Visiting Nurses Association of Allegheny County

The Visiting Nurses Association of Allegheny County closed in 2000, it started in 1919 as the Public Heath Nursing Association of Pittsburgh. In 1948 they incorporated as the Visiting Nurses Association of Allegheny County. The organization is a descendent of the Fruit and Flower Mission, but the organization split from Fruit and Flower and that organization continued its work of visiting the sick and elderly. They were one of only a few home care agencies when they started out. They started hospice serves in 1970 and a stroke group, they were the first to do home chemo in the 1980s. When Fez started in 1972 you had to have a bachelor’s degree but they loosened this rule during her time with the organization and when she left in 1999 they had around 700 employees. They closed because of Medicare financial issues.