December 8, 2009                                  
 
The Board of Directors of Hospice of McDowell County, Inc. announced last night that a new Executive Director has been hired and will assume that position in early January, 2010. The new director, Catherine “Kit” Cosgrove said she is very excited to be coming back home to western North Carolina where she has many friends and family. Ms. Cosgrove served at Mountain Area Hospice, now Community CarePartners Hospice and Palliative Care in Asheville, for 17 years and was Director of Operations when she left in 2001. While there she provided some advice and encouragement for Hospice of McDowell County in their formative years. Among her accomplishments in Asheville were merging the human resource functions of six not-for-profit post-acute care services to establish Community CarePartners and achieving the first JACHO accreditation in 1996. Her civic achievements were Pacesetter chairperson for the Asheville Buncombe United Way in 1990 and 2001 and 2001 Tribute to Women in Industry award from the Asheville YMCA. She was recognized professionally in 2007 by being named as Chair-elect for the board of directors of the Carolinas Center for Hospice and End Of Life Care. She earned a BA degree from St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC and a Masters of Public Affairs from Western Carolina University.
Ms. Cosgrove served as Executive Director of Hospice of Charleston in Charleston, SC from 2001 to 2007. There she was responsible for the successful planning, development, and building of a 20-bed inpatient facility. She also implemented a palliative care program in 2 hospitals and achieved a 50% increase in patient census. For the past 2 years, she has served as Vice-President of Clinical Operations of Hospice of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio where she managed 2 inpatient facilities, hospice home care, and hospice care in long term care facilities across 8 counties with a daily census of over 600 patients.

Four New Board Members and 2010 Officers Elected

December 8, 2009

Following the election of the new board members for 2010, and serving 3-year terms, Richard Wood, current board president said, “We are fortunate to have four new members all with outstanding professional qualifications and civic service in McDowell County.” Jan Ramsey recently retired from McDowell High School where she was a counselor for 7 years following 13 years at East Junior High in the same capacity.  She earned a Sociology Degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Master's Degree in Counseling from Western Carolina University. Mrs. Ramsey was a Child Welfare social worker at the McDowell County Dept. of Social Services for 7 years. She currently serves on the Community Resource Council for Marion Correctional Institution and is married to Don Ramsey, Clerk of Superior Court.
            Steve Brown, has over 24 years of experience in the Financial Industry and assists business owners and individuals in achieving their financial goals. He earned his B.A. degree in Business Administration from UNCC and his CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter) from The American College. Steve is currently Board President of the Chamber of Commerce of McDowell County and Vice President of the Foothills Community Band. His wife Pam is a Wound Ostomy RN at The Charles George VA Medical Center in Asheville.
            Charles E. Burgin has recently retired from Senior Partner in the law firm of Dameron Burgin Parker & Jackson, P.A. He earned a B.A. from UNC-CH and a LL.B from Duke University School of Law. His specialty was Trial Attorney specializing in the defense of medical malpractice cases and is past president of the North Carolina Bar Association. He is listed as one of the Best Lawyers in America, and is a member of the bar of the United States Supreme Court. He has served on the boards of M.A.C.A., Southmountain, McDowell County Rec Commission, First Union National Bank, and Marion General Hospital, and is currently on McDowell County Mountain Rescue Team and is Chairman of "Outlook" Project for McDowell County. Charles is married to Ellen Salsbury “Bunnie” Burgin, who is active in civic affairs including The McDowell Foundation board.
            Harriett Thomas is the Finance Director for the City of Marion and was formerly employed as an accountant with Johnson, Price & Sprinkle PA CPA firm. She has been serving as Interim Treasurer for the Hospice of McDowell County board since Ray McKesson was appointed Interim Executive Director. She is a CPA and earned AS degrees from McDowell Technical Community College and Mayland Community College, and attended UNC-Asheville. Mrs. Thomas is past President of the board of McDowell County Chamber of Commerce and M.A.C.A. Her husband, Bryan, is an 8th grade Science Teacher at East McDowell Junior High.

Listen to an interview with our chaplain, Chuck Tripp on how Hospice is a healing ministry. Matt Stockman interviews Chuck at WMIT 106.9 radio. CLICK HERE and wait for download.

Hospice Cookbook

Has Arrived!

-Great Gifts-

Including favorite family recipes, with honrariums and memorials to loved ones.

441 great recipes from simple to fancy

Hospice Spaghetti recipe included

Hardback Padded Notebook style cookbook with tabbed dividers and special page-turning stand.

Only $15.00

Purchase yours now at Hospice of McDowell County, Inc. at 575 Airport Road, Marion, NC or call 652-1318

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Volunteer!

Click Here for More Information.

or call 652-1318 and ask for

Doreen Reynolds, Volunteer Coordinator