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Gentiva Hospice is a new name, but it encompasses much of what the former Avalon Hospice has done for years.

Wednesday, Gentiva Hospice hosted an open house at its facility at 305 Calvary Drive in Morristown. Gentiva serves an eight-county area in Northeast Tennessee.

Brittney Saylor, area director of business development explained the reason for the name change.

“Our corporation were a family of brands,” Saylor said. “Across the United States, we had close to 10 different brands. The company decided that these brands would come under one name, one logo, one family.”

Avalon was one of the brands the company operated under for so many years, but the quality of care will not change.

“We’re still with the same company,” Saylor said. “It’s just an overall change for the big picture of our company.”

Gentiva has been a known name in the healthcare world for a long time, Saylor said.

“So when we were deciding what that brand was going to be, Gentiva resonated,” Saylor said. “We did testing in the community and Gentiva resonated as a very loyal, trusted brand.

“We are bringing it back,” she said.

The Gentiva name has been in the home health and hospice industry through the years.

The Morristown branch started accepting patients in September, 2014. The branch now serves 98 patients and has served more than 2,000 patents and their families throughout that time. Gentiva Hospice is a five-star location in quality ratings.

Executive Director Vicki Parker, RN has been with the Gentiva Morristown office for five years.

“When I came, we had 50 patients,” Parker said. “Now we’re twice that.”

Saylor said that Gentiva has sister branches throughout Tennessee and other states.

“It’s a blessing to come under one brand and one name as those sister branches,” Saylor said. “It’s less confusing for our patients and families when someone lives somewhere else and we work with them that we get them the care that they need.”

The Gentiva logo that includes a heart has thought behind it, too, according to Saylor.

“It’s a reminder that people are our purpose,” Saylor said. “The heart is the core principle of our organization. It’s a symbol for the people that we care for who need us and that deserve our care. It’s also the people like our extraordinary caregivers that provide the care behind the scenes to assist patients through their journey and quality of life.”

Parker said that the level of care provided by Gentiva will remain a high quality priority.

“While rebranding is an exciting time for us to refresh, it will not change the way we care for our patients and the way we work with our community and healthcare partners,” Parker said. “We will continue to provide compassionate care and extraordinary service to the patients and families we serve.”

Gentiva, formerly known as Kindred at Home, included a host of brands across the country, such as the locally known Avalon Hospice. The organization is now bringing all of those brands under one name – Gentiva. Gentiva is the largest hospice provider in the nation, providing care in more than 430 locations across 36 states.

The Gentiva name reinforces the organization’s legacy and commitment to bring grace and dignity to people’s lives so people and their loved ones may enjoy the best possible quality of life.

Services provided by Gentiva include nursing staff, chaplains, social workers, home health aides, all of their office staff which includes a volunteer coordinator and a bereavement staff that follows up with family who loses a loved one for up to 13 months after the loved one’s death. Gentiva services are covered through Medicare and most commercial insurance plans. For more information, call 423-200-5189.