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May 14, 2025

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Health Health Notes

Talbot Hospice to Host William Paul Young, Author of “The Shack”

September 19, 2021 by Talbot Hospice

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Talbot Hospice will welcome William Paul Young to the Avalon Theater on October 28th for a discussion about his #1 bestseller, “The Shack” and how it relates to grief, healing, forgiveness and spirituality.

“We are proud to welcome William Paul Young to Easton and hope that our friends and neighbors will join us for this free community event,” said Chris Chekouras, Talbot Hospice Executive Director. “’The Shack’ is a wonderful starting point for introspection and engaging conversations about how we process grief, shame and forgiveness.”

Talbot Hospice will welcome William Paul Young, author of the #1 Bestseller, The Shack, to the Avalon Theater on October 28th.

“The Shack” tells the story of Mack, a father struggling with the tragic loss of his daughter on a family trip to the Pacific Northwest. Four years after her horrific death, Mack receives a letter, supposedly from God, inviting him to spend a weekend in the shack where his daughter was violently murdered. Mack accepts and then has a life-changing experience that allows him to understand and cope with his grief and shame.

“The Shack,” as described by the author, is a metaphor for the “house we build out of our own pain” as well as “the places you get stuck, you get hurt, you get damaged … the thing where shame or hurt is centered.”

“The Shack” was originally written as a Christmas gift for Young’s six children, but was later published in 2007 at the urging of Young’s friends and colleagues. It went on to become a #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today Bestseller and, to date, it has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. In 2017 it was adapted into a feature film starring Academy Award Winner, Octavia Spencer, and Grammy Award Winner, Tim McGraw.

This free, community event is open to the public, however, registration required. Attendees should note that the Avalon Theater requires proof of vaccination and a photo ID for admission.

To register, please visit www.talbothospice.org/events.

About Talbot Hospice

Talbot Hospice provides compassionate care, comfort and support for patients and their families and caregivers wherever they call home. Talbot Hospice serves patients facing life-limiting illnesses through hospice and palliative care, as well as its pathways and bereavement programs. Services are available to patients and caregivers regardless of ability to pay. Learn more at www.talbothospice.org.

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Filed Under: Health Notes Tagged With: Health, local news, Talbot Hospice

Talbot Hospice Welcomes New Executive Director

August 21, 2020 by Talbot Hospice

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Talbot Hospice is proud to welcome Christopher Chekouras as its new Executive Director. Chekouras joined the organization on August 17 th and most recently served as the Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Saint Agnes Healthcare, a member of Ascension Health, in
Baltimore.

 

Talbot Hospice is proud to welcome Christopher Chekouras as its new Executive Director. Chekouras joined the organization on August 17th and most recently served as the Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Saint Agnes Healthcare, a member of Ascension Health, in Baltimore.

“We are delighted to welcome Chris to Talbot Hospice as our Executive Director.  His career as a healthcare executive, coupled with his passion for serving the community make him uniquely qualified to lead the organization forward, while continuing to provide exemplary service to our patients and families,” said Sheila Monahan, Talbot Hospice Board President.

Assuming the top leadership role at Talbot Hospice represents a new personal and professional chapter for Chekouras as he “retires” from a three-decade-long career in hospital management and administration and transitions into hospice and palliative care.

“The opportunity to join the Talbot Hospice team, is in many ways the perfect opportunity, at the perfect time in my life,” said Chekouras. “It is an opportunity to combine my passion for serving the community and leading an organization dedicated to caring for some of the most vulnerable members of our community in the final stages of their life. It is a great honor being asked to serve as the next Executive Director, and I look forward to sharing my experience and continuing my learning.”

Chekouras is a former board member of Samaritan Healthcare and Hospice in New Jersey and has personally experienced the comfort hospice care brings to patients and their families at the end of life. He has a passion and tremendous amount of respect for those serving in hospice care, and also understands the challenges of their work.

When asked about Talbot Hospice’s greatest assets, Chekouras points to the support the organization receives from the community, its talented and compassionate staff and the dedication of its board members. He is committed to building on the organization’s success by strengthening relationships and partnerships throughout the community with other healthcare and related organizations, which is especially important in the new normal created by COVID-19.

“A challenge all healthcare providers face is learning how to thrive in a time of great uncertainty and change. COVID has impacted us all and will continue to influence how we all work and live,” shared Chekouras.

“Thanks to the efforts of our transitional leadership team of Molly Kirsch, Amy Stitcher and Mary Jane Meintzer, our commitment and care of our patients and their families has never wavered during this pandemic. As an organization, we are well-positioned to start our next chapter amidst these uncharted waters with Chris at the helm,” said Sheila Monahan, Board President.

In addition to beginning his new role at Talbot Hospice, Chekouras is also looking forward to being a full-time resident of Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

“Twenty-seven years ago, I married the love of my life, Jennifer. A year later, while celebrating our first wedding anniversary, we visited and fell in love with Maryland’s Eastern Shore,” said Chekouras. “Together, we’ve raised two wonderful daughters and have lived in Maryland, New Jersey and Maine to support the advancement of my career. All through the years, we always knew we would one day return to Maryland with the hope that we could fulfill our dream of living on the Eastern Shore. Several years ago, we acted on that dream by purchasing our very last “forever home” on the banks of the Chester River in Chestertown. Having lived apart for much of the past three years, I most look forward to returning home each evening after work and having dinner with my family.”

Talbot Hospice is planning several virtual “meet and greet” events with Chekouras for the organization’s stakeholders and the larger community over the coming months. Please visit www.talbothospice.org for dates and more information.

About Talbot Hospice
Talbot Hospice provides compassionate care, comfort and support for patients and their families and caregivers wherever they call home. Talbot Hospice serves patients facing life-limiting illnesses and their loved ones through hospice and palliative care as well as its pathways and bereavement programs. Services are available to patients and caregivers regardless of ability to pay. We invite you to know us before you need us and learn more at www.talbothospice.org.

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Filed Under: Health Notes

November is National Hospice & Palliative Care Month

October 26, 2019 by Talbot Hospice

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Becky DeMattia

Throughout the month of November, Talbot Hospice will be joining organizations across the nation hosting community activities in recognition of National Hospice and Palliative Care Month.

Every year, nearly 1.5 million Medicare beneficiaries receive care from hospices in this country, according to National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). For more than 38 years, Talbot Hospice has helped provide comfort and dignity to residents of Talbot County, allowing them to spend their final months at home or in Hospice House, surrounded by their loved ones. This care also provides emotional support and advice to help family members become confident caregivers and adjust to the future with grief support for up to a year.

On Monday, November 4, 11 a.m., at the Easton Library, Bereavement Coordinator Becky DeMattia will address the question “What Should I Say?” often asked by individuals trying to offer comfort and love to the bereaved. We all have been in a situation where someone we care about is hurting. Sometimes we say the right thing, and other times we falter and stumble over our words. Learn some commonly used phrases to avoid as well as suggestions for what is appropriate.

Sue Ellen Thompson

On Tuesday, November 19, 3 p.m., Talbot Hospice will host poet and author Sue Ellen Thompson who will read from two of her books –The Golden Hour and They– about caretaking, grieving, loss, and healing. The Golden Hour was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2006. Thompson’s work has been included in the Best American Poetry series, read more than a dozen times on National Public Radio by Garrison Keillor, and won numerous prizes. Before moving from Mystic, CT to the Eastern Shore, she taught at Wesleyan University, Middlebury College, Binghamton University, and Central Connecticut State University. Thompson currently teaches workshops at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda and mentors adult poets in her Oxford home. In 2010 she received the Maryland Author Prize from the Maryland Library Association, given every four years for an author’s body of work.

For more information or to reserve a space for one of these free public events, call 410-822-6681 or email [email protected]. Founded in 1981, Talbot Hospice is the premier resource for hospice, palliative care, and grief support services in Talbot County and is the 2019 Talbot Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Nonprofit.More information about hospice, palliative care, and advance care planning is available at TalbotHospice.orgor from NHPCO’s CaringInfo.org.

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Filed Under: Health Notes

Talbot Hospice Hosts Expert on Care of Aging Veterans

March 7, 2018 by Talbot Hospice

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Talbot Hospice will present its third annual outreach event March 15, 2018 at 6 p.m. Soul Injury: Liberating Unmourned Loss featuring Deborah Grassman, expert on the unique needs of aging Veterans and author of The Hero Within and Peace at Last. The presentation will be held at the Easton High  School Auditorium and is open to the public, free of charge. Both of Grassman’s books will be offered for sale at the event.

Grassman is a mental health Nurse Practitioner whose career at the Department of Veterans Affairs spanned nearly 30 years where as Director of the Hospice program she personally took care of more than 10,000 dying veterans. She is recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts in caring for Veterans nearing the end of life.

Grassman is CEO and co-founder of Opus Peace, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide programs that respond to the soul injury that occurs during trauma, abuse, self-neglect, and serious illness. She is most well-known for her pioneering presentation Wounded Warriors: Their Last Battle which was the first of its kind to identify the unique needs of Veterans as they age. In 2002, she introduced “pinning ceremonies” to honor dying veterans — a ceremony which has now become standard practice in hospices and long-term-care facilities throughout the nation.

Grassman’s presentation is suitable for Veterans and their family members, professionals who serve the Veteran populations including social workers and clinical personnel, or anyone who could benefit from processing unmourned grief and unforgiven guilt.

“We are so pleased to be able to bring someone of Deborah’s caliber to Talbot County,” said Talbot Hospice Executive Director Vivian Dodge. “We are grateful to our presenting sponsors Avon Dixon Agency and Shore United Bank for helping make this a free event for the community.”

Also at the event, local Veteran organizations, agencies, and support groups will be available in the lobby prior to Grassman’s presentation to offer their resources to Veterans and their families. On Friday, March 16, 8 a.m., Grassman will present an abbreviated version of the workshop “Wounded Warriors” at Talbot Hospice for social workers, nurses, and anyone who works with Veterans.

For more information visit TalbotHospice.org/events or call 410-822-6681.

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Filed Under: Senior Notes

Talbot Hospice Presents Caring for Individuals with Memory Disorders

February 22, 2017 by Talbot Hospice

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Constantine LyketsosOn March 8, 2017, Talbot Hospice will hold its 2nd annual community outreach event Caring for Individuals with Memory Disorders: State of the Art 2017. The featured speaker is Constantine G. Lyketsos, M.D., M.H.S., Interim Director of the Johns Hopkins Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and world renowned expert in Alzheimer’s and Dementia. The event is open to the public at no cost and will be held at the Easton High School auditorium beginning at 6 p.m. Providers will be available in the lobby for the first half hour to distribute materials and answers questions. The main presentation begins at 6:30, and afterwards a panel will field questions from the audience. Registration can be made online at TalbotHospice.org/events or by calling 410-822-6681. Presenting sponsors are Avon Dixon and Shore United Bank.

“A component of our mission at Talbot Hospice is education and outreach, and we are pleased to be able to bring Dr. Lyketsos’ to Talbot County,” said Executive Director Vivian Dodge. “We have chosen this topic because Alzheimer’s and the other dementias affect a vast portion of our aging population, and we believe that the information will be very helpful to both caregivers and providers in our community. Because of the present regulations governing hospice qualification, Talbot Hospice can only assist in the care of these patients when it has been determined that they have a less than six month life expectancy from whatever cause.”

Head 1An active clinician, teacher, and researcher on the Johns Hopkins faculty since 1993, Dr. Lyketsos’ primary areas of interest are neuropsychiatry and memory disorders. Many of his clinical and research interests are integrated in the Johns Hopkins Memory and Alzheimer’s Center which he founded as a collaborative partnership between the departments of psychiatry, neurology, and geriatric medicine to offer patients comprehensive evaluation and innovative treatment for a range of conditions that affect cognition and memory, including Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, traumatic brain injury, and brain vascular disease. Dr. Lyketsos has carried out pioneering work on the epidemiology and treatment of neuropsychiatric features of Alzheimer’s and related dementias. His interest in traumatic brain injury has led him to leadership roles in military and veteran’s health and collaborations with the NFL Players Association.

Dr. Lyketsos has authored or co-authored over 350 scientific articles, chapters, commentaries, as well as five books. He is the recipient of the 2016 Jack Weinberg Award in Geriatric Psychiatry from the American Psychiatric Association, the 2012 Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, and the 2006 William S. Proxmire Award for “extraordinary leadership in the fight against Alzheimer’s” from the Copper Ridge Institute. Castle-Connolly has named Dr. Lyketsos as one of America’s Top Doctors every year since 2001.

A native of Athens, Greece, Dr. Lyketsos graduated from Northwestern University and Washington University Medical School in St. Louis (1988). He completed residency and chief residency in psychiatry at Johns Hopkins (1988-92), followed by a fellowship in clinical epidemiology.

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Filed Under: Portal Notes, Senior Highlights

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