Hospice of the Valley Chief, Sally Adelus, Joins ABL Organization

Orange, CA — June 29, 2009 — Sally Adelus, CEO of Hospice of the Valley, has joined the Adaptive Business Leaders Organization (ABL). As part of California’s leading vertical-industry Chief Executives’ Organization, ABL Members provide one another with executive leadership coaching through its confidential, professionally-facilitated, peer-CEO Advisory Board Round Tables, executive learning workshops, network of CEO peers, and expert resources.

Hospice of the Valley (HOV) has provided compassionate end-of-life care and grief support to over 25,000 people since 1979. Currently, in conjunction with VA Palo Alto Health Care Systems, it’s participating in the Stanford IRB approved Hope in Hospice Care study, conducted by Santa Clara University to research the topic of hope at the end of life with cancer patients.

Sally has been HOV’s CEO since 2003. With 20+ years of clinical and administrative healthcare expertise and advocacy in pain management, palliative, and hospice care, Sally’s seminal work has centered on patient inequities and disparities in the provision of care. Her work has fostered equitable access to effective pain management and palliative care while advocating an approach that is patient-centered vs. system-centered. In 2007, Sally received the Heart of Hospice Award from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in Washington, DC. She is Co-Founder and Past President of the Northern California Chapter of the American Society of Pain Management Nursing and served on the Society’s National Board of Directors. She has been integral in implementing revised JCAHO pain standards and subsequent institution-wide policies and staff competencies. She has been influential in the development of the Pediatric Palliative Care Medicaid Waiver, enacted by legislation (AB1745) to improve pediatric palliative care in California. She has presented expert testimony to the California legislature, participated on the Palliative and End-of-Life Care Task Team for the California Long Range Strategic Plan for an Aging Population, served on the advisory group for the Ten Year Strategic Plan to Advance the Well-Being of Santa Clara County’s Older Adult Population, and currently serves on the Policy Team for the Aging Services Collaborative for Santa Clara County.

About the Adaptive Business Leaders (ABL) Organization
ABL supports the needs of its Member CEOs by providing a place for top-level executives to draw on the experience, knowledge and skill sets of their peers in a vertical industry, personal advisory board – “multi-coach approach” – setting.

The core component of the CEO Membership experience is the group Round Table meeting. Members meet once a month for a half-day with a group of peer CEOs, Presidents, COOs and Division General Managers from non-competing companies, all from the same industry (healthcare, technology or life sciences), in a trusted and confidential board room-like setting, which allows ABL Members to tackle topics and enhance their decision making and business performance. Topics include: developing and honing new business strategies and best practices, new lines of business, “A-players” on the management team, and an effective board of directors, as well as understanding trends in new markets, mergers and acquisitions, compensation, and other “hot” topics brought to the Round Tables by the Members themselves.

ABL Members also gather several times a year at workshops and conferences to exchange ideas and connect with other chief executives beyond their own CEO peer groups. In effect, ABL Members serve as one another’s business coaches within the Round Tables and are encouraged to connect and leverage their co-Member peers’ particular skills and expertise for additional leadership coaching, one-on-one, outside of their monthly group meeting. In addition, each Round Table’s facilitator also serves as an objective business advisor, offering executive and industry insights and advice.

 ABL's Chief Executive Leadership Development Round Table program is currently offered in California's Greater Los Angeles, Orange and San Francisco County areas. More information about the ABL Organization can be found at http://www.abl.org .