Alivia Care formed to improve care for those with advanced illness

Press release from Alivia Care, Inc.

Fernando Acosta-Rua, Chair of the Board of Directors of Alivia Care, Inc. announces the founding of Alivia Care, Inc., its newly formed Board of Directors, and the appointment of Susan Ponder-Stansel as President and Chief Executive Officer. 

“I’m incredibly proud to announce the formation of Alivia Care, Inc., a non-profit focused on helping people live better lives, a vision my family and I had when we began supporting Community Hospice & Palliative Care 15 years ago,” says Acosta-Rua. “Our family has been part of the fabric of Community, and now I’m humbled to chair the Alivia Care, Inc. board with like-minded compassionate individuals focused on the health and wellness of our community-at-large.”

Alivia Care, Inc., a non-profit organization, was formed after a multi-year strategic planning effort led by the tenured board of Community Hospice & Palliative Care, with the goal of helping more people, in more places, live better with advanced illness. Alivia Care now serves as the parent organization of Community Hospice & Palliative Care, Alivia Care Solutions, and Alivia Care of Georgia and is a joint owner of PACE Partners of Northeast Florida, which sponsors the only North Florida Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly. 

Some longstanding members of the Community Hospice board, along with one of Community’s leaders, were elected to the Alivia Care, Inc. board. The newly formed Board of Directors of Alivia Care, Inc. includes Chair Fernando Acosta-Rua, President and Chief Executive Officer, Pet Paradise Resorts; Scott S. Cairns, Owner, Cairns ADR; John W. Logue, Retired Director, Ascension St. Vincent’s Spirituality Center; Ray Matuza, Retired Owner Sunbelt Chemicals, Palm Coast; Dr. Robert C. Nuss, RADM Ret., USN, Retired Dean, UF College of Medicine, Jacksonville; Kevin Robbins, Executive Vice President, Ring Power Corporation; Allison Korman Shelton; Morrie Zimmerman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Far East Brokers and Consultants, Inc.; and Susan Ponder-Stansel. 

Susan Ponder-Stansel previously served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Community Hospice & Palliative Care for more than 31 years, and her visionary leadership resulted in one of the largest hospice and palliative care organizations in the nation. Community provides care to more than 8,000 hospice patients and 8,500 palliative patients annually in North Florida’s sixteen counties. It was her vision that also resulted in the addition of innovative care solutions and the formation of Alivia Care, Inc. “We wanted to be able to serve more patients in more places at an earlier stage in their disease progression. That is why we formed Alivia Care. We are bringing innovative care solutions to our community to help patients live better with advancing illness,” said Ponder-Stansel.

Alivia Care serves as the parent for organizations that provide hospice care, palliative care, advanced care, Program for All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), home health, and supportive care. These innovative care solutions come together to create a continuum of care designed to meet the needs of patients and families at each stage of a serious or advancing illness. “Alivia is not solely end-of-life care. This is about meeting patients and families where they are and when they need us the most. Our model of care fills the gaps of care of the traditional health care system with compassion,” added Ponder-Stansel. 

The mission of Alivia Care, Inc. is to provide leadership support to create innovative care solutions through best-in-class services, collaborative partnerships, and strategic investments. The vision of the organization is to establish a platform to create transformative care solutions that meet the needs of patients, providers, and communities. The board also developed Alivia Care, Inc.’s strategic imperatives:

• We empower patients living with advanced illness and their caregivers with information and alternatives so that they make informed decisions about the care they receive.
• We transform the patient experience with compassionate care that is of the highest clinical quality and honors patients’ preferences.
• We are an essential and trusted partner in our healthcare system, collaborating with providers and payers to develop care solutions that add value and address critical needs.
• We demonstrate leadership by investing and collaborating in developing and delivering innovative care solutions care through our partner organizations.

Alivia Care, Inc. is designed to care all ways, always to help people Live Better.