Local business leaders and medical professionals gathered at Comfort Care Hospice in downtown Greenville Thursday night, to enjoy food, beverages and good conversation during the latest Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce &#8220After Hours” event.

Patient Care Coordinator Charlene Mills and her staff, along with GACOC Director Carol Lee and Annie Glenn Branum, Lee's executive assistant, were all on hand to meet and greet visitors.

Comfort Care of Greenville, which also has hospices in place in Pelham, Andalusia, Brewton, Cullman, Demopolis, Scottsboro and Talladega, employs 10 full-time staff members, several part-time staffers and local volunteers.

Dr. Peter Pitonak serves as medical director for the Greenville facility.

The services offered by Comfort Care include pain management and control, home health aides, nursing visits by an RN, medical social services, grief support, counseling and spiritual support, ongoing patient and family education, caregiver relief and respite care, homemaker services and dietary counseling. The ultimate goal of the hospice is to help those with terminal or life-limiting illnesses make the most of each day left to them.

&#8220I never realized what a difference hospice can make in people's lives until I came and interned here,” Lori Bates Johnson, RN case manager for Comfort Care of Greenville, said.

For more information and to learn about volunteering opportunities, call Comfort Care of Greenville at 383-9688.