Our History 

BJC Hospice was the brainchild of Ruth Castellano, a former vice president of BJC Home Care Services. Castellano, initially a staff nurse at Christian Hospital Northeast, entered home health as a referral coordinator in 1984 for Christian Hospital Home Health Care, becoming director of that operation a year later. During the next 13 years she led the consolidation of eight certified home health agencies, three hospice programs, a home infusion agency, one home medical equipment operation, and three private duty programs into one cohesive and cost-effective agency -- BJC Home Care Services -- within the emerging BJC health system. 
     
Castellano established BJC Home Care Service’s central referral center to provide a streamlined approach for managing home care referrals from hospitals and physician offices. Under her guidance, a $5 million point-of-service financial and clinical information system was developed for BJC Home Care, making clinical information available to our home health employees in the field through laptop computers. This also enhanced timely communication of in-home assessments and the coordination of patient care. Today BJC Home Care Services is one of the largest home health care delivery systems in the Midwest.