The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

After 16 years in service of the region’s hospice care needs, Eric Alexander, the president and chief executive officer of Partners In Care, will retire effective March 31.“I have been honored to work with a great team in nurturing this special enterprise. I owe much to those who came before me and it is now time to give another leader the privilege of serving the people of our 10,000-square-mile region,” said Alexander.

During his tenure, Alexander founded Partners In Care through the merger of the region’s two largest Home Health & Hospice Care providers and further expanded the new organization into a coordinated set of six services focused on the needs of an aging population. It now has the largest service area of any end-of-life care organization in the state and operates the only Hospice House inpatient facility east of the Cascades.

“Eric’s vision is rooted in his strong belief that effective collaboration will strengthen the overall health care system,” said Board Chair Suzanne Lafky. “His strategic thinking and passion for excellence has set the standard for quality end-of-life care in Central Oregon.”

During the pandemic, Alexander and his management teams worked to protect the 200-person workforce from infection, job interruption, and the anxiety and fatigue of frontline caregivers, while pressing forward to double the bed capacity for its new 14,000-square-foot Hospice House.

“A leader couldn’t ask for a more satisfying note on which to depart,” said Alexander. “For an organization that began more than 40 years ago as an all-volunteer group of concerned citizens focused on the ‘new’ hospice philosophy of care, we have come quite a distance!”

Prior to his leadership at Partners In Care, Alexander served as the regional chief operating officer for St. Charles Medical Center; as CEO for the nine-hospital Central Oregon Hospital Network; and founded the St. Charles Medical Center Foundation. He is a former naval aviator with combat service in Vietnam. He and his wife, Marlene, have lived in Bend since 1971 and have two grown children.

As to Partners In Care’s future, Board Chair Lafky said, “Our board is committed to continuing the strong, creative, and clear leadership that Eric has established. We wish him all the best after a brilliant career.”