I have been a registered nurse since 1969 and currently I am a spokesperson for the National Association of Prolife Nurses (www.nursesforlife.org). I have also been a past President of Missouri Nurses for Life and past co-chair of the St. Louis Archdiocesan Respect Life Committee. I am also a board member of the Healthcare Leadership and Advocacy Organization (HALO) whose mission is “to be a voice for the medically vulnerable.
In 2015, I was honored to receive the People of Life award from the US Catholic Conference of Bishops.
After working in critical care, hospice, home health, oncology, dialysis and other specialties for 45 years, I obtained my certification as an advanced legal nurse consultant.
I have served on medical and nursing ethics committees and give speeches and workshops around the country on medical ethics issues. I have also served on the board of the Saint Louis Down Syndrome Association in the past and I am still active in the field of disability advocacy. I have worked as a volunteer for children with disabilities, people with severe brain injuries, and bereaved parents.
I have also appeared on many radio and television shows on various medical, ethical and pro-life topics and I have written on these topics for The National Catholic Register, The National Catholic Bioethics Center, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, First Things magazine, Magnificat, the Linacre Quarterly and other publications. I was also contributing editor for Voices magazine, a publication of Woman for Faith and Family until it ceased publication in 2014. I also have an archive of older articles, etc. from Voices magazine and other outlets at my other blog “Nancy Valko, RN ALNC”.
I have personally cared for many relatives with a variety of physical or mental disabilities, including my mother with Alzheimer’s and terminal cancer and a daughter, Karen, who was born with Down Syndrome and a severe heart defect. Although both are now deceased, the influence of my mother and daughter has positively motivated my activities in medical ethics and working for greater support for people and families dealing with such issues as disabilities, chronic illness and terminal conditions.
I was a divorced single mother for 20 years (and after an annulment), married my wonderful husband Kevin Scannell in June, 2008 and we live in St. Louis, Mo. Together, we are blessed with 4 living children and 5 living grandchildren.
In 2009, I lost my beautiful 30 year old daughter Marie to suicide and in 2012, Kevin and I lost our 6 year old grandson Noah to a rare autoimmune disease called HLH.
nancyvalko 
We had the pleasure of hearing Nancy speak at our recent Respect Life Apostolate meeting at the Rigali Center, and are interested in asking her how we can get on her schedule to have her speak at a St. Charles Deanery regarding End of Life Issues.
Our Respect Life Committee at St. Peter Church in St. Charles is researching info to see if we could offer a Deanery meeting at our Parish on these issues.
Can you tell us how we may contact Nancy?
Thank you for your assistance.
Toni Amadon
314-616-9197
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[…] to Nancy Volko, registered nurse since 1969 and currently I am a spokesperson for the National Association of […]
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[…] Nancy Valko, RN ALNC is a registered nurse and spokesperson for the National Association of Prolife Nurses, as well as a past President of Missouri Nurses for Life and past co-chair of the St. Louis Archdiocesan Respect Life Committee. After working in critical care, hospice, home health, oncology, dialysis and other specialties for 45 years, she currently serves as a legal nurse consultant and volunteer. In addition to writing and speaking on medical ethics, Nancy has personally cared for many relatives with a variety of physical or mental disabilities, including her mother with Alzheimer’s and terminal cancer and a daughter, Karen, who was born with Down Syndrome and a severe heart defect. Although both are now deceased, their influence has positively motivated her activities in medical ethics and working for greater support for people and families dealing with such issues as disabilities, chronic illness and terminal conditions. In 2009, she lost her 30 year old daughter Marie to suicide and in 2012, her 6 year-old-grandson Noah to a rare autoimmune disease. […]
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I attended the funeral Mass of my student’s parent, who committed suicide, following his teenage brother’s suicide. Mass was comforting, but I was so-o pleased that the priest said how wrong this was. Otherwise, children might have it in the back of their minds that this is the “answer.”
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Thank you for sharing your experience. “No” is a powerful and even lifesaving word when it involves suicide.
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Dear Nancy,
I have just read your article about the wrongness of assisted suicide and about your daughter. Your testimony was most moving. I was reminded that you once kindly wrote a pro-life article for a newspaper I used to edit: Catholic Family. This would have been in the 1990’s. Many blessings on you and your family – Francis Phillips
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Thank you so much for your kind words! Do you remember what I wrote about for Catholic Family? I have written so many articles for so many publications since the 1980s that it is hard to remember specific ones-not to mention my advancing age.
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