Board Chairman & President/CEO
Thank you for choosing us!
 John Marino Chairman |
 David C. Fielding President and CEO |
Dear Friends,
With your continued support, Hospice of Palm Beach County has become the hospice provider of choice in Palm Beach County. We are proud of our continued growth as each new patient and family we care for brings us closer to fulfilling our vision of creating a world where everyone receives great service at the end of life and no one is afraid of dying.
We recognize that with your support comes a responsibility of stewardship. While 2009 was a trying year for our nation, our local economy and Hospice of Palm Beach County, we endured the challenges and committed ourselves to work even harder for the community.
We are proud to share a few of our 2009 accomplishments:
Meeting every need: Guided by our mission of ensuring that everyone who needs and wants our services receives them, we cared for 7,332 patients in 2009.
A new north county regional office: During the summer of 2009 we opened a new Juno Beach office. The Juno office is our fourth regional office location allowing us quicker and more effective response time to our patients and families.
Reorganization to optimize patient care: To further improve the delivery of our services we restructured the supportive care division to include the volunteer department. Combining volunteers with supportive services such as bereavement and general counseling, enables our teams to operate more efficiently and effectively.
Expanded volunteer programs: With a new professional volunteer program we have benefited from the experience of dedicated professionals such as chaplains, accountants, and integrative therapists, in addition to those who care for patients and families and perform administrative tasks. With the added help, music therapy and other integrative therapies increased the number of patients and families they served by 30% and 26% respectively in 2009. Overall, 568 volunteers donated their time with an average of 90+ hours per volunteer.
Hospice of Palm Beach County Foundation: Despite the state of fundraising today, our philanthropic arm remains strong. Our Foundation continues to be proactive with strategic initiatives that focus on versatile options for meeting charitable planning objectives. These include estate planning, wills and charitable gift annuities, annual giving and appeal programs, and of course, our community events. This year we successfully introduced the Celebrity Pro-Am golf tournament and an exciting custom car event. We are confident in a stable and bright future.
Caring and Sharing Program: Our employees clearly exhibited their devotion to our mission by contributing to this staff donation program. With their spirit of generosity and selfless nature they pledged $80,000 to Hospice of Palm Beach County Foundation, more than we ever expected in the first year of its existence.
We're grateful for your support and take your commitment and sharing personally. We don't just say that our "patients and families come first," we prove it with actions. We were innovative last year and plan to maintain that trend. We are proud to be the hospice provider of choice in Palm Beach County and we will continue on our journey to improve our services and programs.
Sincerely,
John Marino, Chairman
David C. Fielding, President and CEO