The two leading non-profit home health care and hospice agencies in Central Oregon announced today they will consolidate
their organizations. The Boards of
Directors of HospiceCenter (HC) and Central Oregon Home Health and Hospice
(COHHH) formally voted this week to integrate the two organizations after
several months of exploring the concept.
Karen Wolfe, chair of the
HospiceCenter Board of Directors called the decision historic. “For the last 30 years we’ve been
passionately dedicated to our mission of providing dignified care and support
for thousands of patients and families. Partnering with Central Oregon Home
Health and Hospice allows us to do and give much more to the people of our
community.”
Brendan Adams, chair of the Central Oregon Home Health and Hospice
Board said that the move will strengthen transitional and end of life care in
the growing Central Oregon region. “At its core, our decision to combine
organizations is founded on the belief that together we can accomplish more for
our patients and the community than we can apart.”
Steve Westberg, CEO of Central
Oregon Home Health and Hospice, said the new organization provides an
opportunity to strengthen and expand existing programs and services. “The new agency creates an exceptional
opportunity for our health care teams to expand services in the community. Home
health and transitional care, state of the art hospice services, Hospice House,
and family support programs represent our current continuum of care. Looking
ahead we are considering Pediatric home health and hospice services, continuous
in-home hospice care, palliative clinical services to augment Transitions,
enhanced bereavement services for adults and children and increased family
support programs.”
Eric Alexander, CEO of
HospiceCenter said that the main purpose of the consolidation is to give
patients and their families the care they need and deserve in a manner that
reflects the sensitivities of our community. “Our job has been and will
continue to be to provide high quality care for patients diagnosed with life
limiting or terminal conditions. The
combination of our organizations will allow us to work with the medical
community in a more simplified and coordinated manner, and gives us an
opportunity to offer a broader continuum of care, from in skilled home care to
those facing a life threatening illness.”
Board chairs Adams and Wolfe
announced that under the new organizational structure, Eric
Alexander has been named CEO and Steve Westberg has been appointed
Chief Strategy and Operations Officer. It is their intention that full
integration of the organizations will occur over the next 18 months.
COHHH offers skilled home health services and in-home hospice services
to more than 200 combined patients daily.
HospiceCenter provides hospice services to about 100 patients each day
either in their homes or in its six-bed specialty inpatient hospital, Hospice
House. Both organizations are located
about a block apart in NE Bend just north of St. Charles Medical
Center.
For more
information contact
Eric
Alexander, CEO HospiceCenter at 541-383-3910
Steve Westberg, CEO Central Oregon Home Health and Hospice at (541) 382-5882