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.

 

“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.

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.

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 cjames@talbothospice.org. 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.