If you met Kathy Deoudes in 2004, you probably wouldn’t expect that now, 15 years later, she’d be volunteering full-time as the chair of a hospice facility. The 60-year-old Massachusetts native graduated from Trinity College in Washington, D.C. with a degree in political science and economics. She worked for an environmental lobbying group and an attorney before settling into a legislative-aide position at Senator E.J. Pipkin’s office in Annapolis in 2004.
Around the same time, a close friend, who was serving on the Compass Regional Hospice Board (Hospice of Queen Anne’s at the time), asked Deoudes if she would be interested in helping raise money to support the construction of the first residential hospice facility in Centreville. She agreed and, three years later, was invited to join the Compass Regional Hospice board. Currently, Deoudes is in the first year of her second two-year term as board chair.
“Kathy is an extraordinary woman who gives her time and talents to the causes she believes in,” Compass Regional Hospice Executive Director Heather Guerieri says. “She dedicates herself 100 percent, and is one of our strongest advocates in the community.”
Deoudes, a Queenstown resident, is so dedicated that in 2010 she left her job at Pipkin’s office to volunteer full-time with Compass.
Can you tell me about Compass Regional Hospice?We offer traditional hospice programs. Most of the people we take care of are in their own homes. Some are in nursing homes, and some are in our Centreville and Chestertown residential facilities.
We’ve gone from serving maybe 20 patients a day with maybe 15 to 20 employees, to serving over 100 patients a day with about 100 employees. We’re expanding our facility to accommodate the demand for services.
What other types of programs and services does Compass offer?We have free grief and bereavement groups in each one of the counties. We are in one of the school systems in each county. When there are accidents, overdoses, or suicides, we get called in.
We run a community program for people who have lost someone to substance abuse and suicide. It’s a hard thing for people to talk about. There are so many other emotions related to that [type of loss]. We feel like we can provide a place where you’re with other people who went through a similar experience.
We run an annual three-day grief counseling camp for children, and attached to that, we have a family camp that helps families through a loss. We also have a veteran’s program, and we work with the Chesterwye Center and other groups with developmentally disabled individuals who are processing grief.
What is your role with Compass Regional Hospice?I am chair of the board. My responsibility is to lead the organization, and make sure that our mission, vision, and values are achieved. Across the organization, I have taken on a lot of responsibility for fundraising. I co-chaired the capital campaign to raise funds for our expansion project. We’ve raised about $3.5 million dollars, so we are just about a half a million short of our goal. I work with our elected officials, who keep us up to date on regulations, and give us a heads up when things are happening.
I try to do outreach and development, to make sure that we’re not leaving any stone unturned when it comes to money, and letting people know about us, what we do, and that we’re here to help.
Do you find the work to be emotionally draining?Sometimes. When I first started, I said, “I cannot be a patient volunteer.” We have patient volunteers who are specially trained to sit with a dying patient. I could not do that.
The executive director and I, when we do presentations, and then there are stories told, we both feel like crying. Even if I’ve heard the story 100 times, I still get emotional. It doesn’t matter if you’re nine or 90, everyone is going to die, and everyone is going to lose someone. We just try to provide the best experience for our patients and their families.
What keeps you involved with Compass? What else should people know about Compass? I have an older sister that’s a hospice nurse. I have lost both my parents, my sister, and my friend to terminal illnesses—so I’m sold on the concept of hospice. I know and have seen the benefits, and I know that if we’re not there to provide these services, there’s no one to fill that void.
I think that we have a great team that understands the mission, vision, and values that guide us. We also have a huge legion of volunteers that are very, very faithful to us. We take care of anybody that needs us, regardless of their ability to pay. It all boils down to one thing: what is best for our patients, their families, and our bereavement clients—and that’s what drives all of us.
