Beyond Retirement: Ohio’s Hospice Celebrates Three Doctors’ Commitment to End-of-Life Care
Ohio’s Hospice is grateful to three local physicians giving back their time as volunteers with the not-for-profit hospice provider in northeast Ohio. Retired physicians Larry Stallings, MD; David Reynolds, MD; and Frank Cebul, MD, volunteer in an advisory role with the organization’s interdisciplinary care teams, reviewing patient cases and sharing knowledge and medical advice.
Kurt Holmes, executive director, praised the physicians for the time they give as volunteers attending interdisciplinary care team meetings and for their commitment to the organization’s mission.
“Each of them is retired and has chosen to do this to be able to enjoy retirement while continuing to give back professionally to a cause they believe in,” Holmes said. “Their professional skills have been given to decades of patients and families. This partnership allows their vast knowledge of patient care and community members to continue that legacy of service.”
Ohio’s Hospice supports the physicians by covering the cost of their medical license renewal, their Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) license, and annual continuing education. The physicians donate their time and service.
Dr. Larry Stallings
In 1983, Dr. Larry Stallings joined the organization as a volunteer medical director. At the time, he was the only medical oncologist in Wooster and Orrville.
“Most terminally ill patients spent their final days in the hospital when their families were overwhelmed trying to care for their loved ones at home,” Dr. Stallings said. “Wayne County Hospice, now Ohio’s Hospice, had just been established in 1982. The organization provided families with the assistance they needed to care for a loved one in the home setting.”
Dr. Stallings saw firsthand how the local hospice provider allowed patients the ability to receive the comfort care — physical, emotional and spiritual — that allowed them to die with dignity in the home setting with family or close friends nearby.
“So, I know personally how important Ohio’s Hospice has been to our area,” he said. “My volunteer participation in the hospice team meetings gives me a chance to share my knowledge regarding patient care with the team. It also leaves me with the feeling that I am supporting an organization that did so much for my patients in my medical practice before I retired.”
Dr. David Reynolds
Dr. Reynolds practiced internal medicine in the Wooster community for 18 years with Wooster Clinic and then 18 additional years with Regional Medical Practice of Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF) after the affiliation of Wooster Clinic with CCF.
He retired in December 2016, but he maintained an active medical license so he could volunteer as a licensed physician at Ohio’s Hospice. Since 2017, he has been a physician adviser working with the Ohio’s Hospice interdisciplinary care team in Holmes County. He meets with the team in Millersburg at 7 am every other Thursday.
“I am always so impressed with the dedication of these team members with their compassion and investment in the lives of their patients and their families,” Dr. Reynolds said. “I feel a real sense of fulfillment in serving our hospice patients at such a critical time in their journey at the end of life.”
Dr. Reynolds also served on the Ohio’s Hospice LifeCare board as president and now serves on the Ohio’s Hospice board of directors and its Northeast Ohio Advisory Board.
Dr. Frank Cebul
Dr. Frank Cebul retired from a 40-year career in family medicine in 2021. He recalled that many of his patients received excellent, compassionate care from Ohio’s Hospice.
Dr. Larry Stallings; Dr. Jodi Hannan, medical director at Ohio’s Hospice in northeast Ohio; and Dr. David Reynolds are former partners of his, and he has known Dr. David Lance, team physician at Ohio’s Hospice in northeast Ohio, since they started their practices around the same time.
“I have great respect for each of them and consider them to be friends,” he said.
Dr. Cebul is grateful for the opportunity to volunteer with Ohio’s Hospice. “I feel fortunate that I received the opportunity to volunteer at a caring organization with a good quality medical staff,” he said. “I have been very impressed with the interdisciplinary team care model and the professional dedication of the entire staff. It is very rewarding to be part of this organization, and I am grateful to be making a contribution.”
We’re grateful to these physicians for their support of our mission!
