Elaine D. Stephens, RN, MPH, FHHC, President & Chief Executive Officer, Visiting Nurse Service of Greater Rhode Island, Takes Office as Chairman of NAHC

PROVIDENCE, R.I., January 15, 2007: The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) today announced that Elaine D. Stephens, RN, MPH, FHHC, has begun her term as Chairman of the NAHC Board of Directors commensurate with her election which was held last October. The National Association for Home Care & Hospice, the industry's largest, oldest and most respected trade group, represents the interests of nearly 25,000 home care agencies and hospice organizations (including approximately 11,500 Medicare-certified home health and hospice agencies) that annually serve nearly nine million Americans as well as home care aide organizations, nurses and other caregivers and their clients. Stephens is President and CEO of Visiting Nurse Service of Greater Rhode Island and Hospice Care of the Visiting Nurse Service of Greater Rhode Island, one of the state's largest home care and hospice providers.

"Elaine Stephens is an exceptional home care executive and a real activist for home care and hospice," said NAHC President Val J. Halamandaris. "She truly believes in the power of home and community-based care delivery as the best way to improve patient outcomes and curtail needless suffering. Her great belief in home care and hospice, combined with her formidable leadership and management skills, have propelled her into larger and larger industry roles. Congratulations to Elaine for winning this vote of her peers and becoming chairman of the nation's leading home care and hospice organization. We look forward to working with her in the service of the nation's elderly, disabled and infirm. We have been privileged to have many wonderful chairmen and leaders of NAHC, and Elaine's election continues that tradition. She is a key leader in home health care and hospice today."

"I am honored to have been selected by my peers to head this wonderful organization. I believe we have a real opportunity to enact legislation which extends the benefits of home care and hospice to millions of additional ill, frail and disabled persons. I am looking forward to working with what is widely regarded as the best staff in Washington, a great Board, and the members at large to make this happen," said Stephens.

Stephens has been a leader in NAHC. She served two terms as a Region I representative, and another as a representative of the Voluntary/Not-for-Profit section before serving four years as Secretary to the NAHC Board of Directors. Ms. Stephens is highly regarded, both in Washington and in her native state. The company has grown 900 percent during her stewardship. In addition to her involvement with NAHC, Stephens serves on the Board of Directors of the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce. She is Past President of the Visiting Nurse Network of Rhode Island and Past Secretary of the Rhode Island Partnership for Home Care. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Ballou Home.

Ms. Stephens will preside over her first Board meeting on January 19, 2007, and the related Home Care and Hospice Industry Strategic Planning Congress which will be held in Scottsdale, Arizona on January 20 and 21, 2007.

About NAHC
The National Association for Home Care & Hospice, the industry's largest, oldest and most respected trade group, represents the interests of nearly 25,000 home care agencies and hospice organizations (including approximately 11,500 Medicare-certified home health and hospice agencies) that annually serve nearly nine million Americans as well as home care aide organizations, nurses and other caregivers and their clients. NAHC members believe that quality home care and hospice, a humane and cost-effective alternative to institutionalization, are the right of all Americans. Home care and hospice reinforce and supplement the care provided by family members and friends and encourage maximum independence of thought and functioning as well as the preservation of human dignity. Visit NAHC on the web at www.nahc.org.

About Visiting Nurse Service of Greater Rhode Island
Founded in 1908, Visiting Nurse Service of Greater Rhode Island, based in Lincoln, Rhode Island, is Rhode Island's premier nonprofit provider of comprehensive home- and community-based health-care programs and services as well as certified hospice and palliative care for patients and families living with terminal illnesses. For one hundred years, Visiting Nurse Service of Greater Rhode Island has been dedicated to caring for people in the comfort of their homes at the highest levels of excellence. With a strong history of commitment to clinical quality and patient satisfaction, Visiting Nurse Service of Greater Rhode Island is known nationwide for its utilization of applied technologies in quality management and outcome reporting. Embracing of patients from all walks of life requiring their care and expertise, Visiting Nurse Service of Greater Rhode Island provides home and hospice care programs with no proscribed requirements regarding onsite caregivers for acceptance to service nor prescribed time frames for patients to establish independence. In 2006, Visiting Nurse Service of Greater Rhode Island was named to the HomeCare Elite, ranking among the top 25 percent of home health providers in the country in the inaugural compilation of the country's most successful home care providers. For information about home and community health-care services and hospice care, call Visiting Nurse Service of Greater Rhode Island at 1.800.696.7991.