Senior Director of Education & Organizational Development
VITAS Innovative Hospice Care
100 South Biscayne Blvd, Suite 1500
Miami
FLUSA
33131-2021
Email:
sarah.mckinnon@vitas.com
Biographical Sketch: Sarah McKinnon, MA, is Senior Director of Education and Organizational Development for VITAS Healthcare Corporation, one of the nation’s oldest and largest providers of end-of-life care. She is responsible for the development and implementation of education and training resources for more than 10,000 VITAS employees, including VITAS’ state-of-the-art electronic patient record, Vx CarePlanIT. She also develops leadership initiatives for program managers.
Sarah joined VITAS in 1991 as an intern in the Broward County, Florida, program. She returned to VITAS in 1994 to serve as Regional Education Coordinator for the southeast region, responsible for designing and carrying out educational programs for 800+ employees.
In 1997, Sarah left VITAS to help develop and serve as Program Director of Gilda’s Club South Florida, a cancer support community for adults and children living with cancer.
She returned to VITAS almost two years later as Clinical Trainer of Psychosocial Services. In this position, Sarah was able to tackle a number of challenging education and training projects, including the roll-out of Illuminating VITAS, a nationwide employee mentoring program, and the development of the psychosocial and spiritual resources utilized in the assessment and care planning modules of VITAS’ Vx CarePlanIT.
Sarah also worked with staff to improve individual and organizational performance. She partnered with VITAS’ local hospice programs to provide consultation, education, measurement and assessment services to help them meet their patient care goals.
Sarah, a member of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), sits on the National Council of Hospice and Palliative Care Professionals (NCHPP) steering committee for research/academics/education and is on the faculty of NHPCO’s Management Development Program and recently developed two sections of an online training module for NHPCO on Running and Effective Team and Team Manager as Leader. A member of the American Society for Training and Development, she is certified by Florida International University in Human Resource Development and Training.
Sarah received a master’s degree in psychology from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont, and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Alabama. She coauthored Psychosocial and Spiritual Opportunities in End-of-Life Care, a chapter of the authoritative text on hospice care, 20 Common Problems in End-of-Life Care.