New Hospice & Palliative Care Leader
Should Have Smooth Sailing On Cape

David W. Rehm will have no problems adjusting to his new environment as Chief Executive Officer of Hospice & Palliative Care of Cape Cod.
He’s not only a sailor, but he’s vacationed here before and is familiar with our waters.
He also has some institutional history with the organization. When he first entered the h

ospice field some 20 years ago, one of his early mentors was Mary McCarthy, now retired founder of what was then Hospice of Cape Cod. “I remember visiting her many years ago to learn about training and she’s been a good colleague,” he recalled during a recent interview with To Your Good Health, a Healthcare Newsletter.

Mr. Rehm succeeds Marilyn Hannus, who recently retired after 22 years with the Cape’s longest-serving and only non-profit independent Hospice.

Mr. Rehm comes here from Washington where he was President and CEO of   Washington Home and Community Hospices.
Mr. Rehm, a graduate of Brown University and the Simmons College School of Social Work master’s program, has a long history of social work and mental health care before entering the hospice field where he has held major corporate as well as institutional positions.
His wife, Lise M. Lambert, also has a health care background.

“The appeal of the job” is what Mr. Rehm said persuaded him to take the Cape position, “and the community of Cape Cod has always been one of our favorite places.”

As for potential challenges here, he said, “The same as most Hospices face. They have achieved a certain level of understanding and success and my job is to take things to the next level, to reach out and make sure that everyone in the community has an opportunity to take advantage of our services.”

Mr. Rehm stresses that a Hospice organization must “adapt to how patients face the end of life. It’s the most personal decision they’ll make in their entire life and there are no ‘right’ answers. They have to be able to chart their own path.”

This also demands some input from patients and family members, he stresses. “Everyone should have an advance directive in writing,” he suggests and adds that it’s also helpful to initiate contact with Hospice workers before entering a critical stage.

This doesn’t require a doctor’s approval, either. “It’s a Medicare entitlement they can ask for on their own,” he say, adding that there are no time limits for Hospice care, just “eligibility requirements under which the disease is more or less following its normal course.

“You can get Hospice care at home with your own physician, you can stay in care a year…or longer….and sometimes,” he notes, “people even improve and are discharged.”