CVHHH and the Hospice & Palliative Care industry recently lost an amazing person, Diana Peirce, RN.
Diana was instrumental in the creation of CVHHA’s hospice program over 40 years ago and led the organization through many of its initial milestones:
• 1981: With leadership and support from CVHHA, a volunteer hospice program for the terminally ill was initiated in central Vermont. Diana Peirce became the first director of the Hospice Program. They served four patients in hospice that year. The first public hospice volunteer training was held and 31 people were trained.
• 1982: Eleven patients were served through the Hospice Program. A building was purchased to house CVHHA on the Barre-Montpelier Road.
• 1984: A bereavement group was introduced.
• 1986: Hospice became a full-fledged, Medicare-certified program of CVHHA.
• 1987: Central Vermont Home Health and the Waterbury Public Health Association merged providing home care and hospice to 23 central Vermont towns.
Sandy Rousse, CVHHH CEO, shared, “Diana built our hospice program here at CVHHH and was a legend in Vermont for this work. She taught me hospice. She supported me when my dad passed away in Rhode Island and she visited my husband and I before admitting his mom onto hospice. She never stopped giving. It seems only fitting that during National Hospice & Palliative Care Month we are all reflecting on the life and work of this incredible woman. This is a perfect time to remember her legacy of caring and the many lives she touched.”
You can read her full obituary here: https://vtdigger.org/2023/11/15/diana-marie-peirce/?utm_medium=email or https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/diana-peirce-obituary?id=53598131#guestbook