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In 1908, organized health care in Santa Barbara was just starting out, and so was Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care.
With no clinics in Santa Barbara, the women who founded the organization saw the need to provide health care at home for low-income families and patients unable to go to the hospital. Families also needed education to prevent infectious diseases, food poisoning and other life-threatening health problems that were common.
Starting out with one nurse who went to patients' homes on foot, the founders of the budding non-profit were delighted with the loan of a horse, and even more excited when an automobile was donated in 1915.
That was the year that Josefina Jacobo was born, in Jalisco, Mexico. “My mother was brought to the United States when she was 30 days old,” says Yolanda Marquez, 60, a community college teacher. “Mom lived in Carpinteria when she was young, and married my dad, José Dolores Marquez, in 1930. He worked for 50 years in the lemon groves and became a mayordomo de quadrilla [foreman].”
In the 1940s the Marquez family bought a house in Santa Barbara. “Mom was a musician. She would get her guitar and come out in the parades and sing with Mrs. Castro and the dancers at the courthouse,” remembers Marquez with a grin as she cuddles her toy terrier.
When Josefina was suffering from Alzheimer's disease at age 90, Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care helped Yolanda care for her mother. VNHC physical therapist Li-Ching helped Josefina become stronger so she could walk better, and Luciana and other trained caregivers assisted her with activities like bathing and dental care, giving Yolanda a break.
“It really helped,” Marquez says, “especially when mom would get scared and temperamental. They gave me time to run errands and do simple things like grocery shopping and paying bills.  They made it so you could go have a hamburger and forget about what was going on at the house.” The visiting nurses helped care for Señora de Marquez until she passed away.
Then, the following year, a fairly routine abdominal surgery took an unexpected turn for Yolanda. “I had what was supposed to be a simple surgery. It didn't turn out that way,” she recalls. Marquez learned that upon returning home her wound dressing would have to be changed twice a day by a professional:
“There was no one in the family who could do the bandage change. Even if they had been able to, they couldn't have gotten the time off work. It was a very challenging time. I had to walk around the house with a walker, and my family put a day bed in the living room for me to sleep on.”
“The nurses from Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care were a lifesaver to me,” Marquez says. “For two months they were here twice a day. Maureen, Kit-Yee and Lovette were very gentle. And whenever I had any questions they would explain everything to me. I am diabetic and asthmatic, so they had their hands full.”
Looking back, Marquez reflects, "There were times when recovering from my operation was really bad, but I'm up and running again. I’m very thankful, and I have a manda to pay. I'm going to the sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe. That's my project for next year."
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