2007 brought significant change to Klamath Hospice, and 2008 promises more. At the end of November, our 13-year Executive Director, Teresa Pastorius, tendered her resignation. We wish Teresa a heartfelt ‘farewell’ for her future endeavors.

The Board of Directors has begun the process to find and hire a new executive director. The search committee is being headed by board member William Wright, and includes four other board members plus two non-board, business-community members, Kristin Sayles and Tim Wehrly. We expect to begin interviewing candidates about the time you receive this newsletter. We hope and expect to announce an excellent new executive before the next issue!

Until that occurs, we have an outstanding management team in place, including Paula Penn who is serving as our Interim Executive Director, Kelly Johnson as Clinical Manager, and Rachel Throne as Financial Manager. The board and I have the utmost confidence that these individuals will continue to capably guide Klamath Hospice to continue the services we provide.

I now ask Paula to tell you more of what’s been happening . . .

We are so proud to announce that once again, one of our employees has been named to the Oregon Hospice Association’s (OHA) Dream Team. Dr Ken Magee (one of our Medical Directors) was the recipient of this award, and named to the 2006 OHA Dream Team (announced in the February 2007 Newsletter). This year, Patrick Stroup (our Spiritual Counselor) has been named to the 2007 OHA Dream Team.

This is quite a tribute to these special people and to Klamath Hospice. OHA requests nominations for an honorary hospice “dream team” including Physician, Nurse, Aide, Social Worker, Chaplain (Spiritual Counselor), Volunteer, Bereavement Counselor, and Support Staff from all Oregon hospices. The OHA Board of Directors then chooses one outstanding person for each position who exemplifies the hospice vision and mission.

We believe Patrick won this award because of his ability to connect with our patients and families (he is currently active with 85% of our patients, a much larger percentage than the Oregon or national percentage) and provide truly respectful, compassionate, emotional and spiritual support. This support also extends to our staff as he facilitates bereavement meetings and self awareness education (e.g., “practicing safe stress”) while being available for personal consultation. Last, but not least as they say, Patrick’s dedication to his vocation and to Klamath Hospice are remarkable. In addition to his Spiritual Counseling duties, he coordinates the bereavement support that we offer our families for 13 months (after the death of their loved one) and remains available for calls even while off-duty.

Everyone at Klamath Hospice congratulates Patrick on this special award and is thankful that he and Dr Magee are part of our exceptional hospice team.

Mentioning our exceptional hospice team reminds me that the entire Klamath Hospice team needs to be congratulated for once again attaining full accreditation from the Oregon Hospice Association. Every two years, OHA conducts a survey which critically reviews all areas of hospice operations to ensure that the hospice meets the standards for accreditation. Klamath Hospice’s program accreditation is now valid for two years from the date of OHA’s decision, November 9, 2007. This achievement could not have been accomplished without the dedication of each and every employee in our Agency.