Ellen Burnsed Bolch was born in Savannah, Georgia, to Olin Louis and Mary Elsie Smith Burnsed. Ellen received her BS in Nursing from the Medical College of Georgia and her Masters degrees in Nursing and in Healthcare Administration from Penn State University.
From 1987-1994 Ellen served as CEO of Advanced Alternatives and VP of Provident Health Systems, a part of the Memorial Health University Medical System, and grew that regional home health company into a multi-state provider with 8,000 employees and 200 locations.
Since 1995 Ellen has been President and CEO of THA Group, a family of in-home health companies serving coastal Georgia and South Carolina. THA Group provides Medicare-certified home health, hospice care, palliative care, chronic disease management, and customized independent living assistance through leading edge telehealth technology-based model programs and provides private home care allowing seniors to age-in-place.
Ellen is heavily involved in her industry and community, having served on numerous national, regional and local boards, including the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) and the National Medicaid Action Council affiliated with NAHC. She served on the Executive Committee for the Forum of State Associations and is also a member the Advisory Board of the Home Care Technology Association of America. Bolch is a past Chair emeritus of the South Carolina Home and Hospice Care Association. She has spoken to both local and national audiences, and has been published in Caring Magazine, The Remington Report, the Journal of the American Association of Preferred Provider Organizations, in the Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, and the Home Care Journal of Texas.
Ellen has served as President of the Rotary Club of Savannah, a curator of the Georgia Historical Society, a member of the Boards of Georgia Southern University Foundation, the Union Society of Bethesda, The Chatham Club, and the Advisory Board of Savannah Country Day School. She has chaired the Alexis de Tocqueville Society at the United Way. Ellen has been the recipient of several awards, including Honeywell HomMed’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Telehealth; the AWWIN Monica LaRue Award, a regional honor given to a woman who motivates and inspires other women to pursue their dreams and visions; has been inducted into Junior Achievement’s Business Hall of Fame; and was named Woman of the Year by the United Way of the Coastal Empire.
She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2018. Ellen has also been a health care educator at Armstrong State University, and the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. Ellen married Dr. Sidney Jefferson Bolch III (Jeff) in 1992, and between them they have three sons and two daughters who have given them ten grandchildren.
Ellen and Jeff Bolch established the Ellen B. and Jeep Bolch Fund at the Georgia Historical Society in 2018, ensuring that their commitment to Georgia history will continue in perpetuity.