After years of devoted service, Patti Settlemyre, executive director and founder of Community Care Hospice, and executive director of Ohio’s Hospice of Fayette County, retired on Jan. 31, 2020. Tammy Bobbitt will serve as interim executive director of both hospice organizations.

Settlemyre began her hospice career at Ohio’s Hospice of Dayton in 1998. She founded Community Care Hospice in Wilmington, Ohio, in 2004, where she served as clinical director, chief operating officer and executive director. She was instrumental in coordinating the affiliation of Community Care Hospice with Ohio’s Hospice in 2015. When Hospice of Fayette County joined Ohio’s Hospice as an affiliate in January 2018, she was named executive director of Ohio’s Hospice of Fayette County.

“Hospice has been such a calling for me,” Settlemyre said. “I am very proud of being instrumental in getting Community Care Hospice off the ground and seeing it grow and succeed for 16 years.” 

Settlemyre expressed appreciation for the hard work and dedication of the other founders of Community Care Hospice — Mary McDonald, Joyce Nolan, Donna Summer and the late Dr. Patrick Gentile. 

“They played vital roles in the inception of our local hospice,” she said. “Through their support and vision, we were able to provide our friends and neighbors with a community-based, not-for-profit hospice organization that provides superior care and superior services to those facing end-of-life illnesses.”

She appreciates all of the people who supported Community Care Hospice when it was first founded and continue to support the organization. “Special thanks to Pastor Elizabeth Looney of Wilmington Church of God; Mark Kratzer; Patti Herron; Wagenseller, Foley Hollingsworth and Company; Butch Peele; Roger Littleton of Littleton Funeral Home and Littleton Respiratory Homecare; Kenny Houghtaling; Mike Dobyns; Kevin Brown; Brian Bourgraf; and many more,” she said. “We have an exceptional group of caring staff who continue to provide superior care and superior services to our patients and families. 

During retirement, Settlemyre plans on spending more time with her daughter and son-in-law, Jennifer and Brent Harter, and her grandchildren, Breyonna and Gabriel. She also plans to enjoy gardening, horseback riding and her farm.