A Passion For The Project

Newaygo County Compassion Home Executive Director Diane Rudholm

Newaygo County’s new home for terminally ill patients hires first executive director
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FREMONT-Newaygo County Compassion Home for the Terminally Ill, the county’s first full-service hospice home, has named Diane Rudholm as its first executive director. Rudholm will oversee the overall direction and operations of all services at the newly established NCCH, including fundraising, marketing and management of NCCH staff and volunteers.
“I’m truly honored and humbled to be given this opportunity to do something that I love and serve families with care and compassion,” Rudholm said. “Newaygo County Compassion Home is meeting a genuine need in the Newaygo County community. For the first time, families will have peace of mind knowing that we now have a designated place where their loved ones can receive professional and compassionate end of life care, and I’m looking forward to my new role with the Newaygo County Compassion Home.”
NCCH is expected to serve around 100 guests a year and can house three guests at a time. The home will be available to guests who are in the final days or weeks of a terminal illness, with each guest under the care of a hospice provider in Newaygo County.
“Diane embodies the perfect blend of business and heart, and her experiences and passion are unprecedented, which will serve the community members to the fullest,” said Angela Kinch, Hospice Business and Program Development Manager at Spectrum Health.
As executive director, Rudholm will report directly to and work with the NCCH Board of Directors to fulfill the Newaygo County Compassion Home mission and ensure ongoing strategic planning. Rudholm has been involved with the Compassion Home for a year from its earliest stages. She will work at the NCCH’s temporary location in White Cloud, and move to its permanent facility at 20 S. Stewart in Fremont, which will undergo renovations following a capital fundraising campaign in coming months.
“Diane’s passion for the project, combined with her unique skill-set, makes her the ideal person for this enormous job,” said NCCH board member Dorothy Paris, CPA at H&S Companies PC.
Rudholm is a licensed CNA and has a bachelor’s of science in health communications and administration, with an associate’s of business in sales and marketing. She has 25 years of experience in fund and business development, marketing, human resources and management from past roles at the American Cancer Society, Brunswick Corp., and GoodTemps Staffing Services.
“Diane has a clear desire to move forward the mission of the Compassion Home while learning and growing with us. I truly believe that everything she has done in the past six months is a clear indication that God’s hand is at work in this community and in her desire to open the Compassion Home for His glory,” said Mary Henry, RN, BSN, OCN, retired Spectrum Health registered nurse.
More than 80 percent of Americans prefer to die at home or in a home-like setting, yet only 20 percent get that opportunity. Many individuals end up in relatively sterile acute care facilities, surrounded by machines and strangers.

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