VNA's Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Mary Fox, sat down to answer the top question cancer patients and their caregivers have about hospice care. Read her answers and post any additional questions you have in the comments section below. For more information about VNA's hospice care services, call (314) 918 -7171 or email info@vnastl.org. When is it time for cancer patients to seek hospice care? This is often such a difficult question for people battling cancer. Some cancers are cu

At VNA, we are passionate about all aspects of a healthy lifestyle. Beyond hospice and palliative care, we are proud to offer wellness services, like flu vaccinations and wellness scans, to help keep our St. Louis community happy and healthy! Particularly as kids return back to school, we stress the importance of helping kids stay healthy. Studies have shown that healthy students are also better learners. Eating well and participating in regular physical activity not only hav

Throughout the #shareandprepare series, we’ve stressed the importance of writing down end-of-life care wishes. These written instructions, called Advance Directives, are legal documents that communicate wishes in the event that a patient is unable to speak for themselves. “The Advance Care directive is the combination of the durable power of attorney and the living will,” say Deb Schuster, an elderly law attorney practicing in both Illinois and Missouri. “The reason why we

Once our patients have discussed their end of life care wishes with their loved ones, it is important for them to decide how and when to have the conversation with their healthcare team. Physicians are powerful advocates during the end-of-life process, so it is important they know a patient’s priorities and values. “Everyone should be thinking about what they want towards the end-of-life at any age in their adulthood,” says Dr. Mary Fox, Medical Director for Advanced Illness

At VNA, we know that the end-of-life journey can be difficult to navigate, for yourself or for your loved one. That is why we believe it is important to not only care for our patients but to also be a resource for our community and for St. Louis. Over the next six weeks, as a part of our new “Share and Prepare” series, we will be posting some guidelines and tools helpful in preparation for end-of-life care. We will discuss how to have conversations with family and health care