Socorro Martinez Bailey, who also goes by the
                                     first name of Sukie, obtained her BA from Old
                                    Dominion University with a Sociology major and
                                     concentration in Social Welfare in 1978 and her
                                     Master of Social Work with a concentration in
                                     Gerontology from Syracuse University in 1981.

 

                                     Throughout the years she had worked in the
                                     capacity of planning assistant for the United Way of Miami, a program planner/analyst and project director for a community care agency for the elderly in Dade County, and a nursing home consultant in Florida.

 

After the sudden death of her beloved husband to cancer, she returned to her hometown state of Virginia to work as a Medical Social Worker for Comfort Care Home Services and as Director of adult day care planning for the Georgian Manor Assisted Living Facility. Sukie’s current position with Medi Home Health and Hospice as a Medical Social Worker from December 2004 to present allows her to serve in the capacity of counselor, patient advocate, educator, community resource specialist for home health, palliative, and hospice patients.

 

Sukie has a deep commitment towards improving the quality of care provided to the elders of our community and to hospice patients of all ages. She considers it a spiritual honor and blessing to provide end of life care to hospice patients, their families, and friends. Sukie is of Spanish heritage; her mother is from Puerto Rico and her father was from Spain; and is fluent in the Spanish language. She had the privilege of teaching Spanish at Saint Matthew’s Catholic School. She has been a caregiver of her mother for numerous years, and truly understands the plight of the caregiver.

 

She is proud to say that her son has followed in her footsteps by volunteering at Medi Home Health and Hospice, and also as an assistant caregiver for his grandmother while also attending college. Sukie has volunteered as a home room parent, Assistant Boy Scout Leader, the gerontology center at ODU and Chesapeake General Hospital throughout the years.

 

She is currently a member of SWAT – Social Workers Association of Tidewater and the Norfolk Task Force on Aging. Therefore, she welcomes the opportunity to serve as a board member of the Hospice Alliance of Hampton Roads. She hopes that her grass roots experiences will help provide an element to the Board that will address end of life care to the most indigent and needy of our community.