Meet the Executive Team
BARBARA HORSTMEYER
As the owner of Senior Planning Group for the past 18 years, I had witnessed first-hand my client’s journey at end of life. I began to witness that Hospice was becoming too much of a business. I gathered local providers who shared my concern regarding their patients and families experiences and together we founded and created Badger Hospice, LLC. I firmly believe that patients and their families should receive a higher quality of care at end of life.
Together, with a dedicated staff, we designed an all-encompassing program customized to each patient and family that addresses not only the physical needs but also the emotional and spiritual needs of the whole family. We will focus on the patients and families – not the disease. Hospice care should be the best care focused on the quality of the remaining life. Our logo is a quilt which represents family, community, comfort and the circle of life.
JOHN COURY, RN
As a Registered Nurse, serving the senior community for over twenty years, I saw the importance that hospice services play in health care. Helping elderly patients live the last days of their lives with dignity and free of pain is critical. As such, I wanted to create an organization with like-minded people who are dedicated to providing high quality service.
I was looking for committed and compassionate individuals who would not only be investors, but invested in providing outstanding care near the end of one’s life. I am proud to be a founder of Badger Hospice as it is an organization that strives for excellence in patient care.
JOANNE SWANSON, RN
As a nurse and an owner of specialty care residences for older adults, I have had the opportunity to experience services offered by many different hospice agencies over the years. So it’s only reasonable that I desire a high quality experience for our residents that I have come to know so well and personally care about. I believe when a resident goes on a hospice service that they should receive something special, over and above their care thus far to lift them up during their final months.
It is clear to me that not all hospices are equal. I believe the difference between an exceptional experience and one less than optimal lies in simple achievable goals, actions and commitment but most importantly the staff. So it was with much enthusiasm that I chose to join Badger Hospice a venture with like-minded people who have a history of high standards and a relentless commitment to service.
ATTORNEY W. RYAN ZENK, JD, CFP
As a local Attorney with over two decades of practice in the area now referred to as “Elder Law”, I have witnessed the need and desire my client families have for the opportunity to approach the end of life naturally surrounded by those they love in a comfortable setting. I sensed the need for an independent community based, locally owned and operated, hospice focused on the love, faith, hope and joy experienced in the process of dying. I approached colleagues that I believe shared my vision and set forth to start a community hospice based on these guiding principles.
