President/CEO
VNA Health Care
Aurora, IL
President/CEO of VNA Health Care (VNA) in Aurora, Illinois. VNA provides a wide array of community health services to residents of the western Chicago suburbs. Since 1999 when Ms. Windel was appointed to the position of President/CEO, the organization has grown from an operating budget of $6 million to $25 million a year. She was responsible for leading VNA to obtain Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) designation and federal funding as a Community Health Center. VNA currently provides primary care for over 40,000 underinsured and uninsured individuals at its FQHC clinics. VNA also operates Medicare-certified home health and hospice programs, bringing nurse-centered care to the frail elderly and homebound residents of the area. Currently, Ms. Windel is leading a primary care redesign project, housed within VNA, to improve patient outcomes while decreasing health care costs.