Directors
In 1978 a group of 33 concerned El Paso citizens desiring a community hospice attended a meeting at the Cancer Treatment Center and a steering committee of 16 was formed by 1979 to pursue this endeavor.
By February of 1980 Hospice of El Paso was incorporated by the State of Texas and the bylaws were adopted and the board and medical advisory committee was established for the then all-volunteer organization. The first Executive Director selected was Peggy Schwartz and Dr. Violet Gilson was the initial Medical Director.
It was in March of 1982 that Hospice El Paso began providing services to its first patients and in June of 1984 the State of Texas licensed the organization. Medicare certification was gained in.
Today, aside from visits by nurses and home health care aids to patients' bedsides, the founders would be proud of the increased range of services now being provided. Social work, spiritual counseling and bereavement services, dietary information, physical, occupational and speech therapy, and medications to relieve pain and control symptoms are available services.
