Editor’s Note: McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Home Care and McKnight’s Senior Living are profiling the 2025 McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards honorees daily in March and April. For additional McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards content, visit this page.

During her more than 40 years at VNS Health, Rosa Marcus has exemplified compassion and dedication in caring for the most vulnerable in the community and supporting home health aides in delivering that care. 

As the company’s director of support services for personal care, Marcus leads a 26-person team that supports more than 6,000 home health aide aides. VNS is one of the country’s largest home- and community-based services nonprofits. 

Marcus works behind the scenes to ensure the care that home health aides provide exceeds client expectations. She and her team also guide and train home health aides in getting the most out of new technology.

Empathy is one of her “super-powers,” and Marcus always is there for team members, according to colleagues. During the pandemic, she played a pivotal role in creating HHA Emotional Support Calls, a vital lifeline for thousands of home health aides in need of support; the program continues today.

She also spearheaded the transition to remote communications for home health aides during the pandemic, and helped develop the HHA Resource Center, which provides aides with quick access to online information and support.

“Rosa’s dedication and compassion shine through in everything she does. She has a special gift for handling complex situations with empathy and understanding,” says Jim Rolla, senior vice president of VNS Health Personal Care.

VNS Health’s HHAs collectively speak more than 33 languages. Marcus embraces the diversity and has spent time directly managing a team of aides caring for Chinese-language clients to help the team navigate language and cultural barriers. She also is regularly a point person for communicating with HHAs whose first language is Spanish.

The McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Home Care. Honorees were recognized March 20 at an awards reception and ceremony in Chicago. Omnicare was the Silver sponsor for the 2024 Pinnacle Awards program. Medline and Parker Health Group were event sponsors.

Know of a mover and shaker who is the epitome of a Pinnacle Awards winner? Nominations for the 2026 awards will open in September. Keep up-to-date on news related to the program, and learn more about the nomination process, on the McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards website.