Community Hospice & Palliative Care (CHPC) is the recipient of a substantial gift for its new Center for Caring at Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville. Alice and O’Neal Douglas have made a sizable contribution to a new inpatient unit, which is under construction and expected to open in October 2019. The Douglas Center for Caring at Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville will be the ninth such Community Hospice inpatient facility.
O’Neal Douglas is a former Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville board member, serving for 19 years with the last eight as chairman. He was also chairman and chief executive officer of American Heritage Life Insurance Company and American Heritage Life Investment Corporation, a holding company for American Heritage Life Insurance Company and Columbia Life Insurance Company.
Alice Douglas served for many years as a faithful auxilian for Wolfson Children’s Hospital. She also served on the board of The Guild of the Jacksonville Symphony Association. She and O’Neal Douglas are active members of their church.
“Alice and I are pleased to be a part of bringing this very important element of care into the wonderful institution of Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville,” O’Neal Douglas said.
In addition to comprehensive inpatient hospice care, the Douglas Center for Caring at Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville will feature bereavement care and grief services, offering comfort to grieving families and loved ones. The programs and services provided at the new center will allow Community Hospice & Palliative Care to better serve local residents when it matters most. These services will be delivered by a team of compassionate health care experts including physicians, nurses, social service specialists, home health aides, chaplains and volunteers.
“We are extremely pleased and grateful for the generosity of Alice and O’Neal Douglas providing this naming gift for the new hospice unit at Baptist Jacksonville,” said Michael Mayo, hospital president of Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville. “This act of giving back by the Douglas family is from the heart of their longtime association with Baptist Health. Many patients’ and families’ lives will be touched by this unit being available on our campus which will make significant end of life transitions much less stressful.”
