Hospice Founders Luncheon
VPG | May 06, 2015 | Comments 0
The Lamar Area Hospice Board of Directors hosted a luncheon on April 30th to honor the founder of Lamar Area Hospice and all those who contributed to the effort and followed her lead. More than three decades have passed since Lana Geier did the work necessary to establish an in-home hospice that served Lamar and the surrounding communities. According to Geier, Dr. Roger Bermingham, Lillian Norman and Linda Earl played a significant role in the initial formation of the organization in 1983 and 1984. In 1991, Jackie Brown and Linda Earl took over the helm with Dr. Benton serving as Medical Director, Lana Geier as Director of Nursing and Ann Richards as Chaplain. Board Director, Val Emick, has been working for years creating beautiful scrap books documenting the Hospice Journey. She was eager to present to those in attendance the first of the series, appropriately titled, “The Hospice Journey Begins…” Guests were given a tour of the new hospice facility and introduced to current staff and services. “It was a wonderful opportunity to personally validate the sacrifices they made, thank them for the hard work and finally to assure them that today we share the same core values and sense of mission. We enjoyed hearing them reminisce and share their memories and accounts of the formative years. Some of their challenges continue to be our challenges. There wasn’t a person at the table that didn’t mention, at least once, the phenomenal support we have always received from the communities we serve. Community support WAS THEN AND STILL IS the backbone of this organization.” Deb Pelley
Also in attendance were Mary Ann Turner, Executive Director in 2001 and Clay Peacock who was one of the original Directors on the Board.
Filed Under: community • Events • Featured • Media Release • Prowers County
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