New partnership and state director

Letter to THO Members: New partnership and state director
July 18, 2018 

Dear THO Members:

It is with great excitement that we announce a special strategic relationship effective July 2018 between THO and National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). This relationship will enhance and strengthen the services and operations of THO by providing state of the art association management services to our state organization. This includes accounting, budgeting, membership software maintenance, marketing expertise, donor stewardship, web site maintenance, educational expertise and offerings, arranging for meeting venues, etc. This will allow THO to remain an independent not-for-profit organization focused exclusively on the needs of hospice and palliative care organizations in Tennessee along with more focused membership engagement and advocacy.

Sally Aldrich has agreed to assist THO on an interim basis, as the state director for THO. She previously served as the Administrator/CNO of the Affiliated Services division of Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, over Hospice & Palliative Services, Home Health and HME. She is a past President of THO, and currently serves on the board of directors for NHPCO. Her focus, over the next 6-8 months, will be to manage day-to-day member questions/needs, and visit with all member organizations across the state on a “listening tour”. She will work closely with NHPCO to create a seamless operation for our state organization, and in the latter part of 2018, will initiate, with the board of directors of THO, the recruitment process to hire a permanent THO Director, hopefully by the first quarter of 2019.

This creative state and national collaboration with NHPCO provides many additional benefits to both organizations beyond getting the operational components of the state association accomplished. It provides NHPCO with knowledge and information about what is happening at the front line, closer to the patients and the families that we serve in order to help frame their public policy and educational offerings. THO benefits from the vast array of experts that NHPCO has from regulatory, to marketing, to public policy that will help THO grow and enhance our services to you. This relationship has proven to be very successful with the Hospice & Palliative Care Association of New York State over the past year and NHPCO is currently working with other state Hospice & Palliative Care organizations to develop partnerships.

And, finally, we want to recognize the tremendous work done by Mike Dietrich over these past 13 years. He has served THO so well, stepping in during a time of tumult in our organization, bringing us back to a strong position in our state. We are grateful for his leadership, along with Adrienne Nordman’s most excellent assistance, and we thank them for all they have both done on our behalf. We are truly grateful.

The Board of THO looks forward to our future with NHPCO and the many opportunities it will bring to Tennessee and those patients and families we serve.

Sincerely: