MDP Faculty
Claire Tehan, MAClaire has been active in the leadership of the hospice movement for over 30 years and has received a number of awards in recognition of her contributions.
She was the founder and CEO of TrinityCare Hospice in Torrance, California.
As a member of the Board of Directors of the Southern California Hospice Association, she guided the merger of the Northern and Southern California Hospice Associations into one organization and then served as its President for three years. She was awarded the Pierre Salmon Award for Outstanding Contributions to Hospice Care by CSHA in 1993 and California Hospice and Palliative Care Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
She served as member of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s Board of Directors for four terms, including one year as Chairperson, served as Chair of the National Council of Hospice Professionals and was awarded NHPCO’s Founders Award in 2002.
Claire is the author of numerous articles and is an accomplished speaker, presenting at state and national conferences. Claire received a MA in Health Planning from UCLA, is a Master certified coach as from the International Coaching Federation, a certified Executive Coach from the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara and is an adjunct coach at the Center for Creative Leadership. Claire currently serves as a Executive Leadership Consultant for NHPCO.
N. Joel Fry, MSW, LISW
N. Joel Fry, MSW, LISW received his Bachelor of Arts from Simpson College and his Master of Social Work and Aging Studies Certificate from the University of Iowa School of Social Work in Iowa City. While at the University he was awarded the American Cancer Society Training Grant in Clinical Oncology and this is where he began his therapy work with cancer patients.
Joel was a social worker with Hospice of Central Iowa in West Des Moines, Iowa from June of 1999 until October 2001. He provided a wide range of services to patients and families including grief and loss counseling and emotional and spiritual support at the end of life. In October of 2001 Joel was named the Metro Team Director for Hospice of Central Iowa, and joined the leadership team. As the director he supervised nearly 30 clinicians and provided leadership for a team with an average daily census of nearly 100 patients. Joel served as the Metro Team Director until May of 2006. Taking his compassion for the highest quality end of life care, Joel joined Weatherbee Resources in April of 2006. He continues to serve on Weatherbee’s team of consultants where he provides a wide range of consultative services and education regarding hospice and palliative care topics.
In November of 2005 Joel and his wife Heather founded Team Restoration Ministries. He is the President of Team Restoration Ministries; a ministry designed to strengthen marriages in Central and Southern Iowa. Team Restoration Ministries partners with local churches to provide therapy services, conferences, and teaching on marriage and family related topics.
Joel lectures throughout the United States on a variety of end of life and marriage topics. Joel is part-time faculty at Simpson College, where he teaches a variety of social science courses. He is also adjunct faculty at The University of Iowa School of Social Work where he teaches in the end of life curriculum to graduate students. Joel was elected in 2010 to the Iowa House of Representatives from Iowa’s 95th district. He is serving his first term in the Iowa legislature and feels blessed to represent the people of Iowa.
Pamela M. Barrett, ACSW, FACHE
Pam Barrett is an experienced healthcare executive, having served as President and CEO of Hospice & Palliative Care of Greensboro (in North Carolina) for twenty two years and as Executive Vice President for Organizational Excellence with Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region for approximately five years.
Pam now shares her extensive leadership experience as Principal Consultant with P Barrett & Associates, LLC. Recognized as an innovative leader and effective professional speaker, she has served as faculty on a range of relevant issues for NHPCO’s membership, including the development, management and funding of specialized hospice and palliative care programs, service lines and leadership topics.
Pam Barrett earned a Masters degree in Social Work from The University of Tennessee and is board certified in healthcare management, having achieved the status of Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. Pam has served on the NHPCO Board of Directors, the National Hospice Foundation Board and various committees, including current service on the Public Policy Committee.
Her passion is promoting excellence by offering strategic planning, organizational assessments and services designed to enhance accountability and employee satisfaction, customer care, quality and compliance. For additional information, you may visit www.pbarrettassociates.com.
Paul D Longenecker
Paul D. Longenecker is graduate faculty for a Health Care Administration track at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. Prior to this role, Paul D. Longenecker was Assistant Professor in the College of Business & Leadership at Lourdes University in Sylvania, Ohio where he taught since 2006. He taught courses in the undergraduate business program, the Master of Organizational Leadership program and oversees the undergraduate Health Care Administration major. His educational areas of focus include leadership theory, organizational behavior and development, ethical practice, business policy and health policy. Prior to coming to Lourdes, he worked in the health care industry for 30 years as a clinician, manager, executive and consultant in variety of areas of health care and non-profit settings. This experience helped him fine tune the focus of his research which is leadership and organizational practices of hospice organizations. He is a frequent presenter on leadership, ethics and organizational practices. In addition, he has been extensively published.
He previously served as adjunct faculty at the University of Toledo and Ohio University and in addition to his academic role; he is the President and Lead Consultant for The Transformational Group, LLC where he provides consulting services on leadership and organizational practices for health care and non-profit organizations. Dr. Longenecker holds both Associate and Bachelor Degrees in Nursing, an MBA in Health Care Administration and Management and a PhD in Health Administration.
He is an Associate Faculty Member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and is a member of the International Leadership Association. Currently, he serves as President of the Advance Care Planning Coalition of Greater Toledo, a Board Member of Sunset Retirement Communities and the Research Committee of the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization. On a personal note; he is married, has five children and is an avid runner, biker & hiker.
Patricia A. Goodwin, ACSW, LCSW, ACHP-SW.
Patricia Goodwin has over 30 years of experience as a social worker in the health care field, including hospitals, long term care facilities, home health and hospice. She has provided direct service, supervised other social workers, coached the interdisciplinary team in assessment and problem solving, and has experience in promoting patient/family satisfaction through her positions as a patient representative and service improvement project manager.
As an advocate for ongoing education, Pat served for three years on the Florida Hospice and Palliative Care Association’s annual forum planning committee and is a member of NHPCO’s Professional Education Committee. While co-chairing a hospital ethics committee, she received extensive training in clinical ethics through the University of Pittsburgh Consortium Ethics Program; she recently participated in leadership training through the Disney Institute. Her social work degrees are from the University of Michigan.
Pat has a special interest in the psychosocial/spiritual dimensions of end of life care, clinical and organizational ethics and leadership development. In addition to talking to community groups on end of life topics, she has given professional presentations and workshops at the local and state level as well as nationally for NHPCO.
Pat recently relocated to Tallahassee, Florida, to be near family and joyfully participate in the care of her young granddaughter.
Christin (Coco) O’Shaughnessy, MSW
Christin (Coco) O’Shaughnessy currently works as a consultant to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). She previously was the Consumer Programs and Services Director at NHPCO, and oversaw the Consumer Services Center, which provides support and resources to consumers and professionals regarding end-of-life care issues. She developed end-of-life and caregiving content for consumer materials and managed partnerships with external organizations which included end-of-life trainings for professionals. Prior to joining NHPCO in 2003, she was a hospice social worker at Cedar Valley Hospice for five years and before that, a social worker in long-term care, at both assisted living and nursing facilities. Coco has been working in end-of-life care for over 15 years and enjoys focusing on consumer and professional outreach and education.
Gary Gardia, MEd, LCSW, CT
Gary Gardia, MEd, LCSW, CT is a Certified Thanatologist (CT): Death, Dying and Bereavement through the Association for Death, Education and Counseling and holds Master degrees in Education and Social Work. Gary received the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s (NHPCO) “Heart of Hospice Award” for developing innovative programs to meet the needs of caregivers and the bereaved. Gary has also worked as a psychotherapist in private practice with a specialty in grief and loss, personal growth and development and substance abuse.
For 7 years, Gary served in leadership positions with NHPCO including the National Council of Hospice and Palliative Professionals’ Section Leader for Volunteers and Volunteer Managers as well as for Social Workers. He has been instrumental in the creation and evolution of NHPCO’s Manager Development Program; a comprehensive education series for managers working in end-of-life care. His most recent endeavor as co-creator and faculty is the 2-day intensive program Leadership in Everyday Life: Confronting the Ego and Managing the Mind developed to assist people in all areas of life to maximize their potential.
Marion Keenan MA, MBA Marion Keenan served as President of Coastal Hospice from 1981 until her retirement from that position in July, 2008 and now serves as consultant to the current president, working on regulatory issues and governmental affairs.
Her leadership affiliation with NHPCO began in the early 1980’s when she served as President of the Middle Atlantic Region Hospice Organization. She participated on the NHO Volunteer Intensive Hospice committee and chaired the committee which developed NHO’s first training manual for certifying hospice volunteers. Her NHO/NHPCO conference presentations have been on topics as diverse as volunteer management, strategic planning, hospice regulations, marketing, and ethics. Currently she serves on the NHPCO Ethics Committee, as she had done intermittently for several prior terms. She is past Chair of the NHPCO Regulatory Committee and past member of its Public Policy Steering Committee and Council of States. She had a leadership role in developing this MDP Ethics Module.
A founding and current member of the Hospice and Palliative Care Network of Maryland’s Board of Directors, she has served twice as its President and has chaired many of its committees. Currently, she chairs its Regulatory Committee.
During her early career, Keenan taught in the Philadelphia area. For the six years prior to joining Coastal Hospice, she was a full time Lecturer of Philosophy at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, where she developed courses in Ethics, Bioethics, Logic, and Social and Political Philosophy. While at UMES she was elected President of the Faculty Assembly, delegate to the University Senate and Chair of the Library Committee. Since then she occasionally has taught philosophy at area colleges.
Keenan graduated from the Perdue School of Business with an Executive MBA in 1990. She previously earned a MA in Philosophy from Villanova University and taught introductory courses there in Logic and Philosophy. Her BS is from St. Joseph’s University.
A Trustee of the Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, MD, she serves on its Quality Oversight and its Performance Improvement committees. Additionally, Keenan is a member and past Chairman of the Wicomico County Planning Committee and a member of the Tri-County Health Planning committees. She is also Past President of the Rotary Club of Salisbury, and Past President of the Delmarva Planned Giving Council.
Patricia Mehnert, RN, BSN, MN, CHPN
Pat Mehnert is the Senior Director of Clinical Services at HospiceCare of Boulder and Broomfield Counties in Lafayette, CO. HospiceCare was the first hospice in the State of Colorado and is celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2006.
Pat joined the staff in 1990. She holds both a bachelors and masters degree in nursing and is a certified hospice and palliative nurse. In her current role, Pat is responsible for directing the clinical services department, with an average daily census of approximately 150 home hospice patients, a palliative home health program and a ten bed freestanding inpatient unit. For the past 15 years, Pat has been an active participant and presenter in the hospice and end of life care arenas. She is committed to the development of future leaders in hospice. Pat is the 2005 recipient of the Colorado Hospice Organization’s Spirit of Hospice Award for exemplifying the spirit of hospice care in the State of Colorado.
Kay Mueggenburg, PhD, MSN, RN, CHPN
Kay Mueggenburg is Associate Professor with McKendree University Division of Nursing. Kay has worked as a hospice volunteer, nurse and administrator as well as university faculty. Her current focus of teaching is graduate level ethics, cultural diversity, health assessment and scholarly research.
With approval and full support of faculty at McKendree University Kay is working to develop a new graduate tract in palliative care nursing, which will begin in Fall 2013. This is for nurses who want to champion the cause of quality, interprofessional care across all settings for persons and families needing palliative and/or hospice care. This is not a nurse practitioner degree, but will equip nurse leaders to improve care and access by applying the theory and concepts of palliative and hospice care.
Kay enjoys teaching with NHPCO, Respecting Choices ©, HPNA, ELNEC and EPEC. Her current research is collaborating with Professors in the College of Gerontology and Social Work in developing comfort and skills among social work students in having advance care planning discussions in various care settings and the community. Kay’s education includes a diploma RN with Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, BSN with McKendree University, MSN with Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and PhD in Higher Education and adult learning theory from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Kay began her hospice focus first as a volunteer working within the refugee community in downstate Illinois. The transcultural experience continues to be valuable in her current role. As a community member Kay was part of the founding effort of the “Coalition to Improve End-of-Life Options” in Illinois during the 1990s. As a public health instructor, Kay always included hospice and end-of-life curriculum in both her nursing and leadership/management classes.
Kay’s passion is facilitating educational opportunities. Kay believes that knowledge empowers individuals to embrace their increased options and opportunities that can improve everyone’s quality, satisfaction and joy of living.
