Hospice of the Gorge announced
that effective May 8, Deborah Whiting Jaques relinquished her duties as
executive director.
Sharon Mulford, R.N., B.S.N.,
J.D., will act as interim director as the board forms a search committee.
Mulford served as the organization’s executive director from 2000 until
her retirement in 2003. The board plans to launch a regional search and
expects to hire a new director as soon as possible.
The board of Hospice of the Gorge
is confident that Mulford can lead the agency through this transition
period.
“The staff of Hospice of the Gorge
will continue to provide excellent care for its patients and their
families,” says Mooreen Morris, board chair. “Sharon is an experienced
administrator and will have no problem overseeing operations until a
director is hired.”
Mulford is happy to suspend her
retirement. “I left Hospice of the Gorge to travel with my husband,” she
says. “But Hospice has never left my heart.”
The illness and deaths of Jaques’
father-in-law, Robert “Ky” Jaques, in October 2006 and of her own father,
Kenneth D. Whiting, at the end of April, gave her a more profound
understanding of and appreciation for hospice care but took an emotional
toll.
“I need a respite from
professional demands to focus on personal and family issues,” said Jaques
in a letter to board and staff.
Jaques led Hospice of the Gorge
through an important phase in the nonprofit’s history, overseeing the
construction of the Hospice Center on the Heights in Hood River as well as
its adjoining Memory Garden (both projects funded by community donations
and grants, apart from Hospice operational funding); improving quality
issues like policy and procedures development, and promoting Hospice’s
role as a community partner through outreach activities. Jaques was
recently elected president-elect of the Oregon Hospice Association and
plans to continue her service on that board.
Hospice of the Gorge is a
nonprofit, Medicare-certified public-benefit agency that since 1981 has
provided comprehensive and compassionate care to those who face
life-limiting illness and to their families.
From offices in Hood River and The
Dalles, Hospice of the Gorge serves seven counties: Skamania and Klickitat
in Washington and Hood River, Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam and Morrow in
Oregon. Hospice of the Gorge receives support from the United Way. Please
visit the Web site for more information: www.hospiceofthegorge.org.
