Mission, Vision, Values
Contenū is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving individuals, families, caregivers and healthcare professionals who deal with serious illness. Individuals need grounding in the moment and help making their situation as comfortable as possible. Our clients also need a holistic approach to health and wellness in order to feel fully encouraged and supported throughout their journey.
Mission
Our mission is to provide comprehensive support to individuals impacted by serious illness, their loved ones and health care professionals with programs, tools, and services to become skilled in personalized wellness and advocates for themselves and others.
Vision
Peace of mind is only for a select group of individuals not burdened with limitations on life. Patients and families need grounding in the moment and help making their situation as comfortable as possible. Patients also need a holistic approach to health and wellness in order to feel fully encouraged and supported throughout their journey.
Values
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Madeline Harris
Board President
“The team pushed forward even through one of the worst pandemics in history…. The pandemic only accentuated the need for more self-care programs and case management and motivated the team to expand the population to serve modifying the original vision.”
CONTENŪ
Board Members
Madeline G. Harris, RN, MSN
President
A two-time graduate of UAB School of Nursing, Madeline has always had a vision for optimizing the quality of life for patients and families. After nearly 50 years of bedside nursing and nursing management positions, her practice and community service focused on breast cancer care, survivorship, wellness, and supportive care. After retiring in 2008, Madeline joined the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham as Director, Women’s Breast Health Fund, which granted over $3M to community organizations that offer supportive care services. Madeline created a nursing legacy that challenges health providers to protect vulnerable patients, support families, care givers and frontline healthcare providers who serve individuals with serious illnesses.
Several organizations have recognized Madeline’s selfless career including the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame, the UAB School of Nursing, the American Cancer Society, UAB, Sigma Theta Tau and others. She currently serves on the UAB School of Nursing National Advisory Council and volunteers with Meals on Wheels and the Community of Hope Health Clinic.
Rodney Tucker, MD, MMM
Vice-President
Rodney O. Tucker, MD, MMM graduated from medical school at UAB in 1989 and is board certified in Internal Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. After a career in private practice, home care and hospice, Dr. Tucker returned to UAB in 2002. Since then, he has been active in the development of a comprehensive clinical, educational and research program in palliative care, including the Southeast Institute for Innovation in Palliative and Supportive Care at UAB. Serving currently as the Director of the UAB Center for Palliative and Supportive Care, Dr. Tucker also completed his Masters in Medical Management at the University of Southern California in 2009. He has been a member of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) and the Center for the Advancement of Palliative Care (CAPC) for two decades, having served in several leadership roles. He was the national President of AAHPM in 2020-2021 and has participated in the education and mentorship of over 300 fellow learners and health care systems. From 2013-2018, Dr. Tucker also served in the role of Chief Experience Officer for UAB Medicine. He also served as the Associate Director for Access, Belonging and Culture in the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center and is the lead organizer of the LGBTQ+ Faculty Association in the Heersink School of Medicine.
Steve Cox
Treasurer
Steve Cox was born in Gadsden, Alabama, in 1949 and at a young age lived both on Sand Mountain in North Alabama and in Mobile County before moving with his family to Shelby County. He attended Shelby County High School and attended Auburn University from 1969 through 1973 with several years in the Co-Operative Education program student before graduating with a degree in Political Science.
Cox worked for nine years as an assistant to U.S. Senator John Sparkman both in his Washington and Birmingham offices. Upon Senator Sparkman’s retirement in 1978 Cox worked with Southern Progress Corporation and helped develop a Tour Department for the readers of Progressive Farmer Magazine. During the two years with Progressive Farmer Tours he traveled extensively in Europe and Asia.
In 1980 Steve Cox left Southern Progress and joined Dr. Richard Ryel to form International Expeditions, Inc. as an eco-tourism organization which funded its conservation and education projects in developing countries with funds generated by tours to the great wildlife destinations worldwide. For forty years the company was recognized as the world leader in nature travel and specialized in operating travel programs for groups and individuals. Though all tours were operated by International Expeditions, many were operated in behalf of non-profit organizations such as museums, zoos and alumni associations. Steve was recognized as one of the leading experts in the U.S. for licensed American travel to Cuba with a specialty in environmental educational and cultural themes. For the past ten years, he also worked to develop the structure that became the Alabama Civil Rights Tourism Association, a 501c3 non-profit organization to encourage community based tourism into Alabama as a way to better the lives of people who live in counties that are economically disadvantaged but rich in history.
Steve Cox has been married forty-eight years to Janet P. Cox whom he met while both were students at Auburn. Jan is a Birmingham attorney in private practice specializing in Social Security Disability law. They reside in Birmingham and have two children and three grandchildren. Their daughter Elaine is also an Auburn graduate and now a family medicine physician and son Allen is principal partner of a value investment mutual fund company in Birmingham.
Ashley Condon
Secretary
Ashley currently serves as the Regional Vice President of the Southeast Team of HelmsBriscoe, the global leader in meetings procurement and site selection. Her 28-year background in hospitality spans from hotels to meeting planning, where she not only developed a love for the industry, but also in educating customers and associates on being the best at what they do.
Ashley lives in Birmingham, AL with her husband, Dave and their 3 children, Caroline, Paul and Brian and enjoys serving her community as a Board Member of several different organizations.
Paul Ezelle, EMT-P
At Large
Paul is a pioneer paramedic with Mobile Fire Rescue. He is a graduate of the University of South Alabama. He is also experienced in seeing what happens when wellness is not a part of a person’s life. He has a passion to help everyone in their journey through life––to be healthy and well––body, mind and soul.
Paul was selected as the top paramedic over the first fifty-year history of the Department of Emergency Medical Services Education at the University of South Alabama, where he taught for seventeen years during the program’s beginning. Paul is also recognized as the creator of Industrial EMS nationwide, developing EMS and High-Rise Rescue teams for companies such as Kimberly Clark (Scott Paper), Exxon, DuPont, and many other large industrial companies. Paul was the honor graduate in each military training course he participated in during his seventeen-year tour of duty with the USAF and the Alabama Army National Guard, where he was a master sergeant.
Since retirement at age fifty, Paul Ezelle has been very active in his community both with social and faith-based programs. He is a Christian chapel speaker once a month at the Waterfront Rescue Mission and the Mission of Hope, where he helps the homeless and those battling chemical addictions. Paul is also the executive director of First Place Eden, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to helping people through an online rehab program for those with chemical addictions (Paul’s father was a functional alcoholic that could have used help like this program back in the 1950-70s, hence the motivation to help others).
CONTENŪ can mean many things to different people, but to Paul, it is a motivation to “continue” serving others until he has no breath of life here on earth anymore. His life verse is Luke 9:23 “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Paul finds life so worthwhile by dying to himself daily and taking up his cross to serve mankind. CONTENŪ gives Paul the opportunity to ‘help the helpers,’ such as he and his wife were back in their days of emergency medicine. Helping caregivers who struggle daily with their emotions is an important aspect of their lives. Paul knows firsthand that “No sailor was made on a calm sea.” Great questions don’t start with “why,” but “what.” Don’t ask “why” things happen, but rather, “God, what are You teaching me here?” Paul is seeking to find “what” he can do to serve CONTENŪ and the people CONTENŪ serves.
Becca Impello, MS PT, C-IAYT
At Large
Becca discovered a fascination with the human body’s physical structure and ability just after college when she became a fitness instructor. This fascination led her further to the study of Physical Therapy, which she has been practicing in Birmingham since 1999. Becca simultaneously discovered yoga which fulfilled her desire to tune in to her own body and mind and revealed to her a wealth of therapeutic benefits. Her Physical Therapy practice evolved to using more breath and body awareness, and therapeutic modifications of yoga poses, and she became a certified yoga therapist through the International Association of Yoga Therapists. She has developed and led numerous yoga and mindfulness workshops, professional trainings and retreats. Becca also works with clients one on one for individualized yoga instruction to address acute or chronic issues, learn modifications for safe entry into community classes, or develop a personal practice. In 2019 Becca co-founded Practice Works, a coworking community for professionals in private practice in Birmingham, AL. Practice Works serves solo health and wellness practitioners and well as solopreneurs in various professional services such as finance, marketing and legal. Becca and the Practice Works team are currently making plans for a third Practice Works location in the Birmingham area.
Kimberly Kirklin
At Large
In 2002, Kimberly began her career in arts administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center (ASC), now UAB Arts. It was there she learned about the importance of the arts and its impact on a well-rounded education, a tool for building and strengthening communities, and more recently, an invaluable modality to enhance healing and to improve quality of life throughout the lifespan. As the director of education and outreach at the ASC from 2005 – 2014 she played a major role in the creation of ArtPlay, the ASC’s education center, and developed programs to expand access to the arts for schools, communities, and seniors in independent and assisted living facilities. In 2013, she led an effort to expand the ASC’s reach into the healthcare community starting partnerships with Children’s Hospital of Alabama and the Alabama Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders and co-created an arts in medicine pilot program at UAB Hospital. The pilot program expanded in 2014 and is now UAB Arts in Medicine (AIM), a partnership between UAB Arts Alliance and UAB Medicine and Kimberly is the Director. AIM strives to enhance healing and wellness for patients, families, healthcare staff, and community through creative engagement. Kimberly has a BM in Musical Theatre from the University of Miami in Florida, master’s degrees in arts administration, arts in medicine, and clinical mental health counseling, and is currently working toward a PhD in Health Behavior.
Toria Pettway, LMSW
At Large
Toria is a licensed master social worker originally from Huntsville, Alabama, who has served the Birmingham community since 2008. She has extensive experience across multiple areas of social work, including child welfare, hospice care, organ donation, care coordination for vulnerable and chronically ill patients, breast cancer survivorship, opioid use reduction, and organ transplant services. She earned her Master of Social Work degree from Alabama A&M University and currently serves as the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital’s first Trauma Services Psychiatric Social Worker. A proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Toria is deeply committed to community service and advocating for equitable access to quality care for all.
Lauren White, PA
At Large
Lauren enjoys serving the community in a variety of capacities. Before moving to Houston, she volunteered at UAB’s Palliative & Comfort Care Unit and served on the junior board for both YMCA of Greater Birmingham and Community Grief Support Services. While at Baylor, she served as the Texas Association of Physician Assistants student representative and as a pre-PA mentor for the Texas Gulf Coast Physician Assistant Association.