Who We Are?

The Vincent House is a comfort care home for those who have irreversible illnesses and have been medically determined to be in the last three months of their lives. We are devoted to assuring the dying person's dignity and the emotional support of their family.

Admission is based on need. Priority is given to those who cannot receive adequate care at home. Vincent House accepts guests without regard to religion, race, gender, or type of illness.

The Vincent House offers holistic care for our residents. Personal care is given the highest priority by staff and volunteers. Light meals and a clean environment are provided while offering the resident friendship and embracing their family and friends with love and support during their stay here.

In 1998, members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Joseph's Church of Wayland, New York, originated the idea to convert the Convent (which had been vacant since 1997) into a home for the terminally ill.

The two-story home was 75 years old and in excellent condition.

A bathroom was constructed on the first floor for the prospective residents, hardwood floors were refurbished, wallpapering and painting were done, mostly by volunteers, to get the house ready. Each room was furnished by volunteers using their imaginations, usually in memory of a family member, or members, they had lost.

On the first floor there are two resident rooms which include sitting rooms, a lovely furnished sun porch which is used year round, a kitchen, the residents' bathroom, and a chapel where prayer services and memorial services are held, and where anyone can go at any time to pray, meditate, or experience alone time.

Vincent House, which officially opened on December 4, 2000, is staffed by an executive director, a part-time nurse, and several night staff. Our wonderful volunteers cover most of the hours from 8:00 a.m. to midnight in four-hour shifts. They are the lifeblood of the operation. A Board of Directors oversees the operation of Vincent House.

Dedication

The lives of Vincent House staff and volunteers have been enriched through our interaction and involvement in the lives of our residents and their loved ones. It is with much love and gratitude that we dedicate this website to these individuals for trusting us with their loved one's care in their final days. We feel honored and privileged to serve the community in this way, preserving our residents' dignity as they complete their journey here on earth.

Our mission begins when a patient and their family have been told "nothing more can be done." It has been said that hospice can be described as "encircling arms around a family in crisis."

We are here to provide our residents and their families with support, and to capture each day and live it fully together. We help the resident live until they die, allowing their families to be with them as they are dying, and go on living afterward.

To quote Jill, one of our youngest volunteers, "Vincent House is not a house of death, but a house of joy, laughter, and love. The actual death is a very small part of a resident's stay here."

May they all rest in peace.

Vincent House Board of Directors 2017

President
Jim Rose

Vice President
Tamara Kenney

Treasurer
Dan Wensel

Secretary
Mary Harris

Medical Director
Dr. Joseph A. DePra M.D.

Board Members
Anita Eck
Father John Cullen
Connie Curry
Penny Jackman Hughes
Richard Tweddell

Executive Director
Kimberly A. Snyder, RN, BSN

Director of Development & Volunteers
Mary Jo Jacobs

Part-time Nurse
Mary Burns, RN

Overnight Caregivers
Jackie Harter
Nancy Robords