NHPCO Annual Leadership Conference Celebrates Volunteers and Awards Honorees
For Immediate Release
October 5, 2023
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(Alexandria, Va) – This week the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) honored standout members of the hospice and palliative care community during the 2023 NHPCO Annual Leadership Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas.
During the conference at the National Hospice Foundation’s 2023 Gala, NHPCO honored the outstanding contributions of Judi Lund Person and Norman McRae to the community by presenting each of them with the Galen Miller Leadership Award. The Galen Miller Leadership Award, created in memory of NHPCO’s Executive Vice President, is presented to hospice champions who exhibit the same dedication and passion for the hospice and palliative care community that Galen Miller did.
Judi Lund Person, who currently serves as Senior Advisor of Regulatory and Compliance for NHPCO, is a widely acknowledged and respected hospice champion. In her decades of service, Lund Person has served as a key contact with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and helped ensure that policymakers hear the hospice voice. Over her 21-year tenure with NHPCO, Lund Person has developed and updated countless tools and resources for hospice providers, answered many regulatory questions, and worked with regulators and policymakers on a wide range of hospice regulatory issues. Prior to joining NHPCO, Lund Person led The Carolinas Center for Hospice and End of Life Care, where she worked with other early hospice leaders to establish the Medicare Hospice Benefit in Congress and was a part of the initial discussions that formulated the original conditions of participation.
Norman McRae, a hospice executive for the past three decades, currently serves as Principal of McRae Consulting Company and as the Immediate Past Chair of the NHPCO Board of Directors. In 1990, he founded the Hospice of Hope in Maysville, Kentucky and soon after, led a turnaround for Housecall Medical Resources, a publicly traded company with operations in five states. Norman then served as Founder and President and CEO for Caris HealthCare before becoming a Managing Partner and Executive Board Member.
Norman served on the NHPCO Board of Directors from 1997 to 2002, later returning to the Board and serving as Vice President from 2019 to 2020, and Chair from 2021 to 2022. He presently serves on the NHPCO Board as Immediate Past Chair.
NHPCO presented the annual Volunteers are the Foundation of Hospice Awards during a special luncheon on Monday, October 2. These awards recognize hospice volunteers who embody the concept of volunteerism at the heart of hospice; improving the patient experience and serving as an inspiration to others. The honorees have made significant contributions to hospice programs in the areas of organizational support, patient and family service, specialized volunteer service, and We Honor Veterans volunteer service; NHPCO also recognized a teen volunteer with the Young Leader Service Award. The Furst Group and NuBrick Partners sponsored this year’s volunteer awards, and the MyNHPCO Awards Committee led the selection process. The 2023 recipients of NHPCO’s Volunteers are the Foundation of Hospice Awards are:
Organizational Support Award:
Glenna Hayhoe
Avow Hospice, Naples, Florida
Patient and Family Service Award:
Judith Arasi
Compassus Hospice, North Andover, Massachusetts
Specialized Volunteer Service Award:
Johnnie Nettles
Lester Dierksen Memorial Hospice, Texarkana, Texas
We Honor Veterans Volunteer Service Award:
Kenneth A. Smith
Hospice and Community Care, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Young Leader Service Award:
Alexis Hayward
Hospice of Northwest Ohio, Perrysburg, Ohio
We Honor Veterans, a NHPCO program, presented the We Honor Veterans Outstanding Program Award to this year’s recipient: MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care. MJHS Hospice and Palliative Care is a “Level Five” We Honor Veterans partner and has been with the program since its inception. In the last year alone, MJHS served over 200 Veteran patients. Ashton Stewart, Veteran Liaison & Cultural Sensitivity Outreach Coordinator, and a Veteran of the U.S. Navy who served during the first Gulf War, accepted the award on behalf of MJHS.
MJHS demonstrated its commitment to Veterans in one special case in 2022. Caring for the widow of a Veteran, an MJHS social worker learned of the patient’s dying wish to be buried with her husband at the Calverton National Cemetery. Her husband had died during his military service in 1979. Although she left no will, had no power of attorney, and no surviving family or children, MJHS was able to confirm her eligibility to be buried with her husband at the VA National Cemetery at Calverton in Long Island.
Thank you to all of this year’s 2023 NHPCO Annual Leadership Conference honorees and award winners.
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