Families traveling hundreds of miles for medical treatment come into HavenHouse St. Louis to be treated to a room by Paula Lowery, the executive director. HavenHouse is a charity that gives people from out-of-town a place to live who are in town for medical help. 

“We provide lodging, meals and support services for patients and families that travel to St. Louis for medical care,” Lowery said. “Our main goal is to provide a home to those going through medical treatments.”  

HavenHouse helped nearly 4000 people in 2023 and are on track to exceed that this year. Lowery said how these families are put through a lot of stress being far from home unsure where to stay. 

“If the patients feel like they are right at home, we are doing our job,” Lowery said. “Many patients and their families will spend long days in the hospital. We try to provide a warm space like they would have at home.”

Lowery said the stress people are relieved of when coming back to their rooms. Some families come overseas for medical assistance having to stay with HavenHouse for extended nights.

“At any one time we can have around three to five international families staying with us,” Lowery said. “We have had families from 79 different countries.” 

In 2024 Havenhouse had people from 31 different countries stay overnight. Patients have all different issues, having some stay for a few nights, while others stay for months.

“The average length of stay is three to four days, but we’ve had [patients stay] as long as 500 nights,” Lowery said. “We always try to stay as flexible as possible since medical conditions may change for a patient.”

Lowery said at one time we can have up to 50 people staying at HavenHouse. The staff at HavenHouse are always looking for more help and have many different ways for individuals to become involved. 

“Anyone can help clean, help with food prep, help drive families to and from appointments,” Lowery said. “We used to have hundreds of volunteers… now there are many openings for people to help.”