FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:
Kal Mistry, Chief Administrative Officer/Senior Vice President
VITAS Innovative Hospice Care®, 305.350.5990
Megan Carella, APR, Public Relations Editor
VITAS Innovative Hospice Care®, 352.560.3415
Local Physician Promoted to Associate Medical Director
For VITAS Innovative Hospice Care®
Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, March 31 2010— Sara Abbruzzi, DO, has been promoted to Associate Medical Director for VITAS Innovative Hospice Care® of Philadelphia, responsible for overseeing the medical care and treatment of VITAS patients in their homes, nursing homes and assisted living communities in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. She also participates in the care of patients at VITAS inpatient hospice units at St. Agnes Continuing Care Center, Nazareth Hospital, Frankford Hospital and Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital.
As a VITAS associate medical director, Abbruzzi consults with patients’ attending physicians, supervises VITAS team physicians, guides staff and volunteers, and serves as a resource to practicing physicians and other healthcare professionals on the benefits of hospice and palliative care for patients and their families She also assists in the management of complex symptoms including pain.
The Gulph Mills resident joined VITAS in 2007 as a team physician, providing medical care for patients in their homes and in VITAS inpatient hospice units. She was named the Philadelphia program’s Physician of the Year in 2007 and 2008. She has practiced internal medicine in private practice in Philadelphia and Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania.
Board certified in both internal medicine and hospice and palliative care medicine, Abbruzzi received a bachelor’s degree from Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and a medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed an internship and residency at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and its affiliated hospitals: Medical College of Pennsylvania, Chestnut Hill Hospital, St. Agnes Medical Center, Frankford Hospital, Albert Einstein Medical Center and Parkview Hospital.
VITAS Innovative Hospice Care®, a pioneer and leader in the hospice movement since 1978, is one of the nation’s largest providers of end-of-life care. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, VITAS (pronounced VEE-tahs) operates 44 hospice programs in 16 states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin). VITAS employs 9,625 professionals who care for terminally ill patients daily, primarily in the patients’ homes, but also in the company’s 30 inpatient hospice units as well as in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living communities/residential care facilities for the elderly. At the conclusion of the fourth quarter of 2009, VITAS reported an average daily census of 12,142. Visit www.vitas.com.
