Hospice & Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard

Community Updates

January 2026

Celebrating 45 Years of Care and New Leadership

As we step into the New Year, we’re proud to celebrate 45 years of caring for our neighbors facing serious illness on Martha’s Vineyard. This milestone is a testament to the strength and compassion of our community—and to you, who make this work possible. We’re also proud to be working with new leadership from within—promoting team members recognized for their excellence and integrity.

Meg Cabral, who has supervised our nurses in the field, working with us for the past six years, now leads our clinical team as Clinical Director. While our longstanding Clinical Director, Chantale Patterson, begins her ninth year with HPCMV as Executive Director.

Through every season, we remain committed to providing comfort, dignity, and care to those who need us most. Thank you for trusting us and walking alongside us through the turning tides.

Advance Care Planning: A New Year Checklist

The New Year is a meaningful time to think ahead and share what matters most. Advance care planning helps ensure your wishes are known and eases the burden on those you love. Review the checklist below to make sure you begin your year with your care planning goals in place.

☐ Reflect on your values and what quality of life means to you

☐ Choose a trusted person to make health care decisions if needed

☐ Complete or review an advance directive or living will

☐ Talk with your loved ones about your wishes

☐ Share your plans with your health care provider

☐ Review your choices each year or after major life changes

Hospice & Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard (HPCMV) is proud to partner with Honoring Choices Massachusetts (HCM). Through this partnership, our trained staff and volunteers utilize the simple resources and tool kits created by HCM to facilitate conversations and help create individualized health care plans for our community members.

Health care planning is not just for those of advanced age but for everyone over the age of 18. HPCMV aims to educate, empower, and inform our community to take control of their healthcare decisions. We believe these conversations are an act of care for yourself and for your family. Our team is always available to answer questions and offer guidance — please call us at 508-693-0189.

Congratulations to Jill De La Hunt on Becoming A Certified

Advanced Palliative Hospice Social Worker!

Jill De La Hunt, JD, LICSW, our collaborative care team supervisor, social worker, and grief counselor, has passed her exam to become a Certified Advanced Palliative Hospice Social Worker (APHSW-C) through the Hospice and Palliative Credentialing Center (HPCC). This designation is for experienced hospice and palliative social workers demonstrating advanced competency in providing psychosocial support, ethical practice, and ensuring quality of life for patients and families.

Jill Demeny, LCSW, to Attend Sharing Kindness Training for Clinician Facilitators

This weekend, Jill Demeny, our social worker and grief counselor, will participate in clinician facilitation training for Sharing Kindness peer grief support groups.

Peer grief group clinician facilitators provide compassionate support to children, families, and individuals grieving the death of a significant person in their lives. Sharing Kindness is a nonprofit organization offering grief-sensitive and suicide-aware programming for Cape & Islands communities.

Thank You to Supporters of our 2025 Annual Appeal!

Your gift to our Annual Appeal allows us to continue our mission and strengthen our legacy as a vital organization in our community.

Donate now!

Jan. 12 is National Pharmacist Day!

Please join us in thanking our local pharmacies: Conroy Apothecary, Vineyard Scripts, and Stop & Shop Pharmacy for their continued service to our patients.

After a challenging year with the closure of Leslie’s Pharmacy, our remaining neighborhood pharmacists have stepped up to meet the Island’s medication needs.

We’re deeply grateful for their care of our patients and community.

Pharmacists play a crucial role in healthcare beyond dispensing meds, including patient counseling, immunizations, and health monitoring.

Careers at HPCMV

RN Case Manager: Full-time, part-time, per-diem.

Required experience in post-acute care nursing with an emphasis on quality of life and education. Must be an RN in Massachusetts. Must have strong organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills as an interdisciplinary team member. Must be able to develop and follow a care plan that establishes goals to meet both the individual and family needs while incorporating palliative nursing skills.

Director of Development & Communications: Full-time

The Director of Development and Communications is responsible for driving all donor engagement, fundraising and marketing efforts to advance the organization’s mission and visibility. With a strong focus on cultivating and stewarding relationships, the Director develops and implements a comprehensive development plan that includes annual giving, major gifts, establishing a planned giving program, and leads all fundraising events. Read more.

APPLY ONLINE

No person shall be excluded or discriminated against on the basis of race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. EOE. Please email your resume and cover letter to mdevaney @ hospiceofmv.org or visit https://hospiceofmv.org/careers/ for more information and to apply.

Leave Your Legacy at HPCMV with PLANNED GIVING

Planned Giving, establishing a bequest, annuity, or life income gift, creates a legacy of supportive care for our island community. People like you have helped build a foundation to support our mission for 45 years. Please join us in enabling individualized, compassionate, end-of-life care for island patients and their families. If you would like to learn more, we can guide you in finding information about planned giving opportunities and the benefits they provide. Please contact 508-693-0189 or email fundraising@hospiceofmv.org.

“When I was updating my will earlier this year, I thought about remembering my family, of course, but I also thought about an island organization that I believe matters greatly, and I wished to support it as well. I chose Hospice and Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard to honor the work they do and to enable this important work to continue in the future.” -Diane Nicholls, Board Director at HPCMV

Make an Impact: Volunteer at HPCMV

We are always recruiting patient care and administrative volunteers, as well as fundraising volunteers, including people to join the planning committees for our 2026 fundraising events. We’re looking for people to:

Volunteer at events
Solicit auction items
Be a subcommittee leader

If you are interested in volunteering for events, please email

fundraising@hospiceofmv.org.

If you are interested in patient care volunteering, please email jangell@hospiceofmv.org

Email Us

Your Donation Makes a Difference

Thanks to your generous support, Hospice and Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard (HPCMV) is able to continue providing expert level care for patients and their caregivers in need of hospice, palliative, and bereavement services in our community.

We are currently fundraising for our 2025 Annual Appeal!

Your gift helps us reach our fundraising goal!

Every dollar counts! We thank you for your support.

Donate Now