Hospice Foundation Names New President and CEO

Siobhan Greene

Hospice Foundation announces the appointment of Siobhan Greene as its new president and chief executive officer, succeeding Alice Kinsler who last summer announced her plans to retire at the end of June, 2013.

Greene, who has served as executive director of Voices for Children - CASA of Monterey County since 2005, will begin her new post with the Foundation on August 5.
 
“After a nationwide search, we are thrilled to find someone of Siobhan’s caliber locally to lead Hospice Foundation into the future,” said Ralph Thompson, III, chair of the Hospice Foundation board of directors.

“She brings many years of experience in nonprofit executive management, fundraising, board governance, financial and analytical acumen to her new position,” said Thompson. “The board and staff could not be more thrilled with her selection.”

"I am very honored to be chosen for this position and look forward to working with such a fine board and staff," said Greene.  "The work of Hospice Foundation is critical to supporting dignified and compassionate end-of-life care and ensuring services are available throughout our community."

Greene has a long history as an advocate for children’s issues and involvement in the community.  She joined CASA in 2002 as director of development, becoming executive director three years later.  Prior to that she was director of marketing for Four Sisters Inn in Monterey, and has served in other administrative and management capacities locally and in the Bay Area.

Under Greene’s leadership, Voices for Children - CASA has grown dramatically in both its service to children and its role to help improve the foster care system. The organization has quadrupled in size, serves hundreds of children a year, has been recognized with numerous awards, and successfully launched San Benito County CASA, which effective July 1, will be an independent entity.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in therapeutic recreation from St. Joseph’s College, in Brentwood, New York. Greene serves on and is the immediate past chair of the Juvenile Justice Commission for Monterey County; is a board member for the California CASA Association and CASP (Community Alliance for Safety and Peace); and participates in various county system-of-care committees including the local implementation team of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care.  Greene is active in Carmel-by-the-Sea Rotary and is the past President of the local chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Kinsler has served as Hospice Foundation’s chief executive since 1998.  She joined the organization in March, 1998 several months after it was founded on July 1, 1997 to raise funds and make grants to support hospice and other end-of-life care services in Monterey and San Benito counties.

Under Kinsler’s leadership, Hospice Foundation has awarded more than $20 million in grants locally.  This funding has expanded the availability of hospice services in the region, including specialized children’s services, opened palliative care programs in the region’s four hospitals, and provided support for a variety of grief support and end-of-life educational programs.  Read about the grants that were awarded in the fall of 2012, now at work in the local community.

“It’s been an honor serving in this role for so many years,” Kinsler said, “and now Siobhan will bring her strong leadership capabilities and fundraising experience to the role and continue to steward the hospice mission going forward in our community.”

For more information, visit www.hospicegiving.org or call (831) 333-9023. 

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Taking A Broader Approach to End-of-Life Care

Let's face it. We all don't pay much attention to how we want to receive care at the end of life because we're too busy living our lives: taking care of kids, working hard, looking after aging parents or grandparents. It's tough to face the fact that the end of our lives will one day be upon us. Americans like to avoid the subject altogether.

Studies have shown that most of us want to spend our final days at home, surrounded by loved ones and all things familiar. No one wants to be in pain and most everyone certainly wants uncomfortable symptoms to be controlled.

But every person is different. Every family is different. A cookie cutter approach to the appropriate care and services doesn't serve the needs.

Yes, hospice care is a wonderful, compassionate broad-ranging plan of care for people at the end of life. We're huge champions. Most of Hospice Foundation's funding supports core hospice services. But hospice isn't for everyone because of its eligibility requirements--that the patient seeks only pain and symptom control and no longer curative therapies. Nor does it serve the full range of needs out there.


That's why Hospice Foundation has taken an innovative, proactive approach, working with local providers of end-of-life services, to determine the greatest needs in the community for end of life care and funding those services. We fund a range of end of life services, and we advocate for changes in the system to improve access to care for all.








For example, because of the hospice eligibility requirements by state and insurance payors, this option for years didn't sit well with parents. They didn't want to forego curative care and treatments for their kids, even if these weren't likely to change the course of their child's illness. Most parents don't want to go there, and they shouldn't have to. That's why we helped fund changes to the law and terminally ill kids can now receive hospice-like care at home while still undergoing treatments.

Whether it is for children or adults, Hospice Foundation is about funding solutions. We're also about ensuring that high-quality compassionate end-of-life care and services are available to all today and into the future. Please read more about our work on our website: http://www.hospicegiving.org/ and join the conversation on our Facebook page. Find Hospice Foundation. Tell us what you think.....