Compass Welcomes Medical Director, Readies for Palliative Care Program Launch

Dr. Thomas Walsh

Compass Regional Hospice welcomed its full-time chief medical director, Dr. Thomas Walsh, on Jan. 1, and is preparing to launch its new Compass Palliative Care Program at the beginning of February.

“It is with great pride that we have hired Dr. Tom Walsh as our full-time chief medical director,” said Compass Regional Hospice Executive Director Heather Guerieri. “In addition to now taking on a full-time role with us, he will be leading our newest program, Compass Palliative Care. We will be taking our first referrals for this program on Feb. 4.”

Dr. Thomas Walsh of Queenstown recently retired from his practice with Maryland Primary Care Physicians at the end of 2018 to take on the role of full-time chief medical director with Compass Regional Hospice, effective Jan. 1, 2019. Walsh has been the chief medical director for Compass Regional Hospice since March 2017, working contractually.

Walsh received his Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude, from Benedictine University in Illinois in 1974. He is a 1978 graduate of Rush University’s Rush Medical College in Chicago and completed his residency in family medicine at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore from 1978 to 1981. He has practiced medicine since 1981, first in Anne Arundel County, and has been practicing in Queen Anne’s County since 1988. He was a founding partner and former board member of Maryland Primary Care Physicians and, prior to his retirement, served as the clinical director for its Queenstown site.

“As a family physician, I had the opportunity to be involved in the lives of patients and their families from birth until death,” Walsh said. “My nearly 40 years of medical practice has given me the privilege of caring for thousands of people. End-of-life care has always been an especially important part of my work.”

Walsh also is a Queen Anne’s County Orphan’s Court judge and he is a former member of the Maryland Board of Physicians’ licensing, disciplinary and regulatory board.

“My involvement with Compass Regional Hospice as its chief medical director has given me the chance to be front and center with patients and families when it comes to end-of-life care. I am looking forward to this new role, and I know this partnership will continue to make me a better doctor and a better person,” Walsh said.

Walsh said he and the Compass Regional Hospice team look forward to the Feb. 4 launch of the Compass Palliative Care Program, which will be offered as a home care service to anyone who is dealing with a serious illness and has received a terminal diagnosis or life-expectancy of one year or less.

“I am looking forward to the launch of Compass Regional Hospice’s community palliative care program because it will give our team the opportunity to help more people who are living with and dealing with a serious illness, but are not yet ready for hospice services,” Walsh said. “The services we will be providing will help ensure that no one has to deal with the challenges of living with a serious illness alone.”

Compass Regional Hospice’s Director of Clinical Services, Dr. Holly Hayman, said palliative care is defined by Compass Regional Hospice as “the comprehensive care and management of the physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual needs of patients (of all ages) and their families with a serious and/or life-threatening illness. Palliative Care may be complimentary to curative or life-prolonging therapies that are being used to meet patient-defined goals of care.”

“We are very excited to offer the community-based Compass Palliative Care Program to provide additional medical care for individuals in the community with a life-limiting illness who do not qualify for hospice services,” Hayman said. “The program will provide patients with an additional level of coordinated care to better manage the challenges they face while living with a serious illness. Home visits will be provided by our palliative care physician and a social worker, which will assist the patient’s current medical team with symptom management related to the life-limiting illness.”

To learn more about hospice and palliative care services, or grief support services, available through Compass Regional Hospice, please contact Haymanat 443-262-4104 or [email protected].

Compass Regional Hospice – Care on your terms

Compass Regional Hospice is a fully licensed, independent, community-based nonprofit organization certified by Medicare and the state of Maryland and accredited by the Joint Commission. Since 1985, Compass Regional Hospice has been dedicated to supporting people of all ages through the challenge of living with a serious illness and learning to live following the death of a loved one. Today, the organization is a regional provider of hospice care and grief support in Queen Anne’s, Kent and Caroline counties. “Care on your terms” is the promise that guides staff and volunteers as they care for patients in private residences, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and the residential hospice centers in Centreville and Chestertown. Grief support services are offered to children, adults and families of patients who died under hospice care, as well as members of the community who are grieving the loss of a loved one. For more information about Compass Regional Hospice, visit compassregionalhospice.org.