Director, National Veterans Program
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
1731 King St Ste 100
Alexandria
VAUSA
22314-2720
Biographical Sketch: Emil Zuberbueler, BS (1977) began his career in hospice in September 1983, volunteering for St. Benedict’s hospice in San Antonio, TX. He continued as a volunteer until March 1993, with the 1987 addition of Massage Therapy as a modality to care for patients and their caregivers.
Emil was the Allied Therapist Section Leader with NHPCO from January 1996 through December 2001, representing and promoting allied therapies in hospice care, and providing education to hospice professionals and the community-at-large.
In October 2004, Emil joined the staff of NHPCO as Consumer Services Director, taking an active role in the development of the Caring Connections consumer and community education program. In this role, he assisted with ongoing development of new resources, and managed educational programs, provided technical assistance, and mentoring of community capacity-building organizations.
In 2006, as Access and Quality Specialist, his responsibilities included NHPCO’s Technical and Educational publications, with the management and coordination of content development, Subject Matter Expert identification, review and feedback, final editing, design, and printing. Additionally, he managed NHPCO’s Access Initiative, with its focus on access to end-of-life care. Projects included the Inclusion and Access Toolbox, Disease-specific workgroups and resource development, and a number of Outreach Guides.
From August, 2008, until August, 2010, Emil was Vice President of Administration at NHPCO, responsible for Human Resources, Operations, and the Member Services Call Center.
In September 2009, Emil was named Project Director of the Reaching Out initiative with the Department of Veterans Affairs to enhance end-of-life care for homeless and rural veterans. Through this collaboration with VA, NHPCO has established a national awareness campaign and developed a website to support campaign partners and all interested in providing quality care to veterans.