Aging Well with VNA

In this episode, podcast host Kersten Rettig visits with VNA Managing Director of Marketing, Sarah Harris, about what hospice provides patients and families. You’ll hear tips and resources for selecting the right hospice provider and how to research options.

Host Kersten Rettig visits with geriatric specialist, Kate Taylor, DNP, FNP-C, CPPS, about how patients and families can navigate the often confusing, stressful time after receiving a terminal diagnosis.   You’ll hear advice from bucket lists, to communicating with family and caregivers, and how to prepare emotionally and logistically for what lies ahead.  This important conversation will be helpful for anyone currently experiencing serious illness for themselves or a loved one or those working on advanced care plans.  

This podcast is a little different from our previous episodes.  In this episode, we host two culinary greats to discuss their passion for food and feeding the hungry.  

Toni Tipton-Martin is a culinary journalist, author and a pioneering advocate for the preservation and education of cultural heritage as it relates to cooking, food, and community.  Also joining us is Chris Williams, a classically trained chef, restaurateur, and most recently, founder of the nonprofit organization, Lucile’s 1913 in Houston, whose mission is to feed those in need while addressing food insecurity and food waste. Both are headlining VNA’s upcoming signature fundraising events: Chris, at the Cocktails in the Kitchen event and Toni at our Celebrity Chef event in March 2022. 

Throughout her career, Toni Tipton-Martin has used cultural heritage and cooking to build community.  She is Editor in Chief of Cook’s Country by America’s Test Kitchen, a PBS television show host, a two-time James Beard Award winner for her books on African American cooking, and she recently was awarded the prestigious Julia Child Award, which is given to an individual (or team) who has made a profound and significant difference in the way America cooks, eats, and drinks. 

Toni’s latest book, Jubilee: Recipes From Two Centuries of African American Cooking, brings to life 125 dishes from the African American cookbooks in her rare collection. Jubilee is a James Beard Award winner, earned the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) Book of the Year Award, and was named one of the “Cookbooks You Need for 2020” by the New York Times. 

In 2008, Toni founded the SANDE Youth Project, a 501c3 organization, whose mission was to increase wellness by celebrating cultural heritage, community role models and ancestral recipes. In 2021, the organization was re-named the Toni Tipton-Martin Foundation and its mission was re-engineered in an effort to help the next generation of aspiring women gain knowledge and skills in the areas of food and cultural heritage writing. 

Chef Chris Williams is the Founder and Owner of Lucille’s Hospitality Group in Houston, Texas. Classically trained in French, Mediterranean, West Indian and East African cuisine, Chef Williams has made a name for himself serving up well-refined Southern food with international infusions at his restaurant Lucille’s—opened as a tribute to his great grandmother and culinary pioneer Lucille B. Smith. 

Chef Williams has served as the lone culinary cultural ambassador for the USA for three years, advancing food diplomacy in destinations like Croatia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. He is also a member of the Southern Food Ways Alliance, an organization that documents, studies, and explores the diverse food cultures of the changing American South.

Williams’ most recent endeavor, Lucille’s 1913, is a nonprofit he founded. The organization mimics the ethos of his restaurant group and its namesake: functioning as a conscious community collective that is building a vertically integrated ecosystem to combat food insecurity and waste; creating training and employment opportunities in traditionally under-resourced neighborhoods; and empowering communities to discover a self-sustainable livelihood through food.  To date, Chef Chris and the Lucille’s 1913 team have provided more than 350,000 meals to Houstonians in need since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Williams is part of Restaurant Hospitality’s coveted 2021 Rising Star class and most recently was named to Bon Appetit’s inaugural “Heads of the Table” Awards List, which honors the trailblazing, community-building, future-making leaders changing the restaurant industry. 

Join the Visiting Nurse Association of Texas (VNA) for a virtual Lunch and Learn featuring experts in the field of Hospice and Palliative Care. There have been many recent changes in this ever-expanding industry, which, like everything else, has been impacted by the pandemic. Our panelists will discuss what the future of serious illness care will look like in the years to come.

Moderator:

Chris Culak, VP/Chief Strategy & Development Officer VNA Texas

Panelists:

Dr. Mark Casanova, MD, Supportive & Palliative Care, Baylor University Medical Center
Dr. Kelley Newcomer, MD, VNA Medical Director, UTSW Asst Professor-Internal Medicine
Sarah Miles, RN, BSN, VNA Director of Quality
Claudia Shook, LMSW, ACM-SW, APHSW-C, Supportive & Palliative Care, Baylor University Medical

VNA Associate Medical Director, Mary Anne Chacko, MD, PhD, shares her experience with difficult conversations after a medical diagnosis with patients and as a patient with podcast host, Kersten Rettig. Dr. Chacko provides guidance on how to listen, ask questions and what to avoid in preparing for medical discussions. 

In this VNA podcast, A Hospice Doctor and Nurse share about the hospice benefit. Dr. Kelley Newcomer and Nurse Luz Bueno have worked in hospice for many years and discuss how hospice and palliative care can benefit patients and their families. 

En este podcast de VNA, un médico y una enfermera de hospicio comparten sobre el beneficio de hospicio. La Dra. Kelley Newcomer y la enfermera Luz Bueno han trabajado en el hospicio durante muchos años y analizan cómo medicina paliativa  y el hospicio VNA  pueden beneficiar a los pacientes y sus familias. 

Grief is a complex journey and one we will all experience.  Bereavement is the process of coping with grief and loss. Feelings of grief and loss can happen at any time throughout the course of an illness—for the patient and their loved ones. How each individual deals with grief is unique. In this episode of Aging Well With VNA, you’ll hear from two experienced, trained social worker/counselors at VNA talking about the types of grief, what is “normal”, and how the pandemic has changed the way we grieve.  The VNA grief support team is here to help you navigate change and loss and help establish a foundation of healthy grieving. Tune in to hear more about the personal and unique journey of grieving.

Thank you for listening to the Aging Well with VNA Podcast.  In this episode, you’ll hear from a panel of medical professionals and community leaders sharing their expertise and insight into the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine as well as overcoming access issues and cultural skepticism. The panel addresses some common questions, concerns and myths that have emerged about COVID-19 vaccines. 

Panel moderated by Olivia Rogers, RN, BSN, CHPN, VNA Chief Nursing Officer

Joseph Chang, MD, MBA, FACOG, Chief Medical Officer at Parkland Hospital and Gynecology faculty at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Kristina Hernandez, DO, Associate Medical Director, Visiting Nurse Association of Texas
Benaye Wadkins Rogers, CEO and President, Crossroads Community Services
Marcus Zavala, Pharm.D., BCSCP, Chief Pharmacy Officer, Perrone Pharmacy

Recording from live webinar held on March 2, 2021.

In the early 1930s, public school nurse Lillian Becket led a small group of volunteer nurses into the poorest sections of Dallas and surrounding area to provide desperately needed care to women and children during the Great Depression. In this episode of the Aging Well with VNA podcast, you’ll hear from the grandchildren of Lillian about their grandmother’s heart for service and how she helped found the Visiting Nurse Association of Texas. 

Community leaders offer their expertise and insight into the needs of and challenges for underserved populations during the pandemic. Join us to listen as they share their experiences and ideas on how to better serve our community and meet the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors. 

Panel moderated by Olivia Rogers, RN, BSN, CHPN, Vice President, Chief Nursing Officer, Visiting Nurse Association of Texas

Panel Members:
Stacie Anderson, Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) Project Lead, Methodist Health System 

Dr. Mark Casanova, MD, Chairman of Supportive and Palliative Care and the Institutional Ethics Committee at Baylor University Medical Center

Chris Culak, Vice President, Chief of Strategy and Development, Visiting Nurse Association of Texas 

Ivan Esquivel, Clinic Manager, Brother Bill’s Helping Hand 

Dr. Terry J. Flowers, Ph.D., Headmaster and Executive Director of St. Phillip's School and Community Center 

India J. Holliday, LCSW, CCM, Palliative Care Bereavement Specialist, Parkland Health & Hospital System 

Marissa Castro Mikoy, President & CEO, Jubilee Park & Community Center