SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Keith Becker has been promoted to Senior General Manager of VITAS Innovative Hospice Care of San Antonio.
Becker has served as general manager of VITAS’ San Antonio program for six years, where he has been responsible for the overall operation of the program. A winner of numerous VITAS employee awards, including the 2001 Leadership Council-General Manager award for responsible fiscal and business management and the National Sales Manager Award for Excellence, Becker’s leadership initiatives have included the 2004 creation of La Esperanza Eterna -- meaning Eternal Hope -- VITAS’ first all Spanish-speaking team.
“We established La Esperanza Eterna due to the tremendous need for bilingual hospice caregivers in San Antonio,” Becker explained. “Pain management is key to comforting patients nearing the end of life. Caregivers must have an absolute understanding of what the patient is communicating about their pain in order to best help them. They must also understand subtleties and cultural differences involved when a patient and family is facing end-of- life issues.”
Becker began his career with VITAS 10 years ago as director of admissions in San Antonio. He then managed the sales and marketing teams for VITAS’ San Antonio and Houston programs before moving on to the position of area director of admissions for VITAS programs in Texas and in Orange, CA.
Becker lives in San Antonio. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a bachelor of science degree in biology from Baylor University, Waco, Texas.
About VITAS
VITAS Innovative Hospice Care(R), a pioneer and leader in the hospice movement since 1978, is the nation’s largest provider of end-of-life care. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, VITAS (pronounced VEE-tahs) operates 33 hospice programs in 12 states (Texas, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin). VITAS employs 6,887 professionals who care for terminally ill patients daily, primarily in the patients’ homes, but also in the company’s 21 hospice inpatient units as well as in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities/residential care facilities for the elderly. At the conclusion of the second quarter of 2004, VITAS reported an average daily census of 8,949.
VITAS Innovative Hospice Care
CONTACT: Mark Cohen, VP, Communications & Public Relations of VITASHealthcare Corporation, +1-305-350-5905; or Deborah Adams, Account Supervisorof Hill & Knowlton, +1-202-944-1903, for VITAS Innovative Hospice Care