As an acute care nurse, Eileen Emery had witnessed firsthand how end-of-life issues were often overlooked and believed that “there had to be a better way” of caring for patients at the end of life. This belief had begun to take shape years earlier when Eileen had the opportunity to see and hear Dame Cicely Saunders, widely recognized as the founder of the hospice movement, at Yale University. Saunders’ message about a different approach to caring for people at the end of life deeply resonated with Eileen.
In 1990, Eileen found a way to put that belief into practice when she joined the nursing team at Treasure Coast Hospice.
Over the years, her involvement with the organization grew and evolved through numerous roles. She has cared for patients by the bedside, directed Volunteer Services, held positions on both the Foundation and Operating boards, and today serves as Chairperson for the Treasure Health Operating Board.
Among those roles, she considers her years leading Volunteer Services especially meaningful. Drawing on her clinical experience, Eileen developed programs that addressed needs she had observed while caring for patients. She also expanded the ways volunteers could impact the lives of patients and families. Under Eileen’s leadership, numerous programs designed to provide comfort and connection for patients and their loved ones were developed, including Memory Bears, a Veterans Program, Treasured Pets, and tuck-in calls and services.
“I’m especially proud to have engaged so many volunteers in programs that grew from needs I first recognized while caring for patients as a nurse,” said Eileen.
After more than three decades of involvement with Treasure Coast Hospice, Eileen’s belief in its mission is deeply personal. To her, hospice gives people facing a life-limiting illness an opportunity to receive care focused on what matters most to them while also providing support to the people they love.
For Eileen, there are many ways to become involved and support the mission of Treasure Coast Hospice. As a former nurse, she believes hospice care is the most rewarding work a person can do. As a volunteer, she has seen the many ways a person can make a difference in someone’s life. And as a board member, she has helped guide the growth and future of an organization dedicated to serving the community.
Having experienced each of these roles herself, Eileen is one of the organization’s strongest advocates. What began with a young nurse’s conviction that there had to be a better way to care for people at the end of life has become a lifetime of helping to make that better way possible.