Phyllis Hepp is a social worker for Wings of Hope’s hospice and palliative patients and the Manager of our Family Support Services Team. The consummate professional, Phyllis’s calming influence is felt by everyone who encounters her. Nothing ruffles her. She listens without judgment to patients, family members and colleagues and is always objective in her response. Phyllis is perceptive and understands the dynamics of human fallibility. Her problem-solving abilities are beyond amazing, and she has diffused many different challenging situations. Leaving no stone unturned, she tackles the most difficult issues with ease, creativity and grace. We are fortunate to have her. 

- Theresa Lynn and the Leadership Team at Wings of Hope Hospice

Phyllis Hepp MSW genuinely cares about the entire hospice team and makes a difference each day in our patients’ and families’ lives. She is intelligent, empathetic, resourceful, calm and a joy to work with. She always sees the big picture. As a social worker, she assists patients and families with beneficial resources in their time of need. She is committed to developing best practices to improve the quality of care provided across our team of professionals. She is always available to the patients and hospice staff. She is “all in,” meaning she always gives 150%.

One of our CNAs nominates Phyllis because, “She is beautiful inside and out. She takes her time to really understand people. She is a listener and directs people in the way they should go. I feel she loves humans because she is a good human.” Phyllis speaks from her heart. She has a graceful, loving spirit that shines down on everyone around her. She is approachable and gracious in being interrupted to answer questions. Another staff member says, “I have reached out to her many times with questions stemming from a wide variety of topics and she always gets back to me with an ‘above and beyond’ answer.” 

If there is an engagement score for supervisors, Phyllis would get 100%. You can see that in how she manages the Family Support Services staff. She is the best listener and provides constructive feedback. She makes it a priority to highlight each team member’s work. She has a large capacity for noting what is going on in our personal and work lives and is a great encouragement for both. She has fantastic communication skills.

The outcome of Phyllis’s supervisory work shows the quality of it. Our FSS team members were able to successfully navigate through two considerable challenges in the last two years in restructuring one electronic medical record (EMR) and then learning an entirely different EMR. Phyllis spent valuable time in teaching us how to use the new technology. 

She has vision and enjoys focusing on the system and why we do what we do. She helped our team recognize the need of certain patients who are eligible for Continuous Care and then helped organize the team to service to those patients. She intuitively seems to know how to build collaborative action plans in tackling tough challenges.

Phyllis is also a phenomenal social worker. When you combine leadership and caring for patients, you end up with a force that can’t be stopped. She cares about people prior to, during and after death.

Phyllis is knowledgeable in bereavement counseling issues. She recently spoke at Christ Community Church of Allegan. She helped the people understand how to speak with others who suffered a significant loss.

She helps hospice and palliative families identify their worst fear and make realistic adjustments to address that fear. She listens carefully as people identify the source of their issues such as anxiety, anger, pride or shame and helps them focus on those issues in proactive ways. She sees the desirable future and encourages people in how to get there.

Our entire team is stronger because of Phyllis’ insights over nearly five years with Wings of Hope. She is a rock for Wings of Hope Hospice and Journeys Palliative Care.

- Colleagues at Wings of Hope Hospice