Leading the Change: Women Shaping a Sustainable Future at Gilchrist
March is Women’s History Month, and this year’s theme, “Leading the Change: Women Shaping a Sustainable Future,” invites us to expand our understanding of sustainability. Sustainability is not only about environmental responsibility. It also includes community resilience, leadership succession, education, and intergenerational equity. It’s about building systems that support both people and the planet today and for generations to come. At Gilchrist, women have been shaping that sustainable future for more than three decades.
A Visionary Foundation
At the heart of our story is our founder, Jeanne Gilchrist Vance, known to many as Jinny. A business leader and philanthropist, Jinny directed her family’s logging and milling operation in Oregon before moving to Maryland, where she and her husband established a successful thoroughbred breeding operation.
Her greatest legacy was in healthcare. After her husband recovered from vocal cord cancer, she established the Milton J. Dance, Jr. Head and Neck Rehabilitation Center at GBMC. She also recognized a profound need in Baltimore for a peaceful, calming inpatient hospice center, a place where individuals could receive expert care and dignity at the end of life.
In 1994, Jinny founded and financed Hospice of Baltimore, later renamed Gilchrist Hospice in her honor. Her belief that no one should die alone and that everyone deserves compassionate care became the foundation of a model that continues to serve thousands of families each year. Though Jinny passed away in 2003, her vision created a system that endures, rooted in compassion, generosity, and thoughtful stewardship.
Leadership That Sustains and Strengthens
Today, that legacy continues under the leadership of our President, Cathy Hamel. Cathy joined Gilchrist sixteen years ago and became President in 2015, bringing with her a lifelong commitment to advocacy and dignity in healthcare. As a teenager working night shifts in a nursing home, she witnessed firsthand the vulnerability of older adults and resolved to spend her career ensuring better treatment and respect for those in care settings.
She pursued graduate studies in the management of Aging Services, served as a long-term care ombudsman, and ultimately fulfilled her early ambition to lead a hospice organization. Under her guidance, Gilchrist has expanded programs, strengthened community partnerships, and ensured the organization remains financially and operationally sustainable while staying true to hospice principles. Her leadership reflects the heart of this year’s Women’s History Month theme by listening to community needs, cultivating future leaders, and embedding compassion into the broader healthcare system.
Women Sustaining Our Mission Every Day
Sustainability is also about who is shaping the systems of care. At Gilchrist, women play a central role in guiding our future. At Gilchrist, women comprise 89% of both our executive management team and our overall staff, meaning the physicians, chaplains, nurses, social workers, and many others who care for our patients and families each day are women. Through their work, they help ensure financial stability, community resilience, and leadership continuity, all essential elements of long-term sustainability. Their mentorship supports the next generation of healthcare professionals, and their dedication strengthens the systems that families rely on during some of life’s most vulnerable moments.
Honoring the Past and Inspiring the Future
As we reflect during Women’s History Month, we honor the women who laid the foundation for Gilchrist’s mission and the many who continue to carry it forward. From Jinny’s bold vision in 1994 to the steady, thoughtful leadership of Cathy Hamel and our executive team today, women have consistently shaped the direction and sustainability of our organization. Their contributions remind us that building a sustainable future is not a single achievement but an ongoing commitment, one that requires courage, compassion, and collaboration.
We are also inspired by what lies ahead. Sustainability demands long-term thinking and shared responsibility. It calls on individuals, institutions, and communities to take action in their own spheres of influence, whether by mentoring emerging leaders, advocating for equitable healthcare policies, volunteering time and talent, or strengthening the networks that support families facing serious illness. By connecting across generations and disciplines, we can continue to design systems that promote dignity, equity, and compassionate care.
At Gilchrist, shaping a sustainable future means ensuring that compassion is not temporary. It is embedded in the structures, leadership, and community partnerships that will sustain our mission for decades to come. During Women’s History Month, we celebrate the women who have led the change and those who will continue to do so in the years ahead.
To learn more about Gilchrist and our mission, visit our website at gilchristcares.org.
