Deoudes Named Board Chair for Compass Regional Hospice

CENTREVILLE — During the annual board meeting of Compass Regional Hospice in June, the new executive committee was voted in. Kathy Deoudes was welcomed back as board chair, Teresa Baumann was voted in as vice chair, Janice Feeley as secretary and Ed Allen as treasurer.

“I am so excited to welcome Kathy Deoudes back as our board chair,” Compass Regional Hospice Executive Director Heather Guerieri said. “I have had the pleasure of working with Kathy for 10 years now. She is one of the most committed volunteers and board members I have ever worked with. She is dedicated to our mission and does whatever it takes to continue to help build on our incredible reputation.”

Deoudes most recently served as board chair for Compass Regional Hospice from 2014 to 2017. This time, she follows Tom Helfenbein, who served as board chair from 2017 to 2018.

Deoudes also is the co-chair of the capital campaign of Compass Regional Hospice, which currently is underway. Compass Regional Hospice is just $600,000 shy of reaching its initial capital campaign goal of $4 million, a campaign the organization embarked on in 2016. The organization had several objectives for the fundraising initiative, including funding a four-bed expansion to the Hospice Center in Centreville, bringing the total number of beds in the facility to 10; renovations to the Hope and Healing Center, which houses Compass’ grief support services programs; renovations and the establishment of the new Hospice Center in Chestertown, which opened at the beginning of this year; funding an endowment to support Compass Regional Hospice in Queen Anne’s, Kent and Caroline counties; and retiring the mortgage debt on Compass’ main office building in Centreville.

“So it can focus its funding and efforts on what’s really important – our patients and their families,” Deoudes said recently during the September 19, 2018 groundbreaking event at the Hospice Center in Centreville.

More than 214 individuals, families, companies and private foundations have participated and donated toward the campaign, so far, Deoudes said.

Guerieri said the new executive committee members are no strangers to the Compass Regional Hospice all-volunteer board. Baumann has been on the board for six years and is the outgoing treasurer, now stepping into the vice chair role. Allen has been on the board for more than five years and now has stepped into the treasurer role. Guerieri said he is the full-time chief financial officer for Shore Bancshares, so his new role on the board is a natural fit for him. Feeley has been elected to the role of secretary and has been on the board for six years. She has served as secretary in the past, as well, Guerieri said.

Other board members include Tom Helfenbein, Linda Bounds, Debbie Dean, Julie Gillespie, Joyce Davis, Zeke Warner, Marsha Wilder, Paula Warner, Diane Pappas, Doug Pierson, C. Irving Pinder Jr., Gary Smith, Jenny Rhodes, Jason Ruth, Julie McMahan Thomas and Mary Ellen Valliant.

“We appreciate the hard work and dedication of all our board members and are blessed to have those who care and support the Compass Regional Hospice mission to lead our organization,” Guerieri said. “We are so lucky to have such dedicated and skilled professionals in their fields to volunteer their time and treasures to our organization. It is an honor to work with Kathy, Teresa, Ed and Janice, as well as our entire board of directors and we thank them for their service.”

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Compass Regional Hospice – Care on your terms

Compass Regional Hospice is a fully licensed, independent, community-based nonprofit organization certified by Medicare and the state of Maryland and accredited by the Joint Commission. Since 1985, Compass Regional Hospice has been dedicated to supporting people of all ages through the challenge of living with a life-limiting illness and learning to live following the death of a loved one. Today, the organization is a regional provider of hospice care and grief support in Queen Anne’s, Kent and Caroline counties. “Care on your terms” is the promise that guides staff and volunteers as they care for patients in private residences, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and the residential hospice centers in Centreville and Chestertown. Grief support services are offered to children, adults and families of patients who died under hospice care, as well as members of the community who are grieving the loss of a loved one, through The Hope and Healing Center. For more information about Compass Regional Hospice, visit compassregionalhospice.org.