Leading with Care and Compassion

A proven leader of multidisciplinary teams, Teri has deep experience as a senior clinician and administrator in cancer support, palliative and hospice care, and in non-profit leadership. Teri joined Victoria Hospice in March 2023 from Gilda’s Club of Greater Toronto, a charity that supports people living with cancer, where she was the Associate Director of Community Development. Previously, she was the Director of Clinical Services at Hospice Toronto. A longtime advocate for accessible and equitable community-based palliative care, she is a Registered Social Worker with a Bachelor of Social Work with Honours from Ryerson University and a Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto. She was a program lead and instructor for a Mindfulness Informed End-of-life Care course at the University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies.

A dynamic and collaborative leader and facilitator, Shaun Lorhan has 25 years of healthcare leadership experience. From 2016 – 2022 Shaun held progressively senior roles at Island Health including Director of Primary Care Strategy. Prior to that she was a Manager at BC Cancer Agency for fifteen years focused on enhancing the patient experience. Shaun has a strong track record of building and managing successful teams in quality improvement, patient-centred research, and program development. She has a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Western Ontario and a Master of Arts in Leadership & Training from Royal Roads University.

Dr. Jones is a highly skilled palliative care physician, educator, and a long-time advocate for excellence in palliative and hospice care. She joined Victoria Hospice as a consulting palliative care physician in 2000. Since then she has attended to patients and families at hospice, in the community, with the Victoria Hospice Palliative Response Team and Island Health’s Home and Community Care Teams, in acute care, and long term care. In addition to being a lifelong learner with specialized training in clinical care, quality improvement, leadership and education, Dr. Jones is a facilitator and educational designer in Victoria Hospice’s Palliative Care Intensive course. She is a Master Facilitator in Serious Illness Conversation and LEAP (Learning Essential Approaches to Palliative Care), and she has mentored countless medical students, residents, and fellows. She has been widely published and has presented at the McGill International Congress in Palliative Care. Dr. Jones considers it a privilege to care for patients and families at this important time of their lives.

Marney joined Victoria Hospice as a community counsellor in 1994. She has worked on the unit, in the community, and on the PRT providing counselling for ten years; as a bereavement counsellor for eight years; and as the bereavement coordinator for six years. Marney was the first counsellor in Canada trained in Prolonged Grief Treatment and co-authored the textbook 'Transitions in Dying and Bereavement: A Psychosocial Guide for Hospice and Palliative Care.' As Director of Bereavement Services, Marney leads a dedicated team of highly trained bereavement counsellors.

Kirsten has worked in healthcare for 17 years and has held leadership positions in operations and project management at Island Health for ten years. She holds a Master of Health Administration from UBC, a BSc in Nursing from Mount Royal University, and a BSc in Kinesiology. Kirsten has successfully managed numerous large-scale projects, such as an island-wide strategy to decrease Alternate Level of Care (ALC) patients in hospital, development of the Glengarry Transitional Care Unit, creation of the Enhanced Discharge Team, and implementation of Structured Team Report across Island Health. Her depth of experience in leading multidisciplinary teams, bridging gaps in care, and fostering strong links with health care partners is a tremendous asset to our team.

Wendy is a fundraising professional with 16 years of experience in leading high-impact events, projects and campaigns through fundraising, public relations, and community engagement initiatives. For nine years she has held progressively senior fundraising roles at Victoria Hospice, most recently Senior Development Officer, Community Relations and Events and Interim Director. Wendy considers it an honour and privilege to connect our community to the meaningful work of Hospice’s compassionate care team. She is values driven and passionate about leading teams to achieve their goals and make a positive impact.

Alexandra is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) with more than 10 years’ experience in the private and not-for-profit sectors. She has held positions with CPCM & Co, AXYS Technologies Inc., and the Royal Bank of Canada and has volunteered with the BC Cancer Agency and the James Bay Community Project. Her diverse accounting background gives her the ability to refine and implement processes to serve all aspects of the organization. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the University of Applied Sciences in Munich and her CPA designation from the Chartered Professional Accountants of BC. She joined Victoria Hospice as a Financial Analyst in 2020 and was promoted to the role of Director of Finance and Corporate Services in May 2023.

With 21 years of hospice palliative care experience in BC and Ontario, Kristine is skilled in the delivery of frontline bereavement support, program development, volunteer management, and leadership. She joined Victoria Hospice as an Accreditation Coordinator to ensure readiness for our first accreditation survey in 2019. A year later we achieved accreditation with commendation from Accreditation Canada following a thorough assessment of our services and evaluation against national standards. Since then, Kristine has led a variety of strategic development projects and put her extensive leadership skills to work as Interim Director of Volunteer Services in 2021. Kristine is deeply committed to continuous quality improvement and to providing meaningful recruitment, retention, and recognition of our incredible volunteers.

Jen is responsible for creating and executing internal and external communications and marketing strategies to advance the mission of Victoria Hospice. A collaborative, values-driven professional, Jen has 20 years of experience in the non-profit sector (in events, fundraising, and strategic communications) in Halifax, Toronto, and Victoria. Since joining Victoria Hospice in 2016, she has built a small team, joined several organizational committees, and chaired the Staff Support and Wellness Committee for three years. She considers it a privilege to meet patients and families on their end-of-life journeys and to promote the work of our compassionate care team through advocacy and heart-centred storytelling.