Interview with Carlita D. Vasser RN, CCN, Director of Nursing/CEO At Home Care

What is your current health care position? What are your responsibilities in this position?

I am the founder, CEO, and director of nursing at At Home Care. It was founded in 2011. My responsibilities are managing the overall operations of the organization. Our mission is ever-changing. That’s probably everyone’s situation due of COVID. But originally, our biggest focus was on keeping individuals independent in their homes without having the need for a nursing home. We know how difficult it is when an individual is trying to make the determination between going into a nursing home or staying in their own home. So, our goal is to be an asset to the individual.  

How do you feel you are able to make a difference in this position?

At Home Care not only provides service to disabled adults. I mean nonmedical services such as light housekeeping, dressing, bathing, and grooming; we also offer disease management and even immediate relief from life issues such as assistance with getting groceries, or Meals on Wheels or connecting them to resources that are in the community. One of the biggest characteristics of At Home Care is not only providing home health care but we also try to bring the resources to the individual from different nonprofit and even some for-profit organizations; accessibility is sometimes a hindrance or even having knowledge of the resources. So, we bring the resources to them.

Since the beginning of this year, we have become a vaccination clinic. We have been vaccinating pretty much weekly. We don’t have a clinic per se…we have a mobile clinic where we go into different locations in the communities. In St. Louis, we’ve partnered with food pantries and churches, even the bureau of immunization and the national guard. Outside the St. Louis area, the other offices have pretty much done the same in providing vaccines wherever individuals are.

Health care is a team sport. Tell us about your team and how they help you succeed.

We have a coordinated care plan that’s done for each of our clients that’s individualized so collectively, our team works together to meet the needs of the individual holistically. At Home Care has a total of four offices in Missouri. Our main office is here in St. Louis, but we have an office in Hannibal, Springfield, and in St. Clair. We cover very large areas and because of that the needs may differ between rural and urban areas. Our managers are experts in healthcare. Their responsibilities include connecting individuals to resources that are very much needed, they also offer guidance to help families make very hard decisions such as whether their loved ones are going to move into the home of their individual family members or whether the family member is going to move home with mom to help out and even offering support and resources for individuals who have to move into hospice. They have a wide range of duties. Our nurses are the face of At Home Care as well as all of our aides. They are an extension of what we do. Our employees are an important asset to what we do and who we are.        

COVID-19 has disrupted all of our work and lives. How has it disrupted your work, and how are you adapting?

During the pandemic it was very challenging finding staff or hiring caregivers. Our staff have been phenomenal. Many people had to work remotely. Healthcare is an interesting industry; it really didn’t have that much of an option. Our services require hands-on and in order for our seniors, disabled adults or our pediatric patients to continue to have quality of life, our services had to continue. So, COVID the fears of the virus did put a bit of a dent in how many caregivers and aides we were able to hire. But we still had to go out and see clients and provide healthcare. Even during their off days, our staff volunteered, not just in their own worlds, they volunteered outside the regions they service, they provided food to individuals from parking lots, food distribution locations to going door-to-door to residents in our communities who aren’t even clients. It was about making sure that everyone had what they needed. They did grocery store runs for seniors who may not have had access to transportation.

Mentors are crucial to the development of a successful professional. Tell us about a mentor and how that person guided you.

To be honest, I’m probably one of the anomalies out there. I haven’t had a formal mentor. Over the course of ten years, I’ve had different sounding boards along the way from several individuals. However, I’ve always felt that mentorship is very important. Over the past few years, I’ve had interns I’ve mentored from different entities. I’ve mentored nurses and individuals interested in going to nursing schools. Currently, we have three individuals we’re currently mentoring, and we have partnerships with some of the universities to have interns come through and help them develop whatever skill sets they’re trying to develop.     

Do you have a previous position that helped prepare you for this work? If so, tell us about that.

It’s pretty much me being in nursing for more than 20 years. I have a master’s degree in management and leadership and I’m actually working on my doctorate degree. Prior to this, I had a few other positions…I was a consultant for a little bit, a senior-level executive for an insurance company as well as working in home health for many years prior. Owning my own healthcare business was pretty much the only thing I had not done.    

Tell us about your experiences as a student that prepared you for this work.

I look at life as a world of learning so all of my experiences from every teacher, professor and classmates I’ve met along the way, I’ve learned something from them. I will say that as an entrepreneur, there’s nothing that prepares you for that life.

The Missouri Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of Medicaid expansion in Missouri – What are your feelings about Medicaid Expansion?

I have been very vocal these past few years about my stance on Medicaid expansion. I do believe the verbiage confuses people. Medicaid expansion is really about expanding the threshold of income for an individual to be eligible for Medicaid. It confuses people if we don’t give the definition or explanation behind it. Medicaid in Missouri has one of the lowest income thresholds out of the 50 states in the United States. Medicaid is based on the federal poverty level. Missouri is, I believe, 85 percent below the federal poverty level. The expansion will allow individuals who are just the ‘working poor’ or one paycheck away from being broke; individuals who have full time jobs but are paying for daycare and car notes and just day-to-day life but aren’t able to afford health insurance. I wholeheartedly believe that Medicaid expansion will help the, I believe, 295,000 people of Missouri in need.  

What are your thoughts about receiving this “Excellence in Healthcare” award?

Oh, this is an honor. Receiving an award from your peers is always a blessing. You’re always so busy working and not pausing to review the work. There are many nominated so this is really a privilege. At Home Care has been recognized before for our work in communities but this is actually my first nursing award so it’s a true honor. 

Carlita Vasser named Excellence in Healthcare awardee

The St. Louis American Foundation's 21st Annual Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awards will be celebrated as a free virtual event at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 29. For additional details and registration, please visit givebutter.com/2021HealthSalute.