Hospice of Spokane’s director plans to resign

Anne Koepsell, executive director of Hospice of Spokane for the past nine years, has announced she will resign at the end of this year.

“I made this decision based on personal and family needs and shifting priorities. I found I could no longer accomplish my family priorities and continue in the job,” she said.

The past two years of her tenure have been marked by employment issues. In 2002, about 65 employees joined Service Employees International Union 1199 Northwest and struggled to negotiate their first contract, which they achieved in March.

“Our goal was always to build a positive and constructive relationship with our administration,” said Ellen Cote, a hospice nurse and union delegate. “With our new contract, we have a foundation for that.”

Koepsell made important contributions to Hospice of Spokane, Cote said Thursday.

Koepsell, 51, said she will continue as a volunteer to help raise money to build Hospice House, a $5.4 million project. If it is built, the facility would be an alternative to home-based hospice care and would house 20 terminally ill patients.

The fund-raising campaign has raised almost $2 million so far. The proposed site is in Spokane Valley, near Broadway and Sullivan. The target date to start construction, pending a zoning change and fund-raising, is spring of 2005, and the facility could open in 2006.

As executive director, Koepsell presided over a nonprofit agency with a $7 million annual budget. Last year, the organization served about 1,000 clients, helping them die at home.

The agency’s board of trustees has begun a search for Koepsell’s successor.