care that is exceptional, every day. Prior to joining White Plains Hospital, French held communications roles at Hudson Valley Hospital and Westchester Medical Center. French has a B.S. in Journalism, a master’s degree in Public Health, and is also a recipient of two Emmy Awards for television news.

Sister Mary Anne Powers is currently a member of the Congregation of Notre Dame, Blessed Sacrament Province, where she has been a member for fifty-five years. Sister Mary Anne earned her M.S. in Education and her M.Ed in Leadership: Administration and Supervision from Bank Street College of Education in New York City, becoming a teacher and administrator in elementary schools in Connecticut and New York from 1971 to 1998. In 1998, Sister Mary Anne established a Development Office for the Province and served as the first Development Director until 2007. Starting in 2009, she served as Associate Province Leader and was elected Province Leader in 2017, completing her term in September 2021. During the COVID pandemic, the ever-present support and care of the navigators and administrative staff of Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester was a lifeline for the Leadership Team and Sisters of the Province. This valued partnership continues to support each of the Sisters in their life journey to age with grace and receive the support and assistance to continue to discover ways they can be of service. 

This year’s 2022 Spring Benefit Gala was made possible thanks to the generous support from the following sponsors: 120 Years Celebratory – Mutual of America, VNSW – CCN; Building a Legacy – BNY Mellon Wealth Management, Wells Fargo; Future Innovations – Anatomy_ IT., Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, Mytrex Inc., Waterstone of Westchester; Healthy at Home –  Caring24 Health Technologies Inc, SimiTree Healthcare Consulting, PKF O’Connor Davies, White Plains Hospital; Home Cares Heroes – Compass Healthcare, Homecare Homebase, NFP Corporate Services (NY) LLC; In Good Hands – United Hebrew; Loving Care – Atria Senior Living, Hospice of Westchester, The Osborn Senior Living, Atlantic, Tomorrow’s Office.

Attendees will enjoy a festive evening hosted by former News 12 Westchester anchor and Emmy award winner Ty Milburn that will feature cocktails, dinner, awards, a silent auction, and an inspiring program that will highlight this year’s honorees and community heroes. This year in keeping everyone’s health and safety in mind, Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester is requiring that all in person attendees must show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test within 48 hours of the event. To purchase a ticket for this year’s gala, please visit vnsw120gala.givesmart.com. For additional information about this year’s event, please contact Events To Remember at (914) 218-3968 or email EventsCJH@EventsRemember.com.

About Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester: Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester (VNSW) is the largest and only independent not-for-profit, Medicare-certified home healthcare agency in Westchester that also serves the Bronx, Dutchess, Putnam, and Rockland counties. VNSW promotes and supports the health and sustains the independence of residents in the communities they serve through the delivery of home healthcare and related community health services by VNS Westchester, VNSW at Home, and VNSW at CCN, their Community Care Navigation agency. For more information about VNSW and the services that they provide, please visit them online at www.vns.org or contact 914-682-1480.