Bonnie received this very special award and honored on Feb. 26, 2023 at our annual awards ceremony in front of 400+ hospice professionals.

Tommie Farrell, MD, a physician at Hendrick Hospice, nominated Bonnie Buchanan and wrote the following about her:
“Bonnie has taken the natural and caring nature of most hospice aides and extended to the care of not only patients, but other members of the team. That has led to her providing a comfort to the extended health care system in Abilene beyond the hospice team to other healthcare providers. In addition to providing great care to her patients she has also: Helps the bereavement coordinator at the Hendrick Hospice make bereavement calls to families. Watches out for team members going through personal hardship and provides support to them. She sent personal messages to me while going through my cancer treatments. Outside of her hospice duties serves as a Birth Doula. One singular act of service recently rippled through our entire hospital system. During Covid pandemic
she saw the strain occurring for nurses caring for the infected patients. She used her artist talents to create a painting of nurses placing PPE on with an angel looking on and named it The Armor of God. When this was presented to the nurses our medical director was so touched that the art was shared with the hospital board and administrators. This led to a commission of a local artist to create another painting inspired by Bonnie’s original art to be presented to the health care providers at the hospital. Copy of this story is at – https://www.hendrickhealth.org/news/2022/april/hendrick-medical-centers-to-unveil-commissioned-/

So, I nominate Bonnie Buchanan as a hospice advocate because she is a patient advocate, a colleague advocate, a human advocate. By using her talents to love and support others she helped provide healing to the larger health care system. She exemplifies the purpose of hospice in relieving the suffering of others and has shared her talents openly for the whole community to see the best in hospice providers.”

Bonnie, congratulations on your well-deserved success! You’re an inspiration! – TNMHO Board of Directors and Team