Catholic Health World - August 1, 2023

Welcome transgender people, show them compassion, experts advise ministry

During a CHA webinar on providing spiritual care to transgender people, a sister described one of the many harrowing phone calls she has received during her 24 years as a spiritual companion to people who are transitioning or have transitioned.

Sr. Luisa Derouen, a Dominican Sister of Peace of St. Catharine, Kentucky, recalled the desperate middle-of-the-night call from Shane, who was both transgender and Catholic and struggling with feeling disconnected from the church. Sr. Derouen said Shane, weeping, told her, “I miss going to Mass and I miss receiving Holy Communion. But I can’t go back to church because I’m not safe there. The Catholic Church doesn’t want me.”

Transgender people are on a spiritual journey — a “holy journey,” Sr. Derouen said, as they are “claiming the truth of who they are.” She said it is important that the church and its ministries welcome them, show them dignity and compassion and provide them with the spiritual care services they need.

Sr. Derouen was one of three main speakers during the June 8 webinar, “Care for the Transgender Soul: An Introduction to Spiritual Care for Trans Persons and their Families.” The others were Erica Cohen Moore, executive director of the National

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Cyclists deliver coffee, staples, smiles

By JULIE MINDA

A ministry founded by a Sister of Mercy and supported by a foundation connected with CommonSpirit Health is providing practical aid to the growing population of people experiencing homelessness in Sacramento, California.

The Mercy Pedalers nonprofit that Sr. Libby Fernandez started and now directs dispatches volunteers on cycles each day to provide coffee, water, basic personal care items and companionship to unhoused people throughout Sacramento. Sr. Fernandez recently expanded the initiative to Stockton and is soon starting up in Placerville. Sr. Fernandez says these California communities have serious issues with homelessness.

Sr. Fernandez says the main goal of the ministry is for the pedalers to provide a loving presence to some of the communities’ most vulnerable people. She hopes that the pedalers also can address some unmet needs of those they meet, including by referring them to social service providers.

Sr. Fernandez says she encounters dozens of people during each of her own expeditions as a pedaler. “I get to know them by name,” she says. “I always ask, ‘How can I help?’”

It can take time for some to trust Sr. Fernandez and the other pedalers and ask for more than the basics. “Over time, with deeper conversations, I can (learn of) their

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SSM health nurses start Buddy Program for patients with mental illness

By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN

Patients who need a little extra support while getting mental health treatment at SSM Health DePaul Hospital — St. Louis are getting a buddy to help.

The buddies, who are hospital employees, match with long-term patients in the behavioral health unit who have little to no outside support or don’t get visits from friends and family. The pairs make a standing weekly appointment of at least 30 minutes to read together, play a game, color, make a craft, and otherwise forge a supportive relationship.

The Buddy Program started earlier this year, but care providers already see results, including a decrease in negative behaviors among the patients. “Overall, some of them seem happier, and it gives them something to talk about,” said Stacie Estes, a nurse who manages the program. “When I come in, I’m always hearing stories about what they’ve done with their buddy.”

As partner in SkillBridge program, CHRISTUS eases service members’ shift to civilian careers

By KARI WILLIAMS

When Air Force veteran Shelby Lopez’s initial plans to transition to a civilian career fell through, CHRISTUS Health system offered a new path.

In May 2022, she became the first of 50 veterans onboarded to work for the Irving, Texas-based system through a collaboration with the Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program.

SkillBridge, established in 2011, connects the military with civilian organizations to give military members within 180 days of leaving uniform the opportunity to work in the civilian sector. CHRISTUS is among more than 3,200 civilian organizations in the program. Other Catholic health systems that participate in the program include Ascension and Bon Secours Mercy Health, according to the program’s website.

“I was just excited to start something new but do it with an opportunity to find

These three are among the 200 volunteers who deliver coffee and companionship to people who are homeless in Sacramento and Stockton in California.

A CommonSpirit Health foundation in California supports a group serving unhoused people

“ We did this not thinking it would become anything huge. This is a simple need that these patients had. So, we did it. You find ways to be creative and do things. And it is an easy thing to do that has such a huge impact.”

— Stacie Estes

Shelby Lopez was still in the Air Force when she began her transition to a job with CHRISTUS Health through SkillBridge, a partnership between the Department of Defense and civilian employers.

Estes

Sr. Derouen

Day of recollection provides reset for Covenant Health

mission and spiritual care leaders

By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN

Colin McNabb wanted to offer a reset for the mission and spiritual care professionals within the Covenant Health system, so he brought them together for a day this spring to reflect and connect.

“I think the best way to think of it is the nurse and our clinical teams are responsible for (patients’) bodies,” he said. “We’re responsible for their souls. And the care of souls, I think, is a great responsibility.”

The First Annual Spiritual Care Day of Recollection went off so well that McNabb hopes to make it a yearly event.

McNabb is director of mission and pastoral care at St. Mary Health Care Center, a rehabilitation and eldercare facility in Worcester, Massachusetts, that is part of Covenant Health. He intentionally planned the gathering for just after the busy Easter season. Fourteen of his peers from all levels of the health system joined him at the May 23 event. Covenant Health includes 15 hospitals, skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers and assisted living residences in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. Retreat with a view

The day was meant to be a time for the group to get together physically. They normally see one another once a year at a fall retreat, and in regular virtual meetings.

McNabb wanted to plan a gathering that would be less of a burden for all than an overnight retreat. He’s close with Msgr. James Moroney, director of the Office of Divine Worship in the Diocese of Worchester. Msgr. Moroney offered to speak and lead conversations for the day.

McNabb arranged through his counterpart Sandra Lucas at St. André Health Care to use the meeting space at the nursing home in Biddeford, Maine. St. André’s grounds overlook the Saco River. The loca-

Correction

Group focused on

age-friendly care set to convene

The American Hospital Association is convening an “action community” this fall to expand knowledge of the Age-Friendly Health Systems initiative and invites all clinical care sites that provide care to older adults to participate.

Age-Friendly Health Systems is an initiative based on a set of evidence-based practices called the “4Ms” — what matters to the patient, mobility, mentation and medication.

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tion meant nobody had to drive longer than two hours, and participants could walk through the grounds and gardens during reflection time.

McNabb didn’t want anybody to prepare or bring anything for the day: all they had to do was show up. He gave notebooks and pens to each participant, as well as prayer cards featuring the Sacred Heart. Those cards were placed underneath prayer cards for Our Lady of the Streets, reflecting St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort’s teaching that one must go through Mary to get to Jesus. The notebooks were accented with a fleur-de-lis, a symbol used at St. André.

The theme of the day was “Two keys to being Christ for others: Vulnerability and Love.” McNabb thought Mary was a good representation of vulnerability and the Sacred Heart a representation of love. The morning included a presentation, reflection and discussion on vulnerability, and the afternoon followed a similar format on love.

Lucas, director of mission integration and spiritual care for St. André, pointed out that Msgr. Moroney reminded those at the gathering that the face of the Lord is in the

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imprisoned, sick and dying.

“It was a reminder that the ‘I’ in ‘I was sick, and you visited me’ is the vulnerable patient in the ICU, the lonely resident in the nursing home, the dying person in hospice care,” Lucas said. “In our work, we gaze upon the face of the suffering Christ. That gaze heals us of our need to be viewed as holy or effective.”

Msgr. Moroney told them of seeing that face: “It will transform you.”

Never alone

Kevin Flynn, vice president — mission integration and ethics for St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua, New Hampshire, was among the attendees. He said that mission in Catholic health care “serves as an anchor in times of leadership transition. It permeates the organization and is part of the fabric of our souls.”

Flynn said the collegiality and camaraderie among mission colleagues is a source of strength and sustainability. “They remind us that we’re never alone, even during a pandemic,” he said. “It is easier to care for others when you’re surrounded by colleagues who share and embrace the same mission.”

McNabb encourages other spiritual care professionals who might be thinking about planning such a day to go for it. “It’s not going to be something grand the first time you do it,” he said. “You just have to try.”

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Age-Friendly Health Systems is an initiative of The John A. Hartford Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, in partnership with CHA and the American Hospital Association.

“The 4M framework represents the greatest advancement in quality care for older adults I have encountered, as a nurse and as a CHA staff member,” says Julie Trocchio, senior director of community benefit and continuing care at CHA. “It translates many years of health research into vital and practical practices that work in all settings caring for seniors.”

Entities within Providence St. Joseph Health, Ascension and Trinity Health were among the first to test the concepts behind the initiative. To date, more than 3,000 hospitals and health care practices have become Age-Friendly Health Systems by learning and using the 4Ms framework.

Once health facilities or practices incorporate the initiative’s framework into patient care, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement provides them with a tool kit to market themselves as an Age-Friendly Health System. The institute is a nonprofit focused on motivating and building the will for change.

Joining an action community is one of the on-ramps to taking part in the initiative. The community tests the 4M framework in hospital and ambulatory settings and shares learnings in a seven-month program. Community participation comes with webinars, coaching and resources.

More information on Age-Friendly Health Systems and a form to join the action community is online at aha.org/center/ age-friendly-health-systems.

Upcoming Events from The Catholic Health Association

United Against Human Trafficking Networking Zoom Call

Oct. 4 | Noon – 1 p.m. ET

Community Benefit 101: The Nuts and Bolts of Planning and Reporting Community Benefits Virtual Program

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Mission Leader Seminar

Virtual Program

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Tuesdays Nov. 7 – 28 | 1 – 2:30 p.m. ET

A Passionate Voice for Compassionate Care®

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McNabb

A photo caption on the front page of the July edition of Catholic Health World misspelled the first name of Damond Boatwright, the president and CEO of Hospital Sisters Health System and chairman of CHA’s board of trustees.

Covenant Health system mission and spiritual care professionals gathered this May for the First Annual Spiritual Care Day of Recollection at St. André Health Care in Biddeford, Maine. Stephen Alaimo, president of St. André Health Care, speaks at the session.

“It is easier to care for others when you’re surrounded by colleagues who share and embrace the same mission.”

Kevin Flynn

Ministry facilities give pediatric patients access to free books

By JULIE MINDA

A PeaceHealth hospital in Springfield, Oregon, and a standalone medical center in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, are among ministry facilities that are helping families to focus early on literacy. PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend and the foundation of Saint Francis Healthcare System are enrolling interested parents in programs that provide a series of free books to children from infancy until age 5.

Josie Hall, community health coordinator for the PeaceHealth Oregon network, says providing families with access to free books on an ongoing basis “can promote early literacy and hopefully a love for reading.”

Imagination Library

PeaceHealth Sacred Heart is asking new parents if they’d like to sign up for the Imagination Library program. Through that program, children receive a free book in the mail each month until they are 5 years old. They get to keep all the books.

Hall says the Western Oregon hospital decided to get involved in enrolling newborns “so that the kids can enjoy participating in the program for their entire eligibility period,” from birth to age 5. She says through Imagination Library the kids who enroll get access to numerous books.

Dolly Parton founded the Imagination Library book-gifting initiative in 1995 in Sevier County, Tennessee, where she grew up. The program expanded quickly and is now available in communities across the United States as well as in Australia,

Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Imagination Library mails out about 2 million books each month. Philanthropists fund the program.

Host organizations bring the Imagination Library program to local communities.

The Eugene, Oregon, Public Library Foundation brought the Imagination Library program to Lane County, Oregon, where PeaceHealth Sacred Heart is located, in 2014. Through the library foundation and other organizations, all children up to age

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5 in Lane County can enroll in Imagination Library.

Former Eugene City Manager Jon Ruiz supports Imagination Library and is a member of PeaceHealth Oregon’s Community Health Board. He had asked leadership with PeaceHealth Sacred Heart in Springfield whether the hospital would want to partner with the Eugene Public Library Foundation to help enroll newborns in Imagination Library, and they said yes.

Karen Galloway is a hospital volunteer dedicated to the Imagination Library effort. Since March, she has visited the hospital rooms of new parents and their babies to explain the program and help them enroll.

She says as a retired elementary teacher, “I know how being exposed to books and being read to can help prepare a child to succeed in school. Happily, these new parents understand the benefits and are eager to enroll.” In April alone, she signed up 45 families.

from low-income families.

Saint Francis’s nonprofit partner provided an online training course to Saint Francis clinicians taking part in the program. In the training, they learned to talk to parents about the importance of reading to children.

Dr. Julie Benard, a Saint Francis pediatrician, explains that during the training, clinicians were encouraged to discuss with families that the most important time for language development is between 6 months and 5 years. Benard says the trainers also recommended clinicians talk about the fact that parents can take a very active role in helping their children develop their language skills. “Reading to children provides a language-rich environment and exposes them to countless words, which promotes language development and learning,” she says.

Those in the training course also learned about age-appropriate uses for books. For instance, a 6- to 9-month-old may be more interested in holding a book and chewing on it, which may be discouraging to parents because they may feel the child is not actively engaged in listening to the story. But those in the online training course discussed that those children are still exploring the world with their mouths and this behavior is normal.

“Even pointing out a couple of pictures in a book before the baby takes it and chews on it increases their language development,” Benard notes. She adds that a 12- to 15-month-old may only sit for a few pages or a few minutes of a story, and this is also normal, so even just reading a couple of pages before a child toddles off is meaningful in their language development.

At families’ 6-month well-child visits at the participating clinics, clinicians bring a children’s book to the discussion and families that want to join Reach Out and Read get to take the book home to keep. The families then get to pick out a new free book at each well-child visit until the child is 5, for a total of nine books.

As a Reach Out and Read affiliate, Saint Francis gets discounts on age-appropriate books from the Scholastic bookseller. Saint Francis picks out and orders the books on an online portal, then the books arrive at Saint Francis organized in age categories. Families can pick out their selections. Cape Girardeau business owners Jason and Lesley Coalter provided the startup funding, and the Saint Francis Foundation is seeking donations for the $15,000 needed to maintain the program in the coming year.

The books children receive are tailored to their age. The first book they get is The Little Engine That Could. Among the books babies are getting this year are Sleep Tight, Polar Bear; Babies Love Animals and Baby!

Talk! Books for older children this year include Llama Llama Red Pajama, Dandelion Magic and Milo’s Hat Trick Reach Out and Read

Saint Francis Foundation, the fundraising arm of Saint Francis Healthcare, is seeking dollars for the Reach Out and Read program it launched in April. The initiative offers free books to pediatric patients at well-child visits at certain Saint Francis Healthcare System facilities in Cape Girardeau and nearby Jackson, Missouri.

Saint Francis offers the program through a partnership with Reach Out and Read, a national nonprofit founded in 1989 to help families make reading a part of their routines and to supply the books they need to get started. Pediatricians at health care facilities in all 50 states — Catholic health facilities among them — inform their patients’ parents about the Reach Out and Read program. Reach Out and Read provides books to 4.2 million children nationwide. Two-thirds of book recipients come

Among the favorites that families have selected from the book choices are Leo Gets a Checkup, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Goodnight Moon, Giraffes Can’t Dance and Freight Train!

Program organizers at Saint Francis say at the pediatric offices that hand out the books, the whole office “lights up when we get a new book, and everyone is excited to look through them.”

Staff members like to think about which children on the schedule the next day will be perfect for the new dinosaur book or train book or animal book that has just arrived.

jminda@chausa.org

Andrew McClain and his son Linus enjoy a book. Linus is enrolled in the Imagination Library program. McClain is a nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Oregon.

Buddy Program

From page 1

Need for stability

The idea for The Buddy Program came in December, when Estes, nurse Caitlyn Obrock, and the nurse manager in charge of the obstetrics department were talking about babies who needed extra attention in the neonatal unit while waiting for placement in the foster care system.

Estes mentioned that the situation of some patients in the behavioral health unit is similar. Some patients come in and out of the unit their whole lives, and sometimes they’re part of the foster care system. The unit is for acute crisis stabilization. While most patients stay three to five days, some stays are much longer. The longest so far has been more than 500 days. Stays lengthened during the pandemic because of a shortage of foster families and residential providers available for patients ready for discharge.

“Several patients have been here for what feels like forever,” said Estes. “They don’t have visitors. Their guardians are state appointed. I’m watching these patients on the unit, who have lacked personal relations with people that are in a positive manner, who need some stability, someone to look forward to.”

The discussion about the similarities between the neonatal babies and some of the patients in the behavioral health care unit prompted Obrock to confide that she’d love to take time to play a game or read a book with a long-term behavioral health patient. She asked colleagues if they would like to do the same thing as a buddy, and they said yes. That led to the launch of the program.

Creative solution

The behavioral health unit admits patients from ages 3 to 59. Any patient can get a buddy if they’ve been in the unit for more than 10 days, and if they don’t know where they will go once discharged. The pairs started meeting in January.

At any one time, the unit has about 15 buddy pairs. Some staffers have more than

SkillBridge

From page 1

my way in an organization without starting from scratch,” said Lopez, who served from 2016-2022 in a human resources capacity.

She said she was interested in being in a hospital setting, although unsure if she wanted to focus on the clinical side or human resources. “It’s a setting I’ve never worked in before, so I wanted the opportunity to jump in there to see what that was like, to find my path,” Lopez said.

An extra advantage

From May 2022 to late May 2023, the new CHRISTUS associates joined the system through the SkillBridge partnership.

Luis Sepulveda, manager of talent acquisition for CHRISTUS, said the system first became aware of the program through Dr. Sam Bagchi, executive vice president and chief clinical officer, and a contractor named Bill Cooper, who is a veteran with his own SkillBridge experience.

“Dr. Bagchi really fell in love with the idea of helping out veterans, helping them transition to the civilian sector, and also giving them the opportunity to do their internship with CHRISTUS and then, hopefully, be able to employ them on the back end,” Sepulveda said.

More than 200,000 service members separate from the military annually, according to military discharge data. Of

one buddy patient, and some staffers are waiting to be matched. Estes manages the program, keeping a running list of staffers and patients and working to match personalities. She gets assistance from her sister, SSM DePaul nurse manager Hilary Estes.

“We did this not thinking it would become anything huge,” Stacie Estes said. “This is a simple need that these patients had. So, we did it. You find ways to be creative and do things. And it is an easy thing to do that has such a huge impact.”

To keep the program in compliance with federal privacy regulations, Obrock and Estes ask for permission from the guardians of patients before pairing anyone with a buddy.

They only accept employees within the campus as buddies. That makes it easier to maintain patient privacy. For the same reason, they pointed out, it would be difficult to bring in an outside volunteer group to be buddies to patients.

‘A basic need’

In May, the U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory calling attention to the

those, nearly 21,000 were projected to separate in Texas alone in fiscal year 2019.

Sepulveda, a Marine Corps veteran who served for 13 years, said SkillBridge is a blessing for those transitioning from military service to civilian careers.

“I see the benefit of how great it is and how important it is to have a really good structured program on the employer side for these veterans because it truly is a challenge,” Sepulveda said. “The stress level that they have of leaving that secure paycheck that they receive the first and the 15th, their benefits and all that, and then transition back into the civilian sector, it’s a big life-changing event.”

Finding

her way

While she was in CHRISTUS’ SkillBridge program, Lopez worked in various departments — from assisting nurses to talent acquisition to human resources. “I kind of made myself available to anybody that needed some assistance,” she said, “and that’s kind of how I found my way.”

She worked closest with the talent acquisition team and was hired full time as a talent acquisition specialist at the end of her SkillBridge tenure. She transitioned to a human resources role last December.

“What I found in that (talent acquisition) role, in comparison to the role I have now, was it’s like a revolving door,” Lopez said. “You don’t really get to see associates beyond the initial onboarding, beyond that first interaction with them. And for me, wanting to help people on a different level was something that spoke to me.”

To get SkillBridge started, the system

public health crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection in the United States.

“Given the profound consequences of loneliness and isolation, we have an opportunity, and an obligation, to make the same investments in addressing social connection that we have made in addressing tobacco use, obesity, and the addiction crisis,” Dr. Vivek Murthy wrote in his report.

Research shows that loneliness can lead to various physical and mental issues. Loneliness and social isolation were associated with a 29% increased risk of heart disease and a 32% increased risk of stroke in many adults aged 50 and over, as well as with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Loneliness can lead to issues like depression, alcohol abuse, child abuse, sleep problems, personality disorders and Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical & Diagnostic Research

For those already being treated for mental health issues, Obrock said loneliness can exacerbate their illness. “Human connection is a basic need,” she said. “And I think

established a pilot program at CHRISTUS Children’s hospital in San Antonio. The program has since expanded to all San Antonio facilities, as well as to others in Texas and Louisiana.

SkillBridge-affiliated employees attend CHRISTUS’ new associate orientation and undergo a background check like any other employee. Associates in the program have held positions ranging from registered nurse to respiratory therapist, along with some entry-level jobs such as patient care tech, patient sitters and patient transporters.

“Those are really good entry-level positions for military members that always wanted to have that medical field experience but didn’t get that opportunity in the military to be able to do that as their job,” Sepulveda said.

Veterans helping veterans

Sepulveda said SkillBridge has been a great resource for finding qualified job candidates. As of May, at least 10 associates had transitioned from SkillBridge to full-time employment. CHRISTUS hired most of those associates at its San Antonio, Westover Hills and New Braunfels locations in Texas.

Two CHRISTUS recruiters are retired Air Force veterans with backgrounds in human resources. “Now they’re on this end helping veterans transition, and they can definitely relate because they went through the program themselves,” Sepulveda said.

Renee Holloway, a CHRISTUS human resources generalist, was so impressed with her SkillBridge associate Sharon Bar-

day to day we can get lost in that because we take it for granted.”

Estes said she had one patient come to her office every day for a week, repeatedly asking if her buddy was coming.

Finally, one day Estes asked the patient, “Has she ever not showed up?” When the young woman replied no, Estes told her: “Well, I need you to learn to trust that she’s going to be here. And if she doesn’t, I think she will call or email or let me know in some way.”

The encounter has stayed with Estes because that young woman “didn’t trust that anyone was ever going to show up because she’s probably been let down many times throughout her life.”

Highlight of the week

Obrock said that employees love the program just as the patients do. “I would argue they were more impacted than we would have anticipated,” she said. “It’s been kind of a highlight of a lot of the staff’s week.”

The buddies do whatever activity strikes them. They color, they paint rocks together, they paint their nails — one patient even proudly got her hair cut like her buddy. Once they get to know one another, they have genuine conversations, Estes said.

Obrock played a kids’ version of the card game We’re Not Really Strangers with her buddy, a young woman. Players get to know each other by asking various questions. At the end of the game one day, she told Obrock, “This is helping me talk to people.”

One buddy pair enjoyed playing chess together. When the patient was discharged, his buddy gifted him a chess set.

One day, Estes noticed two patients who have the same employee buddy sitting together. One patient was reading to the other. “That warmed my heart, because I think it’s building further relationships,” she said. “These guys are here for so long, and they’re making healthy relationships, too.”

Obrock said the impact of having a buddy can be especially profound for young patients. “If you sit down and look at the trajectory of a child’s life, you just don’t know what one person showing up for six months for 30 minutes can do,” she said. “It can do a lot.”

vhahn@chausa.org

bosa that she shared a testimonial with her CHRISTUS colleagues.

“We had five associate engagement events in a week and a half, and there is no way I could have done these without her,” Holloway wrote. “She has a servant’s heart and senses needs before you even ask her to do something.”

Sepulveda said the training and flexibility that come from being in the military are helpful for service members and their CHRISTUS supervisors.

“Those soft skills that they bring to the table are truly what’s valuable about having that military skill background, no matter what MOS (military occupation specialty) they come from,” Sepulveda said.

Lopez said that task management is one of the skills she honed in the military and brought to CHRISTUS. “There’s a lot of moving parts, and being able to be flexible with whatever comes through the door was something really helpful,” Lopez said.

Lopez called her experience from SkillBridge to now an “incredible journey.”

“I often think about how grateful I am that this came about when I really needed it,” Lopez said. “And I recommend anybody who’s looking to make the transition to consider CHRISTUS as their way in, because we’ve got a good family here, we’ve got a good culture.”

Between April 3 and late May, there was a nearly 50% increase in SkillBridge applications, according to Sepulveda. For more information, visit: careers. CHRISTUShealth.org/working-here/ skillbridge.

Source: “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community, 2023

The lack of social connection may increase SUSCEPTIBILITY TO VIRUSES and respiratory illness.

Poor or insufficient social connection is associated with increased risk for ANXIETY, DEPRESSION AND DEMENTIA.

Loneliness and isolation are associated with lower academic achievement and WORSE PERFORMANCE AT WORK.

Poor social relationships (social isolation, poor social support, loneliness) were associated with a 29% INCREASE IN THE RISK OF HEART DISEASE

risk of stroke.

Obrock

Sepulveda

Mercy Pedalers

From page 1

deeper needs and goals,” she said, and perhaps help address them.

Eye to eye

Each of the 200 pedalers goes out at least once per week. Some volunteer alone, some in teams. Some use their own cycles. Some use bicycles or adult tricycles from Mercy Pedalers. Each volunteer tows a small cabinet or basket full of coffee and staples, with most of those items from Mercy Pedalers. Volunteers usually stick to established routes, so they can get to know people who stay in particular neighborhoods. The volunteers offer what they have in their carts to the unhoused people they encounter who welcome the volunteers into their space.

Sr. Fernandez usually rides out alone from around 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. most days of the week. She stops at various encampments. She usually visits with about three dozen people each day.

She writes on her blog on Mercy Pedalers’ website: “I have found it to be very profound meeting someone eye to eye and sharing at an equal level of care. We Mercy Pedalers build trust and grow in relationship each time we go out. We chat, we laugh, we share our hard times and good times.”

Many people that Sr. Fernandez and the pedaler volunteers encounter simply accept only the items offered from the carts and enjoy the interaction with the pedalers. Some take up the pedalers on their offers of more extensive help. The pedalers can refer people to medical and social service providers, including at CommonSpirit hospitals in Sacramento.

Genelle Smith, one of the pedalers, says, “It’s really important to show up and provide resources when people are in the action phase of being ready to make a life change, because there are so many barriers to change, and if the action phase passes with no action taken, people often will regress.”

Growing counts

Smith is the executive director of the nonprofit Wellspring Women’s Center. In 1987, two women religious established the Sacramento drop-in center to provide basic nutrition and services to vulnerable women and their children. Smith and seven colleagues go out in teams as volunteer pedalers.

Smith explains that Sacramento’s homelessness crisis is related to the area’s systemic housing affordability concerns. She says that there has been a “huge influx” of people fleeing San Francisco and other large cities in search of less expensive housing. San Francisco is nearly 100 miles from

Sacramento.

The increased demand for housing has pushed Sacramento rental and residential real estate costs higher and higher, which has been especially unfortunate for people with low and fixed incomes, Smith explains. An analysis by California State University, Sacramento, and Sacramento Steps Forward indicates that rents in Sacramento jumped an average of 20% from March 2020 through November 2021. Sacramento Steps Forward is a nonprofit aimed at ending homelessness.

Sr. Fernandez says, “People can’t afford to live in California because it’s so difficult to find affordable housing. So, there are more people who become homeless. And things are not getting better.”

The university and nonprofit organization’s analysis, which looked at the 2022 point-in-time homelessness count for Sacramento, says the unhoused population increased 67% in Sacramento County from 2019 to 2022, to 9,278. Sr. Fernandez says the count is now closer to 10,000.

Welcoming the stranger

Sr. Fernandez became a Mercy sister in

1990, the same year she earned her master’s in social work at California State University, Sacramento. From 2006 to 2017, she was executive director of Sacramento Loaves & Fishes, a nonprofit that serves those who are unsheltered.

Around 2016, she went on a silent retreat to Crater Lake in Oregon and spent time discerning what God was calling her to do next. It came to her that she could combine her love of cycling and her passion for meeting the needs of the homeless community. The idea for Mercy Pedalers was born.

Sr. Fernandez said a touch point for the ministry is the scripture verse in the Gospel of Matthew: “For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

Folk hero

For nearly seven decades, Mercy Foundation has been raising philanthropic funds for Sisters of Mercy-supported ministries in the Sacramento area, including CommonSpirit hospitals and clinics, some of which are Sacramento facilities founded by the sisters. Mercy Foundation already

had been providing support to Sacramento Loaves & Fishes when Sr. Fernandez decided to depart that nonprofit to start Mercy Pedalers. Kevin Duggan, Mercy Foundation president and CEO, says that when evaluating the purpose of her new ministry at the time, it “continued to make sense in terms of our mission” for the foundation to support Sr. Fernandez’s work.

From the start, through Mercy Foundation, donors have provided funding for operational support. Mercy Foundation has continued to provide Mercy Pedalers with connections to potential donors and to aid with fundraising. Mercy Pedalers has an annual budget of about $185,000, which covers Sr. Fernandez’s salary, storage facilities for the bicycles and adult tricycles, the cost of replacing and maintaining the cycles as well as some of the supplies the cyclists hand out on their visits. Mercy Pedalers is funded solely through monetary and inkind donations, which can include coffee, creamer, cups, water, hygiene items, flashlights, lightweight blankets, hats, gloves and socks.

“So many people resonate with Sr. Libby and her ministry,” Duggan says. “She’s a trusted individual and a great storyteller. We feel blessed to help her in her effort. She’s a folk hero here, doing God’s work and the work of the Sisters of Mercy.”

He notes that her cycling ministry echoes the earliest days of the Mercy congregation, when the “walking sisters” would travel around towns by foot to care for people where they lived.

Sr. Fernandez says numerous people have seen their lives improved because of the pedalers, including successfully taking steps to rebuild lives and become housed.

Bringing mercy

Smith says, “there’s personal meaning in all of the interactions. All the interactions are meaningful because we’re developing relationships. There are different opportunities for quality relationships as we get to know people.”

Smith adds, “The concept is that we are bringing mercy to the streets, and that is cool. People are reached out to and attended to, and this is so vital.”

To watch a video of Sr. Fernandez appearing on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” to share her story, visit chausa.org/chw. jminda@chausa.org

Each of the Mercy Pedalers volunteers cycles out at least once per week to visit people who are homeless.

Sr. Libby Fernandez, RSM, started Mercy Pedalers about six years ago to aid unhoused people in Sacramento, California. The program since has expanded.

“I have found it to be very profound meeting someone eye to eye and sharing at an equal level of care. ... We chat, we laugh, we share our hard times and good times.”

Catholic bishops to amend directives on health care; CHA will offer advice

During its spring plenary assembly in Orlando, Florida, in June the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to give the Committee on Doctrine permission to prepare an amendment to the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services relating to the care of transgender people.

On June 16, CHA issued a press release expressing its intention to work with the bishops’ conference to ensure that the revisions will allow Catholic health care to continue to provide high-quality patient care that respects church teaching, federal and state laws and the human dignity of all.

The press release, which quoted Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, CHA president and CEO, affirmed that the ministry “welcomes and cares for transgender patients, or those experiencing gender dysphoria, with the same care and respect as any patient in our facilities.” Sr. Mary said in

Transgender care

From page 1

Association of Catholic Chaplains, and Jamez Terry, a chaplain with the Children’s Hospital at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage. Webinar moderators were Jill Fisk, CHA director of mission services; and Fr. Charles Bouchard, OP, who retired in late June as CHA senior director of theology and sponsorship.

Discernment and action

During the webinar, Fisk and Fr. Bouchard explained that CHA in recent years has been in discernment on how to advise the ministry when it comes to care of transgender patients.

Four years ago, CHA and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops formed a task force on the subject. CHA produced a document on transgender people and the church. The conference’s Committee on Doctrine has been using that document as well as other input to guide its work in this area. In March, the conference’s committee issued a statement providing moral criteria to ministry providers for “discerning which medical interventions promote the authentic good of the human person and which are in fact injurious,” particularly when it comes to care of people with gender dysphoria or gender incongruence.

the release that there is still much to learn about the complexities of gender dysphoria and the use of different treatments to address the condition.

She said that as the bishops’ conference navigates the revision of the Ethical and Religious Directives in reference to the treatment of transgender patients in ministry facilities, they should “engage in broad consultation with patients suffering from gender dysphoria and providers who care for them to ensure the health of the whole person.”

CHA has convened standing advisory groups of experts that have been providing input on transgender care to CHA. Those multidisciplinary groups remain available to advise CHA and the bishops’ conference, including during the revision of the Ethical and Religious Directives

The groups have expertise in ethics, moral theology, medicine, law and public relations.

In the statement, the committee said Catholic health care facilities are to “provide the best medical care, as well as Christ’s compassionate accompaniment, to all patients, no matter who they may be or from what condition they may be suffering” but that the means used “must respect the fundamental order of the human body” or else the human person will not be helped, but rather harmed.

CHA has formed a subcommittee that is working through the association’s Spiritual Care Advisory Council to study how best to ensure that ministry facilities provide appropriate spiritual care services to transgender people. The three presenters of the June webinar are on that subcommittee.

The subcommittee has been surveying some ministry facilities and convening groups of selected ministry leaders for discussion. Fisk said the subcommittee’s main takeaway is that it is essential that the ministry provides all people who need spiritual care with those services and the services should address the needs in a specific and holistic way. “We don’t need to re-create our spiritual care services but to bring them forth” to all who need them, Fisk said.

Marginalization

Sr. Derouen said that based on her twoplus decades working closely with transgender people, it is her belief that being transgender is a medical condition, and not a personal choice, and since it is a medical condition, it would be incorrect to refer to it as a pathology or as sinning against God. She said in today’s heated political climate,

incorrect narratives are promoted about transgender people such as that they are suffering from a pathology and are at war with God. Sr. Derouen said some people pretend transgender people don’t exist. She said denying the existence of transgender people contributes to their marginalization. That in turn causes stigma, shame, and secrecy.

She explained that people who are transgender generally move through several stages as they discover the gender they are meant to be. Those stages include false integration, disintegration and reintegration of a person’s identity.

In describing the stages, she said the most fundamental spiritual question for everyone is “Who am I?” She said that question takes a lifetime to answer. Sr. Derouen described a common pattern for how many transgender people process that question. First, they try to be who everyone expects them to be — false integration. Then they reach the point where they can’t pretend to be who they aren’t — disintegration. Then finally they claim to live in harmony with who they know themselves to be — reintegration.

“It’s a holy journey, as they become closer to who they are,” Sr. Derouen said.

She added, “They deserve to be treated with dignity.”

Pioneers

Terry, the children’s hospital chaplain, became part of the transgender community two decades ago. Terry said it has been clear to him in the ensuing years that it is a common experience among people in this community to have had a religious background and to have spiritual longings and to be undertaking “deep soul work as they discern who they are and who they are meant to be.” Becoming aware of this, Terry said, “I discerned my own call” to be a chaplain who helps people with their spiritual challenges.

Cohen Moore wrapped up the discussion by acknowledging that the church and its bishops are navigating numerous complex questions around the specifics of providing various types of care to transgender people. She said it is important for ministry providers to stay abreast of that work and its implications.

While there is ambiguity and uncertainty in these matters now, Cohen Moore said ministry providers should proceed with love. “It’s a journey, and we’re pioneering in this area,” she said. “In light of Catholic social teaching we are to live into our set of competencies” — the competencies that have been established for chaplains.

She said, “Our competencies say we are to provide spiritual care that respects differences.”

To access the webinar, visit chausa.org/ store/meeting?ID=5367 (free to members).

Ways to improve encounters with transgender patients

During CHA’s June webinar on spiritual care for people who are transgender, a ministry chaplain shared recommendations on how to better serve them.

Jamez Terry, a chaplain with the Children’s Hospital at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, shared on the call six practical steps spiritual care providers at ministry facilities can take when offering services to people who are transgender and their loved ones.

Those steps are:

Recognize the hurt that religion may have caused or may be causing for them. Terry said many transgender people have felt or currently feel alienated from the church and harmed by the church.

Understand that spiritual care is not being provided in a vacuum. Transgender people live in a society where many people prefer they not exist. This marginalization, Terry said, causes spiritual harm and many

IN BRIEF

St. Joseph’s and partners open supportive housing development

St. Joseph’s Health and the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency have opened Barclay Place, the first supportive housing to be completed under a state partnership program that promotes hospital investment in affordable and supportive housing in their communities.

With 56 units, Barclay Place is available for vulnerable families and individuals to rent affordable apartments and make use of supportive services provided by St. Joseph’s Health. Barclay Place is in Paterson, where St. Joseph’s Health is based.

“We are very proud to build the first housing unit as part of the Hospital Partnership Subsidy Program and to create a space outside our hospital walls that addresses the health needs within our community,” Kevin J. Slavin, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Health, said in a press release about the development.

Under its $12 million state program, the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency matched funding contributions from St. Joseph’s. Several units within Barclay Place are set aside for residents with special needs and/or for frequent users of hospital emergency department services.

Partnership provides peer support for patients battling addictions

St. Claire HealthCare is partnering with Edgewater Recovery in a peer support program.

St. Claire patients who are struggling with drug or alcohol addiction will be paired with a peer support specialist at Edgewater “who will help them achieve sustained recovery through shared, lived or common experiences with substance use, addiction or mental health struggles.” That is according to a press release on the program from the Morehead, Kentucky-based St. Claire.

Edgewater Recovery is a statelicensed behavioral health organization that offers alcohol and drug abuse treatment.

At an event announcing the partnership, Morehead Mayor Laura White-Brown noted that there were 105 overdoses last year in the city of about 7,000.

Mercy-Mayo Clinic data collaboration adds three international partners

transgender people are spiritually weary of enduring that harm.

Acknowledge that there is a need for spiritual connection. Terry explained that many transgender people are well connected to their own spiritual life but often disconnected from a broader faith community. The spiritual care provider should seek to understand whether that connection is desired.

Advocate for transgender people. It is important to stand up for transgender people at a time when they need this advocacy, Terry said.

Understand it is a gift when transgender people reveal their identity. Terry explained that it is not always clear who is and who is not transgender. When a member of this community shares that information, it is a gift. The recipient of that gift should affirm the person and help them identify what spiritual strengths they have to share with the world.

Celebrate the joy of transgender people. While people often focus on the hardships of transgender people, there also is joy for people who are becoming their true self by transitioning, Terry said. Spiritual care providers should recognize that all people are children of God, deserving of affirmation as they strive to live with authenticity and integrity.

A 10-year collaboration agreement between Mercy and Mayo Clinic is going global through Mayo Clinic Platform_Connect, a distributed data network.

After first joining with Chesterfield, Missouri-based Mercy to collaborate last summer, Mayo Clinic also has reached similar agreements with Brazil’s Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, Israel’s Sheba Medical Center and Canada’s University Health Network.

The organizations’ joint goal is improving the lives and care of patients around the world by using deidentified patient data to pinpoint diseases earlier and transform health care delivery and the practice of medicine to a model much more focused on preventative and wellness care, Mercy said in a press release.

Cohen Moore

Terry

PRESIDENTS/CEOS

Bon Secours Mercy Health of Cincinnati has made these changes: Alan George to president of Bon Secours Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News, Virginia. He was chief operating officer for St. Francis–Emory Healthcare in Columbus, Georgia, part of ScionHealth. Andy Spicknall to president of Bon Secours Harbour View Hospital in Suffolk, Virginia, from vice president of operations for Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, Portsmouth, Virginia. The Harbor View campus of Bon Secours Mercy Health currently houses the Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View. The campus is under expansion — Harbour View Hospital is to open there in 2025.

ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES

CommonSpirit Health of Chicago has made these changes: Nancy Bussani to executive vice president and chief philanthropy officer and president of the CommonSpirit Health Foundation. Delaine Thiel to vice president of philanthropy for the CHI Saint Joseph Health Foundations of Lexington, Kentucky. The five CHI Saint Joseph Health foundations serve patients of Flaget Memorial Hospital, Saint Joseph Hospital and Saint Joseph East in Lexington, Saint Joseph Berea, Saint Joseph Mount Sterling and Saint Joseph London, as well as CHI Saint Joseph Medical Group.

Hospital Sisters Health System of Springfield, Illinois, has made these changes: Dr. Bonny Chen to chief health informatics officer, Frank Rademacher to vice president and chief information officer, and Christine Woolsey to senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer. All are part of the executive leadership team.

Trinity Health’s MercyOne of Mason City, Iowa, has made these changes: Chad Boore to chief operations officer of MercyOne North Iowa and Ryan Meyer to chief operations officer of MercyOne Northeast Iowa.

Organizations within Bon Secours Mercy Health have made these changes: Yolanda Johnson to chief market human resources strategic partner for Bon Secours St. Francis of Greenville, South Carolina. Brian Miller to director of community relations for Mercy Health — Springfield in Ohio.

Providence Swedish, part of Providence St. Joseph Health, has made these changes: Payam Mohadjeri to chief administrative officer and Dr. James Park to chief medical officer, both for the North Puget Sound region of Providence Swedish of Everett, Washington. Among the facilities in the region are Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, Swedish Edmonds, and Swedish Mill Creek.

Tanya Shanks-Connors to chief nursing officer of PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver, Washington.

Timothy G. Laurent to provost and vice president of academic affairs for Mercy College of Health Sciences in Des Moines, Iowa.

Kristin Mosher to director of marketing and communications at St. Mary’s Healthcare, Amsterdam, New York.

GRANTS

Dignity Health Dominican Hospital and the Dominican Hospital Foundation are receiving $2 million in grant funding from the California Department of Health Care Access and Information. The funds will benefit the new Morehouse School of Medicine Dominican Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program. The grant is part of a larger allotment that aims to increase the number of primary care residency programs in family

Ballance promoted to CHA chief of staff

medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics. This funding is available in part from the $1.4 billion SongBrown Workforce for a Healthy California for All package. That funding initiative aims to expand and diversify the health care workforce. The Santa Cruz, California, Dominican Hospital is part of CommonSpirit Health.

The Avila Institute of Gerontology of Germantown, New York, has received a $720,000 grant from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to fund an 18-month pilot program entitled “Sisters Aging Well Together.” The program aims to enable Catholic sisters worldwide to assess their communities and address elder concerns. Each community will learn techniques through education and training so it can implement solutions to address elders’ needs. The Avila Institute of Gerontology, which is part of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, is an educational resource for eldercare professionals, religious communities, and others on how best to provide compassionate care to the elderly. Hotelier Conrad N. Hilton established his grantmaking foundation in 1944 to help impoverished and disadvantaged people worldwide. Today, the work includes efforts to boost the work of Catholic sisters.

Amy Ballance, who started at CHA in March 2022 as its senior director, member engagement, has accepted the position of chief of staff.

As chief of staff, Ballance will continue to work on strategic initiatives and oversight of member engagement.

As senior director, member engagement, she worked on strategic projects including member value, communication and community impact.

Before coming to CHA, Ballance worked as director of strategic planning for BJC HealthCare. She worked 15 years with Hospital Sisters Health System in various roles with oversight responsibilities for clinical services, operations, physician relations, business development, strategic planning and marketing. She also was divisional vice president and interim CEO for HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese, Illinois.

Ballance

Ballance received her master of healthcare administration from Saint Louis University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

George Meyer

Chen Shanks-Connors

Spicknall Mohadjeri

Rademacher Woolsey Laurent

Thiel Park Boore

Horses’ window visits are mane attraction at Benedictine facility

By LISA EISENHAUER

OWATONNA, Minn.

Betty Schultz smiles as Tank the quarter horse steps up to the window at Benedictine Living Community — Owatonna.

“I love it,” says Schultz, of the visit by Tank, one of the horses from Mowry’s Lazy Meadows that make occasional trips to the eldercare community in rural Minnesota. “Just the feeling of closeness and things like that, it makes you happy.”

Berneice Cobb enjoys seeing Tank, too, although she’s glad to be separated by a pane of glass. “That’s as close as I want to get,” says Cobb as she sits in her wheelchair in a row of several residents while Tank swings his tail and presses his nose to the window.

Tank and his owner, Monte Mowry, have been regular visitors since May 2020, when the COVID19 pandemic was raging and the Benedictine facility, like eldercare sites across the nation, had halted in-person visits.

Mowry remembers that his proposal to drop by with some of his seven equine companions was hesitantly accepted. “They said, ‘We’ll try it once,’” Mowry recalls while leading Tank from window to window this spring.

“This is probably my 13th, 14th time out here,” he says as residents and staff peering from the windows tap on the glass and wave at every stop.

‘A huge blessing’

Lisa Kern, the facility’s administrator, admits to being a bit perplexed at first by Mowry’s offer. “I just thought it was unbelievable. It’s so humbling when somebody calls you and they’re offering their gifts to you and they’re thinking of us,” Kern recalls. “That’s what I was probably baffled at.”

Nowadays, she agrees with Nikki Anderson, a wellness assistant, that the horse visits have “turned out to be a huge blessing.” Gentle Tank is particularly

popular. He leans into the pets and hugs he gets now that COVID restrictions have mostly ended and people can come outside to greet him.

Mowry saved Tank from the slaughterhouse in 2005 when the horse was 11. He calls Tank his personal psychologist, crediting the horse with pulling him through a personal rough patch. He said he hopes being around his horses is similarly uplifting for others.

“I just want to give back,” Mowry says. “About 12 years ago I was going through a time of my life with depression and stuff like that. I finally kicked myself in the butt and got help and then I thought, you know what? Maybe I could turn around and help other people, too.”

Source of comfort

Casey Bakewell, activities director, often accompanies Mowry and his horses as they make their rounds on their Benedictine visits. She speculates that because many of the residents grew up on farms around Owatonna with horses, seeing the animals takes them back to the days of their youth. “I think that people just find it very comforting,” Bakewell says.

Horses aren’t the only animals the facility welcomes for visits. Therapy dogs make regular stops and once a year the facility hosts a “farm-to-town” event on the parking lot with goats, cows, kittens and other feathered or four-legged guests. The dairy princesses crowned at local festivals come to that event and serve root beer floats.

Mowry doesn’t limit his horse therapy to residents of the Benedictine community. Since 2015, he and his wife, Nancy, have opened their farm to various groups that serve special populations. Among the groups that visit are Big Broth-

ers Big Sisters of Southern Minnesota and Operation: 23 to Zero, which is focused on curbing suicides among those who have served in the military.

Earlier this year Benedictine honored Mowry with its Horizon Award for his volunteer work. His efforts were also honored by LeadingAge Minnesota, a community of aging services providers.

Lasting connection

Mowry is among about two dozen volunteers who share their time and talents with Benedictine residents in Owatonna. Kern says the impact of their contributions can’t be overstated.

“We only have so much time in a day,” she notes. “The individual gifts of our different volunteers, like Monte and others, enhance what we do here every day.”

Before he began his horse visits, Mowry says he had no connection to the eldercare community, other than seeing it as he drove past. “Well, I didn’t,” he says. “But I do now.”

leisenhauer@chausa.org

Tank the quarter horse peers through a window at residents of Benedictine Living Community — Owatonna in Minnesota during a visit this spring.

Evelyn Hammer gives Tank’s head a squeeze. Monte Mowry, at right, has been bringing the horse for visits to Benedictine Living Community — Owatonna since May 2020. Benedictine honored Mowry earlier this year for his volunteer work.

“About 12 years ago I was going through a time of my life with depression and stuff like that. I finally kicked myself in the butt and got help and then I thought, you know what? Maybe I could turn around and help other people, too.”

— Monte Mowry

Short-term rehabilitation residents and staff members greet Tank as he makes the rounds at Benedictine Living Community — Owatonna. The horse’s owner saved him from the slaughterhouse. Tank is now a therapy horse.

Susan Haubenschild gets some face time with Tank as Monte Mowry leads the horse around the eldercare community. Residents also get visits from other animals during the year.

Kern

Bakewell

Anderson