The Rotary of Macomb meets Tuesdays at noon at the First Presbyterian Church.
September 1, 2026
McDonough District Hospice Marks New Accreditation, Seeks More Volunteers President Nick Knowles called the Rotary Club’s 9th meeting to order with the ringing of the Rotary Bell at the First Presbyterian Church in Macomb. First, Larry Adams delivered the invocation followed by Matt Lawver who led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Steve Tibbitts reported attendance of 22 members in person representing 42% of the club’s membership. There were also several guests attending from McDonough District Hospital including Emily Alden, Sherry Hitchcock, and Brittany Moore who were there to support the guest speakers: Michelle Zimmerman, Director of MDH Hospice; Lisa Hood; and Savana Caputo also with the Hospice program.
Larry Adams welcomed the first Jr. Rotarians of the school year; Mullen Butcher, daughter of Chris and Jessica Butcher. Carter Havens, son of Joshua Havens and Rotarian foreign exchange student Nora from Hungary, along with her sponsor, Alicia White, a Rotarian from the Morning Club and initiated them with playing a Kazoo version of the MHS fight song.
President Nick then asked Nora to come up and receive her $150 monthly stipen as the Rotary Foreign exchange student.
The Happy Money portion of the meeting followed during which nine Rotarians shared special events from the previous week. During the 50/50 drawing, Cathy Early held the winning ticket and had the opportunity to claim the $195 prize by drawing the 9 of Hearts from the remaining 27 cards. However, Cathy drew the 10 of Clubs and did not win, and the drawing will roll over to next week.
President Nick provided some announcements to the club. The club is eligible due to our involvement with the Family Day at the Ballpark to apply for $16,000 in available support for literacy, and technology training projects in local communities. Dennis Danowski is going to spearhead the application process between September first and October thirty-first and Emily Gillette is offering to assist.
There is still a need for people to sign up, on September 12 at Chandler Park to sell raffle tickets.
Todd Lester and Ryan Van Dolah held the weekly Early Bird drawing for the Annual Raffle Fundraiser, which went to Dana Green. Van Dolah also announced that the group has sold about half of the tickets needed to break even for the scholarships and were on track to achieve the goal.
Next, President Nick asked Emily Gillett to introduce the day’s speakers. Michelle Zimmerman, Director of MDH Hospice; Lisa Hood, Clinical Manager and Savana Caputo, LCSW also with the Hospice program.
Zimmerman first spoke and was excited to announce that McDonough District Hospice has earned its highest national recognition yet: accreditation from the Community Health Accreditation Partners, the industry’s most rigorous standard for home and community-based care.
The achievement, announced this week to the Macomb Rotary Club, signals the program’s commitment to what Zimmerman, the hospice director, calls “one of the most important programs that the hospital can possibly provide.” It also comes as the hospice faces a growing gap between patient demand and volunteer availability.
Then Hood and Caputo gave an overview of the program and stats: Last year, MDH Hospice served 184 patients across six counties—McDonough, Hancock, Fulton, Schuyler, Warren, Adams, and Henderson. More than half were over 85. While cancer diagnoses account for 28 percent of patients, the program now serves people with kidney disease (21 percent), cardiac disease (19 percent), and respiratory illness like COPD (9 percent), a shift from the days when hospice was thought of as cancer-only care.
The hospice operates with a lean team: two physicians, six nurses, three nurses’ aides, three social workers, and a network of volunteers. One nurse, Christine Nelson, has been with the program for 42 years. The staff is available to patients and families 24/7.
According to Hood, the clinical manager, the depth of hospice services sets MDH apart. The program covers medications, medical equipment like electric beds and wheelchairs, oxygen, personal care supplies, and nursing visits—all at no cost to patients regardless of ability to pay. Medicare covers 89 percent of patients; Medicaid covers 3 percent; other private insurance covers 8 percent.
Patients must meet strict criteria: a physician’s assessment of six months or less to live, willingness to pursue comfort over cure, and access to a 24-hour caregiver. The average patient stays in hospice for 99 days—several months, not days or weeks as many assume.
But the program’s real strength may lie in its volunteers. Savana Caputo, a licensed social worker with the hospice, described the volunteer role as flexible and deeply human: sitting with a patient to give a caregiver a break, reading aloud, sorting photographs, bringing meals, playing cards, or simply being present.
Cathy Early, a hospice volunteer since October 2025, spoke in a video to the Rotary Club about the rewards of the work. She described one patient, a retired farmer, with whom she discussed land transactions and read the Community News Brief newspaper articles about genealogy. Another patient enjoyed watching game shows together. “You get to meet somebody new,” Early said. “There’s conversation and laughter and seriousness. It’s a wonderful experience to get to meet someone new and share a little bit of their life with them.”
Yet the need outpaces supply. The hospice has more patients on its roster than volunteers available to serve them. Not all patients receive volunteer visits, though the program prioritizes cases where it would benefit the patient or provide respite for an exhausted caregiver.
Hood emphasized the impact of that break. “It can be so tiresome to put all that time and energy and not be able to step away,” she said.
“Giving that time to step away makes them more effective and better caregivers.”
The hospice also earned a five-star patient and family satisfaction rating—the highest possible—from Medicare surveys. Two families quoted in the program’s materials praised the staff as “angels from heaven” and said they chose MDH Hospice for both parents within one year because of the “excellent care by exceptional staff.”
The new CHAP accreditation required the hospice to meet standards focused on structure and function, quality of services, human and financial resources, and long-term viability.
Zimmerman noted it was the first accreditation of its kind for the program and said the hospital would soon announce it publicly.
The hospice also offers bereavement support to families after a patient’s death: continued volunteer visits, periodic mailings at key intervals (one month, three months, six months, one year), support group opportunities, individual counseling, and an annual memorial ceremony.
For those interested in volunteering, the hospice is actively recruiting. Early said potential volunteers should consider the real need: caregivers who need respite, patients who need companionship, and families navigating one of life’s most difficult passages. “If we would think about it,” she said, “if we were in that situation, we’d be very thankful to have somebody come just to give us a break for an hour or hour and a half, or two hours a week. It means a lot.”
The meeting concluded with the recitation of the “Four-Way Test” and the sounding of the Rotary Bell, encouraging all members to make Rotary part of their lives and Unite for Good.
