Little Rock - Two Arkansans have been named to the 2019 Board of Directors for the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO).
Greg Wood, M.S., L.S.W., Executive Director for Hospice of the Ozarks, has been elected and named Chairman of the Board of Directors for NHPCO. Wood has served on the NHPCO Board of Directors for the past five years as a national director and vice-chair for the past two years.
There are 28 elected national directors on the board of directors representing large and small, urban and rural, not-for-profit and for-profit hospice and palliative care providers across the country. Even though each provider type is uniquely different, together they can influence and ensure quality care is offered and provided to all Americans at the end of their lives.
Wood also serves on the Hospice & Palliative Care Association of Arkansas (HPCAA) Board of Directors. He has been the Executive Director for Hospice of the Ozarks since April 2012 and prior to that he was the CEO for Hospice of North Central Oklahoma for 10 years.
Dr. Brian Jones has been named as National Director to the NHPCO board. Dr. Jones serves as the President/CEO of the SHARE Foundation in El Dorado, AR. The SHARE Foundation is a non-profit operating foundation with many programs and agencies, including Life Touch Hospice. Dr. Jones holds a doctorate in Health Sciences from A.T. Still University.
He has worked in the field of hospice and palliative care for over 15 years, authoring several peer reviewed journal articles and has spoken around the country on end-of-life care issues.
He previously served as Vice-President, Regulatory Chair, and Education Chair for the Kentucky Association of Hospice and Palliative Care, and on the Executive Committee of the National Council of Hospice and Palliative Professionals. Dr. Jones began his career in hospice as a staff chaplain. He also teaches part-time in the public health department at Southern Arkansas University and in the Doctor of Behavioral Health Program at Freed-Hardeman University. He currently serves on the Arkansas Governor's Council on Aging.
A third Arkansas-related appointment to the 2019 NHPCO board is Carla Davis, CEO of Heart of Hospice, which owns hospices in Helena and Fort Smith, Arkansas as well as Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi. Heart of Hospice is based in Charleston, SC.
Lisa Vaden, Executive Director of Hospice & Palliative Care Association of Arkansas (HPCAA).
All appointments were effective January 1, 2019, and are for a term of three years.