Hospice in the News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:

Rosemary Collins, APR

Dir. of Public Relations & Community Marketing

The Center for Hospice & Palliative Care

716-686-8259 office

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The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care Announces CEO's Resignation

William Finn decides to seek new opportunities

            CHEEKTOWAGA, NY Sept. 10 - The Board of Trustees of The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care today announced the resignation of President and CEO William E. Finn and the immediate start of a thorough search for his successor.

            Finn, 49, spent 28 years at Hospice Buffalo, eight of them as CEO. He told the board that he will seek new opportunities in the hospice and health care fields elsewhere in the country.

            "The entire Hospice family thanks Bill for his years of service and leadership," said Board Chairman Louis A. Izzo, Jr. "Bill and his executive team have helped establish Hospice Buffalo and its programs as national leaders in end-of-life decisions and care. Bill's legacy will guide us as our organization continues to grow and prosper while helping those in need."

            Board Trustee Flint D. Besecker agreed to serve as interim CEO until the search is complete.

            Founded in 1978 and in the forefront of the national hospice movement, Hospice Buffalo provides medical care, as well as emotional and spiritual support to patients with a life-threatening illness and their families. Hospice Buffalo and its affiliates provide care to nearly 750 patients a day in Erie County. Care is provided in patients' homes, and in hospitals, assisted living and nursing homes, as well as Hospice residences in Cheektowaga and Buffalo.

            With 550 employees, Hospice Buffalo is one of the 25 largest such organizations nationally, operating on a $54.5 million budget in 2010. The Center for Hospice & Palliative Care comprises eight affiliates and several programs involving palliative care, including those for children, adults, and families coping with serious illness and loss.

The staff includes nine medical doctors, as well as nurses and other medical support staff. In 2009, Hospice provided care to 3,836 patients.

            "Hospice Buffalo and I have grown up together professionally and I've enjoyed my service here," Finn said. "But it's time for us to part and start on new paths. I am proud of the work we've all accomplished and I wish everyone at Hospice Buffalo the very best."

             "A search committee has been formed to identify a new CEO," Izzo said. "Hospice's board leadership and Dr. Robert A. Milch, Hospice Buffalo's medical director emeritus, will also be involved in the search for the new CEO."

            Flint Besecker, 44, is a Canisius College graduate and lives in Orchard Park. He has served on the Hospice Board for approximately 14 years and is very familiar with CHPC and the Hospice mission. Besecker has comprehensive experience in the healthcare industry serving in multiple Board and executive capacities on a national level.

            "The message to our patients and their families, our employees and volunteers, and our friends and donors, as well as to the broader Western New York community, is that Hospice Buffalo will emerge from this transition to new leadership in a position of increased strength," Izzo said. "Change is good and the evolution to only our fourth CEO in 32 years will give us all a timely opportunity to evaluate our operations and focus on our core mission."

-End-

More about The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care

Hospice is a compassionate approach to care whose goal is to help people with serious illness live life fully, maintain their dignity and keep control over their lives. In medieval times, hospices were inns of rest which "lodged, cherished and refreshed" the Crusader, the sick and the dying. Today, Hospice provides medical care, emotional and spiritual support to people and their families facing life-limiting illness in homes, hospitals, adult facilities, nursing homes, group homes and hospice residences such as Hospice Buffalo House in Cheektowaga & the St. John Baptist/Hospice Buffalo House in Buffalo, as well as the Mary & Ralph Wilson, Jr. Hospice Inpatient Unit. Hospice is available to anyone with an illness whose life expectancy is measured in months, rather than years.