Jacksonville, Fla. – Community Hospice of Northeast Florida and Shands Jacksonville Hospice & Palliative Care today announced a collaboration that creates a true community hospice for the area. Community Hospice began operating the hospice service for Shands Jacksonville on Nov. 9, 2000.
“We’re very excited because the collaborative arrangement enables us to reach an area of Jacksonville where we felt we needed to increase access to hospice services,” said Susan Ponder-Stansel, president & CEO of Community Hospice. “Creating a true Community Hospice is the fulfillment of more than 20 years of work, and it allows us to provide unsurpassed care to our community members who need our services.”
Community Hospice will welcome three Shands Jacksonville representatives to its board, including Robert Norton, president and CEO; Susan Knowles, vice president of strategic planning and business development; and Robert Nuss, M.D., senior vice president of medical affairs for the University of Florida. Community Hospice will begin work on moving the existing hospice inpatient unit to the sixth floor of the Shands Jacksonville Pavilion. Renovations for the new 18-bed hospice unit is expected to be complete in early 2001.
The mission of Community Hospice is to provide quality, compassionate care to terminally ill patients and their families, enabling them to live their final days in peace and comfort. Care is available in a variety of settings: at home, in a long-term care facility, in an assisted living facility, in a hospital or at the Earl B. Hadlow Center for Caring in Jacksonville, a freestanding hospice residential facility and program headquarters. Service areas include Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties in Florida; and Brantley, Camden, Charlton, Glynn and Ware counties in Georgia.