Leigh Morris Named Interim President and CEO of Visiting Nurse Association of Northwest Indiana

Leigh Morris Named Interim President and CEO of Visiting Nurse Association of Northwest Indiana

Leigh Morris, former Chairman of the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, has been appointed Interim President and CEO of Visiting Nurse Association of Northwest Indiana (VNA of NWI), succeeding Ann O’Heir, who served in that role since 2015.

  In announcing Morris’s appointment, Cindy Kaariainen-Tougaw, Chairperson of the VNA Board of Directors, noted that the Board is very positive about the future of the VNA Hospice and its mission to be the region’s most patient-focused provider of aging, hospice, palliative care, and grief support services.

  “We are confident that Leigh Morris will help us continue to move ahead during his tenure as Interim President and CEO as we work with him to search for exactly the right person to provide ongoing leadership to the organization.”

   In addition to his role with the Regional Development Authority, Morris is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Graduate School at Valparaiso University and was President of La Porte Regional Hospital for 21 years. He also served as Mayor of the City of La Porte, Deputy Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Transportation for Toll Road Oversight, and Senior Vice President of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation for Northwest Indiana Development. He was Interim President of the Legacy Foundation in 2013 and 2014 and the South Shore Leadership Center in 2016. Governor Frank O’Bannon named him a Sagamore of the Wabash and Governor Mitch Daniels awarded him the Governor’s Distinguished Service Medal.

   The VNA of NWI was founded in 1970 and was the first home health care agency in Porter County, offering nursing and physical therapy. Today, it has grown to serve Porter, Lake, La Porte, Jasper, and Starke counties. Meals on Wheels services were added in 1974 and hospice services began in 1983.  The Arthur B. and Ethel V. Horton Hospice Center was opened in 2002 and the Phoenix Center, providing supportive services for children and families who are grieving the loss of loved ones, was opened in 2010. The newest service, VNA Palliative Care Consultation Services, helps patients and families facing complex physical, psychological, social and spiritual problems that often accompany advanced illness.

   For more information about the VNA of NWI, please visit www.vnanwi.org or call 219-462-5195.