On August 31, 2020, as a result of two years of work and discussions between two organizations committed to nonprofit hospice care, Hospice of the Golden Isles (HGI) became the first affiliate and one of the founding members of Alivia Care of Georgia. The Reverend Tom Purdy, President of the Board of Directors said, “Under the Alivia Care of Georgia umbrella, high-quality community-based not-for-profit hospice agencies throughout the state will be ‘Stronger Together, Stronger Than Ever.’” HGI will continue to operate and offer services to its local community as before, including operating its hospice houses on Glynco Parkway, but will also have the additional support of Alivia Care of Georgia and its resources.
Susan Ponder-Stansel, a leader and advocate for nonprofit hospice care for over 35 years, and President and CEO of Alivia Care, Inc., heads Alivia Care of Georgia. “When I became involved in hospice in 1985, there were only a handful of for-profit hospices in the U.S. Now, over 76% of hospices are for-profit and see hospice as solely a business opportunity instead of a mission-driven service committed to serving the community. The business practices of these for-profit hospices pose a real and substantial threat to nonprofit hospices that serve all who need care, including patients whose care is costly or who have no insurance. We founded Alivia Care of Georgia to create an organization where high-quality nonprofit hospices could join forces to share resources and work together to be able to compete with their for-profit counterparts.”
Purdy joined Alivia Care of Georgia as one of the founding members of their Board of Directors. As a longstanding board member and current President of the HGI Board of Directors, his experience no doubt be beneficial to them. “Locally-focused community-based hospices make a substantial contribution to the quality of life for the communities they serve,” says Ponder-Stansel. “Preserving and strengthening organizations driven by a common mission and commitment is the most important work we can do now. We look forward to developing our network of like-minded providers with the support of our first affiliate, Hospice of the Golden Isles.”
Stronger together means supporting, not changing, the mission of a successful quality-driven community treasure. The mission of HGI, your hometown hospice since 1980, remains to provide ‘The Best Care When It Matters Most,’ regardless of a patient's ability to pay. For the last nine years, HGI has earned the Hospice Honors national designation and received premier designation status as "Elite” for four of those nine years, placing them in the top 2% of hospices nationwide for their commitment to quality.
“I have always been proud to work with HGI, never more so than now. Our mission and our quality of care set us apart,” says Purdy. We really do offer an elite level of care for our patients and families when compared with our peers across the nation. We are so pleased to have found a partner in Alivia Care of Georgia who shares our commitment to the original hospice care mission that does not put profits ahead of patients. We’re also pleased that we are not only helping ourselves through this affiliation, but helping form a network that will benefit other Georgia nonprofit hospices as well.” For more information about HGI, call 912.265.4735 or visit Hospice.me.