From the President’s Desk

2023 has welcomed us generously with a mild winter and the promise of a blooming spring along the counties we serve on our Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Monica Escalante President

At Coastal Hospice, spring finds us with renewed energy, caring for our community, no matter how remote, how sick, or how costly, thanks to our committed staff and the continued support of our steadfast donors.

This commitment is opening new and creative ways to continue providing the excellent care that our diverse communities need. Thanks to new collaborations with the community, this year we are expanding programs (like the new children’s grief camp, Camp Chameleon, page 11), and adding new services, like our advance illness doulas, who are bringing more forms of care to our newly minted Coastal Care Navigators (formerly known as Compass); for more information about it, go to page 7.

Thanks to the work of our Advancement department, in collaboration with our community supporters, the 2022 Angel Appeal campaign was able to raise $275,577.97 that will help us continue caring for the uninsured or unable to pay, as well as providing those services not reimbursed by Medicare, like bereavement care and complementary therapies.

Our Board of Directors has been hard at work and recently had the opportunity of recognizing the commitment of two outstanding leaders: Michael Dunn and Andy Kim, who leave our Board of Directors. Mike Dunn served as member and Chairman of the board and Andy Kim as member and Vice Chair of the board, see photos on page 1. We are deeply grateful for their service and support of our mission as we welcome Morgan Fisher as Vice Chair and Dr. Simona Eng as Secretary of the Executive Board of Directors. We cannot thank you enough for your leadership!

Finally, I want to acknowledge the amazing work that every single department in our organization is doing. From facilities to our outstanding clinical teams, including all our wonderful office support staff, every single one of them bring their best every day. They are all the embodiment of devotion and when asked, most describe their work as a calling. I am extremely grateful they have answered that call, because that means we all share the same purpose and that every day, we are offering the best care to our patients and their families.

Coastal Hospice News is a quarterly publication edited by the Communications Department at Coastal Hospice, Inc.

For more information, call 410-742-8732 or visit www.coastalhospice.org/news

In appreciation, Monica mescalante@coastalhospice.org