By Bill Wertman, CEO, Big Bend Hospice
Bringing a Mobile Unit to the Big Bend was never about adding another vehicle to our fleet. It was about keeping a promise. A promise to families in towns without easy access to a hospital. A promise to caregivers doing their best without support nearby. A promise to patients whose only request is to be heard, to be comforted, to be met where they are.
Earlier this year, we officially launched the Seven Oaks Health Mobile Unit. It had been years in the making, introduced to the legislature in 2023, refined through conversations and community needs, and brought to life through a ribbon-cutting in July 2025. And like most meaningful things, it didn’t happen alone.
That’s why last week, our team had the privilege of presenting “Hospice Hero” Awards to a group of legislative leaders who made this project possible: Representative Allison Tant, Representative Gallop Franklin II, Representative Jason Shoaf, Senator Corey Simon, and others who championed our cause in the halls of the State Capitol.
They didn’t just sign off on funding. They showed up, they asked questions, they stood inside the Mobile Unit and saw with their own eyes what it meant. And perhaps most importantly, they understood that hospice and palliative care are not just healthcare issues; they’re community issues.
Because of their support, that Mobile Unit is now helping us expand our reach across the eight counties we serve: Franklin, Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Taylor, and Wakulla. It gives us a flexible, mobile hub where patients and families can receive palliative assessments, grief counseling, advance care planning, and resources to ease their journey through serious illness. In places where traditional access to care might be miles away—or simply out of reach, we are now able to meet people with compassion, not conditions.
As the only locally owned, nonprofit hospice provider in the Big Bend, our care is deeply personal. We are governed by neighbors, shaped by local values, and fueled by the belief that no one should be left behind simply because of where they live. The Mobile Unit is a natural extension of that mission, going beyond the pavement, beyond the clinic walls, and beyond expectations to bring hope wherever it’s needed most.
These state leaders didn’t support this project because it was easy or popular. They supported it because it was right. They understood what we’ve known for years: rural communities deserve the same dignity, comfort, and access to care as anyone else.
I’m especially proud that this unit now stands as a reflection of the kind of leadership we want more of. Leadership that listens, that invests, and that responds with action. We are grateful for their advocacy, and we’re honored to now carry this mobile mission forward.
To Representatives Tant, Franklin, Shoaf, Senator Simon, and every legislative hand that helped move this forward: thank you for believing in what hospice can do. Thank you for helping us keep our promise.
The road ahead is long. But now, it has wheels.