Najah Bazzy has many different connections to the Felician Sisters and now she can add one more, Angela Hospice board member.
“It’s truly an honor,” Najah said. “Being named a board member is a very big deal to me personally given my history with the organization and my admiration for its work.”
During her tenure on the board, Najah has three hopes. One, that she can contribute in a way that makes sense for Angela Hospice. Two, that she upholds the values and commitment of the Felician Sisters. And three, that she continues to work with communities to help them see hospice in a more inviting and welcoming way.
A nurse for 40 years, Najah’s history with the Felician Sisters started when she was a student at Madonna University, where she earned her second nursing degree and became aware of their global transcultural nursing program. While a student at Madonna, Najah was actually at the opening of Angela Hospice, a moment that has stuck with her over the years.
Since then, through her career in end-of-life care, she’s referred many to Angela Hospice, including her own father and sister.
“I love how compassion is at the center of everything this organization does, and it has to be, because we enter people’s lives at such an important time for them and their loved ones,” Najah said about the care from Angela Hospice. “The commitment to quality of care has made Angela Hospice my go-to hospice for our communities, including my own family.”
Najah is bringing quite a bit to the board as well, like being well-known for her decades in critical care, transcultural nursing, and her own non-profit, Zaman International, which focuses on empowering marginalized women and children to break the cycle of poverty. She’s also the CEO of Diversity Specialists, and has received numerous accolades, including being named a 2019 Top Ten CNN Hero, one of Crain’s Detroit Business’s 100 Most Influential Women in 2021, and one of the top six Muslim female thought leaders by Global Woman Magazine in 2022.
For Najah, joining the Angela Hospice board is a culmination of all her years of cultural competence and spiritual sensitivity, and she is able to bring that expertise to the table.
“To be able to now contribute strategically at the board level is really important and I couldn’t be more excited to get to work,” Najah said. “I’m also involved in interfaith work in the Detroit Interfaith Mosaic. For me, that’s what life’s about, the collective human family coming together across cultures and faiths to help our neighbors when they need us the most.”
