About Coastal Compass

Guidance for life’s most important transitions

Coastal Compass Navigation & Advocacy was created for older adults and families who feel overwhelmed by healthcare decisions, changing care needs, important documents, living arrangements, or the many details that come with a major life transition.

Families are often expected to make complicated decisions while they are worried, exhausted, or unsure where to begin. Coastal Compass provides one trusted point of contact to help organize the next steps, explain available options, coordinate services, and connect families with qualified professionals and community resources.

We bring calm to complicated situations so our clients can move forward with greater clarity, confidence, and peace of mind.

Kyla Rutledge and Mallory Purviance, Coastal Compass leadership team

Why we began

Our story

Coastal Compass was founded by Kyla Rutledge, a nurse whose professional experience in hospice care became deeply personal while navigating her own mother’s dementia journey.

Kyla understands what it feels like to be both a healthcare professional and a daughter trying to make the right decisions for someone she loves. She saw how easily families can become overwhelmed by unfamiliar systems, changing medical needs, important documents, placement decisions, and the pressure to act quickly.

Mallory Purviance brings more than 17 years of experience in financial services, along with firsthand experience managing the practical and financial details that follow a family loss when no clear plan is in place.

Together, Kyla and Mallory created Coastal Compass to give families the guidance, organization, and steady support they wished every family had during life’s most difficult transitions.

Personalized guidance

Our approach

Every family’s situation is different. We begin by listening carefully to what is happening, what feels urgent, and what matters most to the people involved.

From there, we help create a clear and manageable path forward. That may include coordinating care, preparing for appointments, communicating with providers, comparing senior-living options, locating caregiver support, organizing family updates, identifying important documents, planning a move, or connecting clients with trusted legal, financial, property, healthcare, and community professionals.

Our role is not to take control away from families. It is to make sure they feel informed, prepared, supported, and heard.

Meet our leadership

Experience shaped by personal understanding

Kyla Rutledge

Founder & Director of Client Advocacy

Kyla brings a nurse’s clinical perspective and a daughter’s personal understanding to every family she serves. Her experience in hospice care has given her a deep appreciation for clear communication, compassionate advocacy, and honoring each person’s wishes.

Her mother’s dementia journey showed her how difficult it can be to navigate healthcare systems and major decisions while also coping with the emotional realities of watching someone you love change.

Kyla helps clients understand their options, prepare for important conversations, coordinate care, and feel more confident about the decisions ahead.

Mallory Purviance

Director of Financial & Life Transition Resources

Mallory brings more than 17 years of experience in financial services and a practical understanding of the financial and property concerns that often accompany a care transition.

After her mother passed away without a trust, advance directive, or organized plan, Mallory became responsible for locating accounts, contacting insurance companies, managing belongings, and handling countless details while grieving. A later family loss brought many of the same challenges.

These experiences shaped Mallory’s commitment to helping families become better prepared. She identifies appropriate resources, helps organize priorities, and connects clients with qualified professionals who can address their financial, property, estate-planning, and life-transition needs.

What families can expect

Support centered on your needs

When working with Coastal Compass, families can expect:

Compassionate and respectful guidance
Clear explanations without unnecessary jargon
Personalized support based on their actual needs
Thoughtful coordination between family members and providers
Reliable follow-through and ongoing communication
Carefully selected professional and community resources
Complete respect for each client’s wishes, privacy, and independence

Our mission

Our mission is to help older adults and families navigate care, planning, and life transitions with clarity, dignity, and compassionate support.

Where compassionate guidance meets steadfast support.

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