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 ABOUT VON CANADA |
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| Business Profile |
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For over 100 years, VON has pioneered health services in Canada. It has a proud tradition of often being the first to identify emerging health and social needs, and then providing innovative services that meet those needs. That's the way it's been since the founding of the Victorian Order of Nurses for Canada.
VON is a not-for-profit, national health care organization and registered charity offering a wide range of community health care solutions, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
VON was founded in 1897 and now has 62 branches that deliver community health care solutions in 1,300 communities across 10 provinces. It boasts more than 7,000 staff and 13,000 volunteers.
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| Business History |
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In the Canada of the late 1890s, nurses, doctors and hospitals were desperately needed in remote areas and in rapidly growing towns and cities.
Lady Ishbel Aberdeen, wife of Canada's then current governor-general, visited Vancouver in 1896. During this visit, she heard vivid accounts of the hardship and illness affecting women and children in isolated areas of our young country.
Later that same year, Lady Aberdeen was a participant at the annual meeting in Halifax of the National Council of Women, where similar horror stories were exchanged by the women in attendance.
In her autobiography, VON's founder was later to write of this meeting: " ...many of the members told pathetic stories of cases where young mothers and children had died, whilst husbands and fathers were traveling many weary miles for the medical and nursing aid which might have saved them..."
Lady Aberdeen responded with determination to a resolution passed at this meeting, asking her to found an order of visiting nurses in Canada. The order was to be a memorial to the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's ascent to the throne of the British Empire.
At a meeting at Rideau Hall (Government House) on February 10, 1897, Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier offered the motion inaugurating the Victorian Order of Nurses for Canada .... "as a mode of commemoration by the Dominion (Canada) of the Queen's diamond jubilee."
Lady Aberdeen was chosen VON's first president.
When criticism from Canada's medical establishment caused Parliamentary support to falter, she appealed to the children of Canada for help, writing to their schools about the need for nurses to care for sick people in their own homes:
"In the towns they will go to those who cannot now afford the care of trained nurses and often die for lack of it... "
"On the prairies, in the forests, in mining districts - - everywhere throughout the country - - they will go hither and thither amongst our brave pioneers and bring help to these heroic people who are building up the future of this beautiful country amidst many hardships and privations..."
As part of her campaign to establish and solidify VON, Lady Aberdeen enlisted the help of Dr. Alfred Worcester, professor of hygiene at Harvard University and founder of the Waltham Training School for District Nurses in Massachusetts. To help convince his Canadian fellows, Dr. Worcester explained the importance and potential of the district nursing idea to large audiences of doctors in Ottawa, Toronto and other Canadian cities. He also encouraged Miss Charlotte Macleod, superintendent of the Waltham school, to come to Ottawa and help set up VON. Miss Macleod, a Canadian who had studied with the legendary Florence Nightingale, became VON Canada's first chief superintendent. VON's first 12 nurses were admitted to the order at a ceremony in November 1897 - just a month before Queen Victoria granted the organization its royal charter.
A few months later, in 1898, Charlotte Macleod directed the formation of a team of four nurses to accompany the Canadian Field Force - - an expedition of military and government officials, to the rough and ready scene of the gold rush then taking place in the Klondike region of the frontier Northwest. These nurses' exploits in providing care to the miners under the most difficult of conditions became one of the earliest epic tales in VON's long and colorful history.
The first VON branches were quickly organized in the cities of Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Halifax, Vancouver and Kingston. In 1898, a VON "cottage" hospital was opened in Regina to provide care to pioneers and early settlers on the prairies.
Through the successful fundraising efforts of VON's second honorary president, Lady Minto, 43 more hospitals were soon established in local communities and within isolated areas throughout Canada. Responsibility for running these institutions was gradually assumed by community groups, with the last VON-run hospital being placed in the hands of local citizens in 1924.
During the aftermath of the horrific explosion of a munitions ship in Halifax harbor in 1917...through a deadly influenza epidemic in 1918, on through two world wars...a great depression...the advent of modern medicare and high tech' medicine --- VON has continued to innovate to meet the changing health care needs of Canadian society. Prenatal education, well baby clinics, school health services, visiting nursing and coordinated home care programs have all had their earliest origins with VON!
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| Vision |
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| VON will be Canada's leading charitable organization addressing community health and social needs. |
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| Mission |
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VON Canada, a charity, guided by the principles of primary healthcare, works in partnership with Canadians for a healthier society through:
- Leadership in community-based care.
- Delivery of innovative, comprehensive health and social services.
- Influence in the development of health and social policy.
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| Values |
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- Respect
- Participation
- Responsiveness
- Courage
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| Culture |
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Nursing is still a core service of VON, and thus it employs nurse practitioners, RN’s, RPN’s, and licensed practical nurses to provide a full range of nursing services across the country. However, in today’s world, taking care of illness and promoting health requires a broad range of professionals and paraprofessionals such as occupational therapists, dieticians, physiotherapists, speech therapists, social workers and recreational therapists.
VON delivers more than 50 different programs and services through the dedication and commitment of more than 7000 health care providers and a dedicated army of over 12,000 volunteers, located from coast to coast in 73 local branches.
Each branch is jointly operated by volunteer boards of local citizens and professional staff who ensure that the exact mix of local VON services is based on the unique and specific needs of the community served.
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| Growth |
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VON has expanded its service capabilities to include home-based palliative care, adult day programs, foot care clinics, respite care, primary health care clinics and health services in shelters for women, children and youth at risk, to address the broader spectrum of client needs. It continues to build upon on its strengths to recognize and develop programs and services on a national as well as local basis, in response to client needs.
VON Canada is also working to influence the nation's fast-changing health and social policies on behalf of all Canadians.
VON joins forces with similar organizations, families, communities, governments and other interested parties to advocate policies that ensure health care is available and accessible to everyone. It continues to seek creative and innovative ways to respond directly to the evolving needs of individual Canadians and enhance their health and quality of life.
VON Canada is a dynamic and responsive community-based organization, working with local people everywhere to help identify health care needs and develop appropriate services.
VON's non-profit role provides governments with services that fulfill universal public health care programs, while the on-going development of related service ventures will provide new revenues to supplement existing funding for VON's charitable services.
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| Programs & Services |
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Home Health Care Services
- Wound Care
- Palliative Care
- Intravenous Care
- Enterostomal Therapy
- Paediatric Services
- Respiratory Care
- Mental Health
- Dialysis
- Footcare
- Physiotherapy
- Occupational Therapy
- Speech Therapy
- Dietician Services
- Social Work
Community Support Services
- Meals on Wheels
- Diners Club/Wheels to Meals/Congregate Dining
- Transportation
- Volunteer Visiting
- Home Maintenance
Health Promotion
- Immunization
- Wellness Clinics
- Occupational Health
- Caregiver Education
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This page was last updated on September 13, 2006
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