2025 has been a landmark year for VHA Home HealthCare (VHA) as we recognized our 100th year of service and trusted partnership with clients and families. This milestone has presented many opportunities for gratitude, celebration and reflection. Over the decades, our services have continually evolved to meet changing needs, guided by compassion, strengthened by science, and powered by the belief that home is where care belongs.

Those principles drove our activities this year as we embarked on year one of our ambitious Strategic Plan 2025-2030 and made notable progress in each of our five strategic priority areas: system solutions, science, seamless service, home care specialists and sustainability. Together with you, our valued care providers, clients and families, and healthcare partners, we are leading the future of health and independence at home.

System Solutions

VHA’s progress has always been rooted in collaboration. In 2025, we continued to drive change by strengthening partnerships with leading hospitals and developing unique models of care to transition more clients safely home from hospital with the support they need to recover and thrive. The East Toronto Health Partners Ontario Health Team Integrated Neighbourhood Home Care Program launched – one of seven leading projects designed to advance home care across the province – and is already seeing strong results. As one client in the program shared, “Knowing that I have a whole team helps me feel supported and more at ease.” Other key integrated care projects includes those with University Health Network, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Hospital for Sick Children and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre where the Sunnybrook to Home program expanded this year, enabling more clients, like Bella, to continue their recovery at home after hospitalization.

Science

VHA’s investment in research and innovation over the past fifteen years has informed decision-making, changed policy and improved processes, practices and care. In 2025 we introduced two Home Care Scientists to our team. These academically trained experts are using real-world data to identify trends in client care and health system performance, assess emerging technologies and develop evidence-informed strategies to enhance home-based care quality, efficiency and safety. VHA’s Champions of Change Interprofessional Fellowship Program supports personal support workers (PSWs) and nurses to lead a quality improvement project. This year’s Fellows investigated what constitutes a reliable and sustainable schedule for PSWs. Their recommendations to improve consistency, work-life balance and client-worker relationships are now informing our practices. Our researchers are participating in meaningful knowledge translation and thought leadership, and are helping to advance the sector by publishing their work in peer-reviewed academic journals.

Seamless Service

VHA is committed to shaping a future where care is more connected than ever. In addition to collaborations with partner organizations, we’re making care more interconnected within VHA as well. A unified “One Team” approach that focuses on interprofessional collaboration and communication is enhancing the care experience for our clients and our providers. VHA’s Interprofessional Collaboration Competency Framework is guiding this work. Earlier this year, our team came together with client and family partners at an Interprofessional Symposium to highlight ways to embed collaborative practices at the point of care. Reinforcing VHA’s commitment to high quality care, VHA was proud to be re-designated by the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) once again, marking more than a decade as a Best Practice Spotlight Organization. VHA continues to harness technology to provide enhanced supports for clients and families including the myVHA client portal which nearly 4,000 clients and families have registered for to date.

Specialists

The resilience, dedication, compassion and excellence of VHA’s team of home care specialists inspires us every day and drives our progress forward. 97% of staff and service providers shared that they would recommend VHA to a family or friend requiring care. That powerful and comforting indicator is one of several metrics that help us understand what matters most to our diverse team so we can provide meaningful supports, including 30 Head Start Scholarships awarded to children of VHA team members. Our goal is to help our teams feel empowered every day in their roles. Almost 900 clients and families recognized their spectacular care providers with nominations to our annual Client Choice Awards. Our Client Choice Award winners, and Leadership Award winners like PSW Hana demonstrate what it means to be a home care specialist, building bonds that matter with their clients and truly making a difference in their community.

Sustainability

VHA’s work in this area is the promise of psychologically and culturally safe services and reducing our ecological footprint in everyday processes. Our Sustainability Framework, tied to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, guided our actions to advance this work in 2025. We are deepening our commitment to Indigenous cultural safety, and continuing to make progress in the identified priority areas of education and awareness, community inclusion, inclusive work culture, and data and assessment. Key initiatives in these areas and our 2025 Action Plan are highlighted in our DEI Annual Report.  Engaging in thought leadership shares our learning and highlights the important role home care plays in a well-functioning healthcare system.

As our centenary year comes to a close, we look forward to a future where care at home is not only possible, but stronger, safer, and more connected than ever. For now, my heartfelt thanks to VHA’s fabulous leadership team, our spectacular team members, our valued partners and volunteers, and of course the clients and families we are here to serve for your support and collaboration. From everyone at VHA, we wish you a safe and happy holiday season and may the new year be filled with positivity for us all.