Our Founders
Hospital Companions, Inc. was founded by Cheryl Formento and Kathleen Benner, two women who learned first-hand the challenges and emotional strain a loved-one's hospitalization can bring. It was through their own personal experiences they learned of the support patients and their families need, and may not get, during a hospitalization.
Cheryl experienced the difficulties that so many other people are facing today - trying to care for a family member from a distance. Cheryl lost her father three years ago to lung cancer, a battle he fought for almost 5 years. During those 5 years, Cheryl lived in the midwest with her family, while her father lived along the east coast. Getting frequent, accurate health information during his hospitalizations was extremely difficult. Dissemination of information once again fell upon the patient and his spouse. Cheryl was left waiting by the phone during many of his health crises, feeling out of touch and guilty about not being at his bedside.
Kathleen, a patient after surgery, found herself being the primary advocate for her own care. In addition to healing, she was the main point of contact doctors would rely on to disseminate information to her family about her recovery. She found herself trying to navigate her own care, while experiencing the physical discomforts of the healing process; something she didn't feel she could do effectively.
Kathleen also experienced the stress of having her infant son hospitalized during an illness. She struggled with the pressures of having another child at home and the maternal need to be at her son's bedside, so he would not be alone at the hospital. Kathleen and her husband learned of the challenges in trying to be two places at once, and the guilt associated with who they couldn't be with at the time.
The turning point for both women was after the loss of their grandfather, who had been hospitalized for an extended period. Once again experiencing the strained lines of communication, the stresses to be in too many places at once and guilt of it all, they formed Hospital Companions, Inc. in the hopes of assisting patients and their families during some of life's most difficult moments.
