The name is new, as is its just-opened south Cullman location at the compact new shopping center just off U.S. Highway 31. But for local families who’ve benefited in the past from hospice services under its former name of Alacare, the health care staff of the newly rebranded Enhabit Home Health & Hospice center is filled with the same familiar faces.

Flanked by representatives from the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce, local Enhabit staff welcomed Cullman mayor Woody Jacobs and associate Cullman County Commissioner Kerry Watson at the official ribbon cutting for its Cullman office Wednesday, announcing that the former Alacare staff remains in business at the company’s new location.

Enhabit, an independent national health care chain spun off from former corporate owner Encompass Health, acquired Birmingham-based Alacare and its 23 statewide locations in 2019. The acquisition meant an eventual changeover to the new Enhabit brand banner — which included, of course, the former Alacare office in Cullman.

When a longtime local medical provider goes through a name change, making sure residents know the extent of what’s different, along with what isn’t, is top priority for those in charge. In Enhabit’s case, said division manager Amy Jones, the service — which specializes in end-of-life hospice care as well as ongoing home-based care for post-operative transitions and other care-managed patients — will be identical to what the Cullman community has come to expect under the former Alacare umbrella.

“We’re not a new business; we’re just a new name,” said Jones. “Alacare Home Health and Hospice was an Alabama-owned company. We have been here in Cullman for close to 25 years. We’ve undergone the name change, and a lot of people in the community don’t necessarily associate the new name — Enhabit — with the old Alacare. But we’re the same office staff; the same nurses; the same therapists — the same people.”

The new office space for Enhabit Home Health & Hospice lies right next door to the Pet Depot store, in the B2 suite of the new mini-plaza located at 1311 2nd Avenue SW in Cullman. For those familiar with the area, the plaza sits just north of Cullman Discount Pharmacy (near Burger King) and across from the Firehouse Subs restaurant on U.S. Highway 31.