MIDDLEBURY — Addison County Home Health & Hospice CEO Tim Brownell is vacating his position with the New Haven-based nonprofit, board President Bryan Young confirmed on Wednesday.
Young said he couldn’t provide details at this point on the circumstances surrounding Brownell’s departure, which comes in wake of criticism of ACHHH’s leadership by some past and present employees of the agency, which dispenses a variety of health care services to homebound patients and terminally ill residents. Those complaints, largely relating to administration/employee relations, were detailed in an extensive article published in the Addison Independent’s Jan. 31 edition.
“I can confirm that the staff is being made aware today that Tim is leaving the agency,” Young said during a brief phone interview.
It was during the spring of 2017 that the ACHHH board hired Brownell as its new chief executive officer. Brownell joined the agency after having spent more than 25 years serving in various management roles with other home health and hospice organizations throughout the country. He had most recently served as divisional director of Hospice for Community Health Systems, a large hospital system based in Franklin, Tenn. Prior to that, he was vice president of business operations for a large, multi-state pediatric and adult home health care company called “Loving Care Agency,” based in New Jersey.
He succeeded former ACHHH Executive Director Sherry Greifzu, who moved to Connecticut to be closer to her family. Greifzu had taken the helm in December 2015 from former Executive Director Larry Goetschius.
The Independent’s report quoted several former ACHHH workers who alleged significant departures and retirements from the organization during Brownell’s tenure. They alleged a tense workplace atmosphere in which workers were fearful of making complaints. One former employee told the Independent she was contemplating legal action against ACHHH after having allegedly been fired last September for refusing to sign a “non-disclosure and non-solicitation agreement.”
The Independent’s reporting also acknowledged that Brownell and his team presided over a major financial turnaround in the ACHHH’s balance sheet and helped modernize the agency’s operations.
Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].