From the moment Hospice Renfrew opened in 2008, Diane Caughey was its executive director and an unstoppable force in moving from initial first steps in a brand new facility to the highly successful home-like hospice of today.
Diane has now retired and on April 7 Hospice Renfrew welcomed Maureen Sullivan-Bentz as the new executive director.
Connie Legg, chair of the Hospice board, said that a selection committee chose Ms. Sullivan-Bentz through an open competition that assessed a number of applicants from across Canada.
"Maureen has all the background, skills and experience to enrich Hospice Renfrew’s solid reputation for providing quality palliative care”, the chair of Hospice said. "I know she will be an excellent leader and mentor for our hospice community with its strong resolve to provide end-of-life care with comfort and compassion."
Ms. Sullivan-Bentz was most recently the executive director of the Arnprior and District Family Health team.
In this position, she was responsible for leading the development and construction of this new facility and for the recruitment and implementation of the new multi-disciplinary team which now effectively provides a range of programs and services for patients in Arnprior and the surrounding area. She is also a part-time clinical professor at the University of Ottawa School of Nursing and provides health care consultation services for various institutions and academic centers across Canada.
Born and raised in Arnprior, Maureen brings to Hospice Renfrew 25 years of nursing experience in pediatric and adult critical care as well as community health. She has an extensive background in health care administration, health care program development and clinical nursing education. Maureen has served as a sexual assault program manager in Renfrew and at University of Ottawa as Collaborative Nursing Assistant Director.
On April 7, Diane Caughey welcomed Maureen to Hospice Renfrew and introduced her to staff. Diane reminisced about the many challenges the hospice has overcome since opening and then looked ahead to the future. “I know there will be many more hurdles and snags for Maureen to tackle. And I know she has the skills and know-how to solve them. I’m confident she will continue to advance Hospice Renfrew as a vital county hub for palliative and bereavement services. Like me, she is dedicated to our community and determined to improve the quality of living, and dying, for our residents and families. I am very happy to be passing the torch on to her.”
For her part Maureen spoke of why she wanted to lead the Hospice team. “I wanted to come to Hospice Renfrew because of its great reputation in our community for patient care. I want to be a part of that. I know my big immediate challenge will be filling Diane Caughey’s shoes. As the hospice’s first executive director she has had such a huge impact. Hospice Renfrew is all about caring for our families. I look forward to helping our hospice residents and their families come to a comfortable home-like setting for final closure and as fully as possible living remaining precious moments without suffering."