Catholic Health World - October 1, 2022

SACRED SPACES

SUBLIME DESIGN ELEVATES HOSPITAL CHAPELS. PAGES 4-5

Providence forges unified culture while nurturing pride in ministries’ local legacies

By JULIE MINDA

When Providence Health & Services and St. Joseph Health merged in 2016 to form Providence St. Joseph Health, the sponsors decided that instead of suppressing one of the two public juridic persons they brought together they’d enter into a covenant to form a new sponsor council with five representatives from each legacy PJP.

Dougal Hewitt, Provi dence executive vice pres ident/chief mission and sponsorship officer, says that spirit of collaboration has guided the system’s efforts to create a unified culture, with influences from each of the congrega tions that had at one time sponsored one or more of the 52 hospitals and the network of other facilities that make up the seven-state system.

Hewitt, who is completing his sixth and final year as a CHA board member, spoke to Catholic Health World about how the system struck a balance between system culture and local tradition and flavor. The conversation has been edited

Wheeling hospital partners to support recovery of high-risk patients after hospital discharge

By PATRICIA CORRIGAN

The Hospital Transition Program, a collaboration between WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital and Catholic Chari ties West Virginia, both in Wheeling, pro vides individualized support to vulnerable, low-income patients after their hospital

discharge.

“Even if we didn’t have a formal pro gram, this would have happened organi cally,” said Deacon Paul C. Lim, vice presi dent of mission integration at the 250-bed hospital. “We are a Level 4 Trauma Center — the first line of defense for the Upper

By JULIE MINDA

For the several years that he’s been senior vice president of mission integra tion for CommonSpirit Health’s Midwest division, Andrew Santos and the mission leaders he directs have grappled with how best to engage nearly 13,000 employees at 28 hospitals and hundreds of clinics across four states in forma tion and spirituality work.

CHI Health mission department embraces technology to expand reach of formation work Santos

Santos and his mission department colleagues have found some success by creating video blogs and interviews, reflections, prayers and other content to help employees explore what brings them meaning in their work. Mission staff and managers use the resources as a starting point for discussions intended to be a pre lude to personal reflection, integration and action. Santos says the resources “are reminders that God is still with us, and that helps bring meaning to the lives and work” of many staff members.

He notes that while he and the mission department he leads began creating the resources before the pandemic, they greatly

Water symbolizes refreshment of body and spirit in a recent “Feeding the Spirit” video blog by CommonSpirit Health’s Andrew Santos.

Sr. Jennifer Berridge, CSJ, left, a case manager at Catholic Charities West Virginia, visits with Laurie Quinn, a client in the Hospital Transition Program. The program, a collaboration between Catholic Chari ties and WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital in Wheeling, West Virginia, meets practical needs of vulnerable patients following hospital discharge.

Top, Trinity Health Livonia hospital in Michigan; below, from left, CHI Health Immanuel hospital in Omaha, Nebraska; Mount Carmel Grove City hospital in Grove City, Ohio; The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio; and Penacook Place in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

Jason Keen/Courtesy of PLY+

Hewitt

CHA tool sets out essential spiritual care services for continuing care facilities

By JULIE MINDA

Leaders in ministry continuing care facilities long have expressed concern about the lack of defined standards for spiritual care delivery in their sector. The “Essential Services of Spiritual Care in Con tinuing Care Settings,” a new CHA resource, is intended to address that gap and grow consensus in the ministry around what constitutes excellence in spiritual care in facilities for the aged and infirmed.

The guide lists 15 services that continu ing care facilities should offer to advance whole-person care for their residents and to provide support to residents’ loved ones and staff. The resource is available at chausa.org/15services.

It is the product of two-plus years of work by seven mission and spiritual care profes sionals convened as the Continuing Care Subcommittee of CHA’s Spiritual Care Advi sory Committee. CHA formed the work group after leaders at continuing care facili ties in the Catholic health ministry asked for guidance on essential spiritual care ser vices. Another CHA workgroup had created a similar tool for acute care providers.

The continuing care workgroup sought input from spiritual care experts at CHA and at CHA member systems. Mission and spiritual care staff at ministry facilities reviewed, vetted and made suggestions for honing the list of essential services for con tinuing care providers. The subcommittee completed that work in January and shared it with CHA’s Spiritual Care Advisory Com mittee, and then further refined the guide with that committee’s input.

Evidence-based practice

Two members of the Continuing Care Subcommittee, Alan E. Bowman and Timothy G. Serban, intro duced the guide during an Aug. 11 webinar. Bowman is vice president of mis sion integration for Trinity Health Continuing Care and Serban is system executive director of spiritual health for the home and commu nity care division of Provi dence St. Joseph Health.

Bowman said the tool sets out vital services and promotes evidence-based practices in spiritual health and pastoral care, end of life and palliative care, and education and care giver support. The latter includes ongoing professional development of staffs in con tinuing care facilities.

The subcommittee’s work is ongoing and now aimed at developing methods by which facilities can assess whether and how well they are delivering the essential ser

vices. The workgroup also plans to lead the development of resources to help facilities improve their spiritual care programming.

By the book

Bowman and Serban walked attendees through the essential services guide.

Some of the services categorized as spiritual health and pastoral care include completing individualized spiritual assess ments and spiritual care plans for residents; being present and developing relationships with residents, families and staff; support ing these people spiritually in times of duress; accompanying residents experi encing memory loss; providing religious, sacramental and spiritual supports for peo ple of various faiths; and promoting diver sity and health equity at a facility.

Services included in the end of life and palliative care category are assisting with advance care planning, delivering sup portive care for dying people and providing grief support for surviving loved ones.

Essentials in the education and care giver support category include offering educational opportunities to staff, attend ing to their well-being and ensuring an ethical culture.

Post-pandemic stress

Joining Bowman and Serban on the webinar were Denise Hess, CHA director of supportive care; and Julie Trocchio, CHA senior director of community benefit and continuing care.

Hess noted that there currently is a debate among palliative care profession als about whether, how and when to offer advance care planning, so that people’s

wishes can be carried out effectively. She said it is important that eldercare facilities ensure advance care planning and sup portive care of the dying are offered in a way that addresses the individual needs of residents.

Trocchio said that the pandemic has brought stress, loneliness and iso lation for residents of sup portive care and long-term care facilities, their families and staff. She said continu ing care facilities should be intentional about how they address the well-being of each of these groups. She added that assem bling interdisciplinary teams to develop essential services will force facility leaders out of silos so that they can come up with integrated, comprehensive ways to address people’s needs.

Trocchio urged webinar attendees to investigate Age-Friendly Health Systems approaches to care. Originally rolled out in hospitals, these whole-person care concepts are now being applied increas ingly in continuing care settings, she said. Launched in 2017 by the John A. Hartford Foundation, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the American Hospital Association and CHA, the age-friendly care model calls on providers to address with older adults what matters to the individual, medications, mentation and mobility.

Four levels

Bowman and Serban emphasized that it is not up to individual spiritual care staff

MEMBERS OF CONTINUING CARE SUBCOMMITTEE OF CHA’S SPIRITUAL CARE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

The Continuing Care Subcommittee members who developed “Essential Services of Spiritual Care in Continuing Care Settings” are:

Alan E. Bowman, vice president, mission integration, Trinity Health Continuing Care

Rev. J. Scott Cartwright, senior consultant, spiritual care, Benedictine David Franz, director of mission integration, west region, Ascension Living

Rev. Thomas Harshman, vice president, pastoral and spiritual care, CommonSpirit Health

Carrie Meyer McGrath, system director, formation design and delivery, CommonSpirit Health

Timothy G. Serban, system executive director of spiritual health — home and community care, Providence St. Joseph Health

Sr. Nancy Surma, OSF, vice president, mission integration, CHI Living Communities

members to try to provide the full menu of essential services alone. Instead, the vision is that continuing care facilities would have well-staffed spiritual care departments to provide the menu of services. And, those departments would work as part of interdis ciplinary teams to deliver the services.

Serban said continuing care facilities should assess how well their spiritual care departments are staffed to be able to offer the 15 services in a high-quality way.

The Continuing Care Subcommittee is coming up with ideas for how to assess spir itual care service delivery. Bowman said metrics to gauge appropriate spiritual care staffing for continuing care facilities will have to take into account the wide variety of continuing care facilities, their size, finan cial resources and the characteristics of the population.

CHA is holding a series of bimonthly dialogues on spiritual care topics. In the spring, one dialogue will be aimed at help ing ministry facilities use the essential ser vices document, hearing about the member impact of the document, sharing resources and getting feed back on next steps.

People can learn more about the essential services and/or provide feedback on the guide by contacting Jill Fisk, CHA direc tor of mission services, at jfisk@chausa.org. jminda@chausa.org

ESSENTIAL SERVICES OF SPIRITUAL CARE IN CONTINUING CARE SETTINGS

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Bowman Serban

Michael J. Prince, Trinity Health Senior Communities director of mission and pastoral care, shares the Eucharist with Marycrest resident Genevieve Ostrowski. Marycrest continuum of care campus is in Livo nia, Michigan, where its parent, Trinity Health, is headquartered.

Hess Trocchio

Fisk

Providence

From page 1

for clarity and brevity.

How did the sponsor council preserve the charisms of all of the congregations that founded ministries that are part of Providence St. Joseph?

It was very complex because we actu ally have multiple founding congregations — not just the Sisters of Providence and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange. Other con gregations — including the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary; the Dominican Sisters and the Sisters of Charity of Leaven worth — founded some of our ministries. So, when we came together, we recognized we’d have so many founding charisms. In 2016, leaders of the merged system gath ered thousands of caregivers to reflect on the mission, values, vision and promise of the ministry. Additionally on the local level, the ministries focus on the charism of the congregation that founded them.

What are some ways your sponsor council influences culture throughout the system?

The members of our Sponsors Coun cil take very seriously their ministry of presence. They have a strong desire to be involved in the local ministries. They go to the local ministries. They encourage Provi dence caregivers in carrying out the mis sion, vision and values. And they are present for missionings of executives and anniver saries and other events. They stay engaged through formation and mission leadership programs. Sponsors are assigned to our dif ferent regions, and they have been involved in significant discernment about how well each region is living out the mission, vision and values.

We’re really fortunate that our sponsors

are all very deeply dedicated and give their time to engage with the people in the local ministries.

How do the sponsors know the local ministries are staying true to Providence’s mission, vision and values?

One way is through assessments. We just completed a two-year mission fidelity assessment. We use CHA assessment tools that include both quantitative and qualita tive measures. We’re looking at what the Providence mission means to people. The resulting report goes to the sponsors. It’s a gigantic undertaking. It helps us under stand what is going well and where adjust ments are needed.

How do the local ministries maintain their connection with their founding congregations?

We want our ministries to honor the tra ditions and heritage of their foundresses. We encourage celebrations on the local level. We have a legacy and heritage coun cil that focuses on sharing best practices for preserving the legacies locally. The council is made up of Providence mission leaders dedicated to understanding the found ing congregations and finding ways to work with others to share their stories. For instance, on Nov. 11, our Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, Cali fornia, will celebrate their founders, the Sis ters of Charity. We want the ministries’ local culture to flourish.

What are some of the challenges you face as you’re carrying out this work?

A big challenge is scale. We have 120,000 caregivers. How do you remain engaged with people on a personal and local level and still make sure you’re being effective on the system level, when you have so many caregivers? We want to help our caregivers continue to believe they are valued individ

uals and make that connection.

Another challenge is as our system con tinues to grow and create new revenue streams, some of those revenue streams will be with other-than-Catholic organizations. In those cases, what is the role of the spon sor council and how do we approach those relationships when it comes to this culture work?

What are the opportunities around this sponsor work?

One of the big opportunities is to really help people understand they’re an expres sion of God’s healing love and to frame in a positive way their relationship with the church. There has been a lot of negative cov erage of Catholics in the media lately and there is a real opportunity for the sponsors to represent the church in a new way and model to lay leadership at the system level and with the church a different perspective. They can demonstrate to the laity that they can be both effective and faith filled.

What are some of the benefits you’ve found with the sponsor council model?

A challenge for some of the systems that have merged and used the public juridic person structure is that those juridic per

son bodies can be short-lived if their min istry ends up merging with another sys tem, and then sometimes those PJPs are suppressed.

The issue of suppression of PJPs goes back to questions around how the charism — or gift of the spirit — of the original founders/foundresses would be sus tained. There are those who suggest that the charisms would continue to be lived out locally and find expression there. But as PJPs become larger, how will they ensure that there is a focus on this important dimension?

With our model, there is a great oppor tunity for flourishing. We can bring new sponsors into the existing structure and still preserve our mission.

What is ahead for your sponsor body?

We’ll be working to ensure rigorous for mation — and we’re already quite involved in this. We’re now focusing on the executive level. That’s where the investment goes, and it does really affect culture. We want to have a deeper focus on young leaders, we want to focus on the joy of the work.

Also, sponsors should ensure care of the poor is at the very front of a system’s pri orities. We need to ensure when decisions are made that the poor and vulnerable are considered. Our sponsors are continually asking about the impact of decisions on the poor and vulnerable. And I believe we need a much stronger engagement in wholeperson care in which we focus on the inher ent dignity of a person and not just treat ill ness. We look at the spiritual needs. These are places we’re focusing on in the coming years.

Visit chausa.org/chworld to read Providence’s mission, values, vision and promise.

jminda@chausa.org

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

6:30pm Reception

Dinner and Awards Presentation Embassy of Italy 3000 Whitehaven St., NW l Washington, DC

For more information and to register go to www.soar-usa.org/DCGala

All proceeds from this event will support the care of aging Catholic Sisters, Brothers and Priests.

Norvell V. “Van” Coots, M.D. President/CEO Holy Cross Health

Irma Becerra, Ph.D. President Marymount University

Michael F. Curtin, Jr. CEO DC Central Kitchen

One of the big opportunities is to really help people understand they’re an expression of God’s healing love and to frame in a positive way their relationship with the church.

— Dougal Hewitt

FROM GRAND

TO HUMBLE

Chapels offer contemplative spaces for transcendence

By LISA EISENHAUER

The end result of a chapel design process can be as grand as the curving, metallic finish brick wonder that extends from Trinity Health Livonia Hospital in Michigan or as humble as the holy space carved out from a section of the activity room on the first floor of the Penacook Place skilled nursing and rehabilitative care center in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

People who have been part of the process of creating a sacred place at a Catholic health facility say that while having a dedicated place for reflection, prayer and religious services is paramount, other factors such as history, loca tion and resources also figure into the mix.

Fr. Gilbert Sunghera, SJ, says a sacred space “needs to transport you to another realm, that’s the sense of the transcendent.”

Fr. Sunghera directs the Litur gical Space Consulting Service, a nonprofit firm based at the Uni versity of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture, where he is also an associate professor. He has been a consultant on the design of many sacred spaces, including the Trin ity Health Livonia hospital chapel.

‘Beacon of spirituality’

Trinity Health Livonia Presi dent David Spivey says the cha pel wasn’t included in extensive upgrades at the hospital in 20132014. “It became a bit of a mission of mine to renovate the chapel and bring it up to par with the rest of the hospital as the centerpiece of our sacred space,” Spivey says.

Spivey says the design of the chapel pays tribute to the spiri tuality of the Felician Sisters who opened the hospital in 1959.

Trinity Health Livonia hospital

Livonia, Michigan

Architect: PLY+ of Ann Arbor, Michigan

Consecrated September 2019

Metallic coating makes the exterior brick facade glisten. The curvilinear design with patterned textures required the masons to set the bricks so precisely that they kept iPads on hand with computer-generated models to ensure they got the angles correct.

A dichroic glass window in the nook that houses the tabernacle diffuses sunlight into a rainbow of colors at certain times of the day and often draws visitors to see the light show.

An oversize wooden door that opens from the vestibule has spaced-out slats that allow visitors to see into the chapel where Mass is celebrated.

The ceiling has rows of metal planks that resemble wood arranged in a geometrical pattern meant to create a visual connection to the tabernacle.

Working closely with a hospital design committee, the architec tural firm PLY+ created a wing that Spivey says juts like “a beacon of spirituality” from under the mas

sive lighted cross on the hospital’s facade.

The $2.5 million project was funded solely by donors. Spivey credits Sr. Mary Modesta Piwowar,

CHI Health Immanuel

Omaha, Nebraska

Architect: Holland Basham Architects of Omaha Consecrated May 2022

The chapel’s centerpiece is a stained-glass wall with vivid colors that darken from a sun rising behind three crosses on one side to a night sky above a color ful landscape on the other. The artist found inspiration for the glasswork in scripture and nature.

A healing garden is planned outside the chapel.

The light colors in the chapel, including white walls and the use of blond wood in the altar and pulpit, are meant to convey a sense of purity.

a Felician sister and former long time hospital chief executive at Trinity Health Livonia, with ral lying financial supporters to the cause.

“When she picked up the phone and asked people for a contribution, she brought a lot of gravitas to the task,” he says.

Since the 2,600-square-foot chapel opened in 2018, it has won many architectural honors. An award note from the Ameri can Institute of Architects Detroit Chapter in 2019 cited the chapel for “creating an atmosphere of poetry.”

Among the special features of the chapel are a separate, unadorned “seeker space” meant especially for those with no spiri tual traditions to use for reflection and another room in the vestibule for Muslim prayer. Spivey says Livonia has a high concentra tion of Muslims and the hospital wanted to ensure that they felt welcomed in the sacred space.

Honoring faiths

The new chapel that opened in May at CHI Health Immanuel hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, also was designed to be welcom ing to all patients, visitors and staff yet still acknowledge the hospital’s Catholic and Lutheran

heritage, says Kathy Bertolini, CHI Health division vice president of philanthropy.

“We hope this beautiful space at the (main) entrance of our hos pital will be a beacon of hope to all who come to us for care and pro vide a clear message that this is a place of healing mind, body and spirit for people of all faiths,” Ber tolini says.

CHI Health, part of Common Spirit Health, assumed control of what was Immanuel Medical Cen ter in 2012. The Catholic medical center has been affiliated since its origins with the Lutheran Church.

At the chapel’s dedication, the Catholic and Lutheran history of the hospital were celebrated as Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha and Lutheran Bishop Brian D. Maas consecrated the worship space. One of the ways the hospital’s Lutheran tradition is reflected in the chapel is by a stained-glass window in the back with a Luther’s rose, a symbol of the faith.

A stained-glass wall is a bright focal point as is a lighted exterior cross. The chapel replaced one that Bertolini describes as small, dark and not conducive to larger prayer services.

The chapel was funded with $1.5 million in donations.

An oversize wooden door opens from the vestibule to the chapel at Trinity Health Livonia hospital in Michigan.

Jason Keen/Courtesy of PLY+

Jason Keen/Courtesy of PLY+

A stained glass window creates a colorful and reverent backdrop for services in the chapel at CHI Health

CHI Health Immanuel’s chapel juts from the hospital near the main entrance.

The design of the chapel at Trinity Health Livonia hospital draws focus toward the tabernacle and altar.

The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio

San Antonio Architect: EYP of Albany, New York, and Overland Partners of San Antonio Consecrated 2016

Three stained-glass windows in the chapel were repurposed from another chapel that stood at the hospital before the series of renovations that accompa nied the hospital’s transformation into a specialty facility for children. One of the windows depicts St. Rose of Lima, patroness of the hospital’s parent, CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health System; another shows St. Anne with Mary as a child; and the third portrays a guardian angel.

A newer stained-glass work of the Holy Family was crafted by Adrian Cavallini Jr., the son of the artist who designed the three others.

Sean Lansing, mission leader for Mount Carmel Health System, says in its austere elegance, the chapel reflects the preferences of the hospital’s founding congrega tion, the Sisters of the Holy Cross, for minimal ornamentation. Its exterior is a light stone and its high interior walls are white except for light wood panels around the sanctuary.

The chapel stands out from the modern steel-and-glass hospital it references, Lansing says. “You walk into this space and it’s sim ple, it’s warm,” he explains. “You definitely feel a shift in space and that was the intention.”

‘Heart of our hospital’

At The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio, the chapel has a dis tinct footprint in the lobby. The round white structure stands two stories high and is topped with a lighted halo.

Maggie Jones is director of spiritual care for CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health System, the hospi tal's parent system and part of CHRISTUS Health. She says the design and location of the chapel reflect the intent of its planners to show that spirituality is central to the care of sick children.

“It’s the heart of our hospital, in terms of the building or the features here, and it’s very much loved by visitors and associates,” Jones says. “In terms of the shape, some people think it looks like an egg from the outside. In my mind it looks like a heart.”

The handmade altar, taberna cle and lectern in the chapel came from a smaller, less visible chapel that was deconsecrated when this one opened in 2016, Jones says. The furnishings and fixtures are small, in keeping with a hospi tal for children. “We have small chairs in the chapel for children, as well as adult chairs,” Jones says. “We want it to feel childlike and child friendly.”

Gathered in his name

Penacook Place, a skilled nurs ing and rehabilitative care cen ter in Haverhill, Massachusetts, didn’t have a dedicated sacred space when it became part of Cov enant Health in 2017. Masses were celebrated in the dining room.

The space for the 310-squarefoot chapel was carved from what had been an activity area on the ground floor of the three-story facility. It is an open area that can accommodate the walkers and wheelchairs needed by many of the facility’s 140-some residents. It has room for about 12 people at a time but a glass partition opens to expand the seating capacity.

Mount Carmel Grove City

Grove City, Ohio

Consecrated spring 2019

Architect: Gresham Smith of Nashville, Tennessee

Light-colored wood planks on the floor and on panels on parts of two walls and white walls are all in keeping with a quiet and simple décor.

The vertical stained-glass windows are in the colors of the liturgical year.

A row of stained-glass windows near the top of the chapel casts colored light on the crucifix at certain times of the day.

Cross connection

A cross made of transpar ent glass graces the exterior and the interior of the chapel at Mount Carmel Grove City near Columbus, Ohio. Built into the wall behind the altar, the illumi

nated cross is almost as tall as the 2.5-story-high chapel.

The chapel was part of the original plan for the hospital, a $361 million Trinity Health facil ity that opened in spring 2019 and replaced a nearby hospital.

Penacook Place

Haverhill, Massachusetts Consecrated May 2021

Architect: Fishbrook Design Studio of Haverhill

While the chapel can comfortably fit about 12 residents, there’s a glass parti tion between the chapel and the activity area next door that allows for easy expansion.

Wooden Stations of the Cross that originally hung in a chapel in a local mall are so intricately carved that a blind resident liked to trace them with her fingers.

The space was completed just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic but not officially opened for more than a year because of infection prevention protocols.

It was funded in part with a grant from the George C. Wadleigh Foundation, which provides financial assistance to nonprofit organizations that serve the aged indigent and the indigent of Haverhill.

Even if the chapel is modest in comparison to those of some other Catholic facilities, Judy Riopelle, director of mission integration, says some prospective residents and their families are pleased there is a sacred space available for religious services and reflection.

Riopelle says Penacook Place staff retreat to the chapel to reflect and collect their thoughts. She saw many colleagues duck in before or after their shifts during the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To be able to have that space in a busy, hectic sometimes very noisy environment, to have that haven, that sense of peace and quiet, that has been very well received by everybody,” Riopelle says.

leisenhauer@chausa.org

Rebecca Gratz/Courtesy of CHI Health Immanuel

chapel at CHI Health Immanuel hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. The space was designed to reflect the hospital’s Catholic and Lutheran heritage.

Light filtered through a high row of windows dances across a wall in the chapel at Mount Carmel Grove City hospital in Grove City, Ohio.

The chapel addition is located to the left of the main entrance of Mount Carmel Grove City hospital. Its design stands out against the sleek glass and steel facade.

A window opens into the chapel on the first floor of Penacook Place in Haverhill, Massachusetts.

The round chapel with its lighted halo is a focal point of the lobby of The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio.

Aiding recovery of high-risk patients

From page 1

Ohio Valley — and we are collaborating with the largest provider of charitable and social work in West Virginia. Along with the diocese (which sponsors WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital), we’re all right here in Wheeling, serving the same people.”

Sara Lindsay, chief pro gram officer of Catholic Charities West Virginia, said the Hospital Transition Program was conceived as a backstop for patients with specific vulner abilities and a higher likelihood of hospital readmission. “We want to be a safety net to catch those individuals where the hospital systems simply do not have the capacity to do so. In that way, our goal is to be of service to our fellow service providers as well as the clients themselves.

“It is a wonderful opportunity for us to show what we can accomplish together. Our intent is never to compete with or replace existing hospital services” includ ing support provided by hospital social workers, care managers and others, Lind say said. Before the program launched, Catholic Charities West Virginia through its Wheeling Neighborhood Center was already providing services for patients who had been discharged recently from Wheel ing Hospital.

“We share in the collective care of these folks whether we coordinate and work together or not. So, it makes sense all around for a project like this to streamline service provision for the care providers, while alleviating undue suffering of those patients,” explained Lindsay.

Better together

The Hospital Transition Program is funded by a two-year grant for $333,333 from Catholic Charities USA. Catholic Charities West Virginia competed against other Catholic Charities agencies of similar size in the U.S. and won a one-third share of a $1 million grant.

Launched in December 2020, the Hos pital Transition Program focuses on basic chronic disease management, home safety, support networks and food security and nutrition.

Lindsay said Catholic Charities West Virginia is committed to the Hospital Tran sition Program and has expanded it to St. Mary’s Medical Center and Cabell Hun tington Hospital, both in Huntington, West Virginia. Catholic Charities West Virginia received private donations for the expan sion to Huntington and continues to apply for grant funding to underwrite the overall program.

Not to worry

Sr. Jennifer Berridge, CSJ, a case man ager at Catholic Charities West Virginia who is the agency’s boots-on-the-ground in the transition program, said, “Our mis sion is to serve the most vulnerable, and the collaboration with the hospital is really important. So far, we have helped about 100 individuals.”

Sr. Berridge recalled working with a woman in her late 40s whose chronic health problem had resulted in a 90-day hospi talization. “Last fall, when I went to her room, she told me she was worried about how to pay her (household) bills and man age things after being discharged,” Sr. Ber ridge said. “I told her not to worry. I secured emergency assistance funds, got the bills and paid them, and I also arranged for some basic groceries. She’s home now, and doing well.”

Another patient, a homeless individ ual, had refused to move to a shelter when he was discharged after heart surgery. Sr. Berridge got a call saying the man, who required supplemental oxygen, was living in his car. She secured an apartment for

people with disabilities, paid the security deposit and two months’ rent and nailed down sources for furniture and food before approaching the man, who accepted her offer of a safe place where he could recu perate. “These are the kind of patients who keep me up at night,” she said.

Someone to talk to

Her schedule on any given day may include such tasks as arranging delivery of a hot meal to a discharged patient or writ ing a letter affirming that an individual is homeless and stating that he or she needs services. A network of housing agencies can then provide rentals for people who qualify by income or disability status.

Sr. Berridge said, “I know I’m doing what I can for those most in need, and any of my success stories are really about those moments where I could help someone.”

Some people just need to talk, and Sr. Berridge makes time for that. Ensuring a person has adequate social supports is an important piece of the Hospital Transition Program. For longer-term support, Catholic Charities West Virginia can connect indi viduals to its regular services.

Deacon Lim, who is spreading the word about the support available through the program for patients in economic need, counts himself as Sr. Berridge’s biggest fan.

“The hospital can take care of health issues and everyone admitted is screened for social determinants, but so often we concentrate on medical necessity, whether a person needs a prescription, an X-ray, a treatment or a visiting nurse after discharge. Sr. Jen goes into patients’ homes, or at least to their front porches, and sees what else people need — and Catholic Charities has an array of services to help people.”

For example, after Sr. Berridge reported a patient was having trouble getting out of a chair, the Hospital Transition Program was able to provide a power-lift chair.

Impoverished state

The Wheeling program is loosely mod eled after a hospital transition support pro gram the Archdiocese of Chicago started with Medicare funds made available through the Affordable Care Act.

Access to health care in West Virginia, Deacon Lim noted, is quite different than in Chicago. The population of West Virginia is very spread out, and it’s often hard for people to get to where they need to go for assistance.

In 2021, West Virginia was among the top 10 poorest states, with a $48,850 median household income and a poverty

rate estimated at 15.8% by the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Poverty, of course, influences life expec tancy, and as of 2020 West Virginia had the second shortest life expectancy of any state in the U.S. — 72.8 years, according to the National Vital Statistics Reports. The average household income in Wheel ing is about $67,400, with a poverty rate of 13.84%. According to the Census Bureau, the national poverty rate in 2020 was lower, at 11.4%.

The University of Notre Dame’s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities assesses poverty interventions to identify and share effective programs. The lab will work with Catholic Charities West Virginia to evaluate the impact of the Hospital Tran sition Program.

Lindsay said the hope is the lab will be able to demonstrate community-level cost savings from the Hospital Transition Program through reductions in avoidable

hospital readmissions. “As long as the data supports it, our sustainability plan also includes potential hospital network con tributions for ongoing services, she said. Wheeling Hospital has already contributed to the project financially, as a pilot. This is how the Chicago project has sustained their program, as well.”

Deacon Lim has seen its benefits firsthand.

“Some people who come to our hospital are not seeking health care, but need access to resources for their basic needs,” Deacon Lim said. “Some have no jobs, no health insurance and no money. Since coming to Wheeling in June 2021, I’ve been really moved by the economic instability and the poverty here.

“We have a small food pantry that hos pital employees contribute to, and Sr. Jen determines when someone needs grocer ies,” he said. “When she comes into a room smiling and bearing necessities — well, that’s a positive outcome.”

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Upcoming

Deacon Lim

Honoring pandemic's victims and caregivers

PRESIDENTS AND CEOS

Mike Lutes to president of the Bon Secours — Richmond, Virginia, market, effective Oct. 10. He was senior vice presi dent and market president for the south market of the nonprofit Atrium Health. In that role he had oversight of five hospitals.

Catholic Health of Buffalo, New York, has made these changes: Marty Boryszak to president of Mercy Hospital of Buffalo. He will continue as Catholic Health senior vice president of acute care service. Boryszak replaces Eddie Bratko, who is taking on a new role leading projects connected with Catholic Health’s strategic plan.

Technology-enabled formation tools

From page 1

increased their output of materials after its onset. “We’re going through tough times — there’s a great amount of stress. We hope to offer people a perspective of faith and spirituality to fill the void created by all that stress.”

Fostering unity

CommonSpirit Health formed in 2019 through the combination of Catho lic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health. The division Santos works in covers CommonSpirit Health facilities in Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota and Minne sota — they all are branded “CHI Health.”

Since the CHI-Dignity merger, mission leaders throughout CommonSpirit have been working to foster cohesion, collabora tion and unity among the system’s 150,000plus employees and to guide them in for mation around the system’s mission, vision and values, says Ken Carlson. He is direc tor of mission and spiritual care at CHI St. Luke’s Health — Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston, a CommonSpirit facility in a different system division.

Santos says to bring about this sense of unity and to form employees in the CommonSpirit culture and spirituality requires mission leaders to connect in a meaningful way with the employees in their regions and to make formation activity rele vant to employees and their work.

The mission group took advantage of technology already in their toolbox, including video record ing capacity and broadcast messaging capabilities, to get the resources to the mission leaders and to the broader group of employees, says Colleen Leise, division director of pastoral care for CHI Health in Omaha, Nebraska.

Generating engagement

The main resources Santos develops with help from colleagues in the region’s mission and communications departments

include:

“From My Corner of the World,” a short letter on a mission-related topic intended to be timely and pertinent to employees.

“Spirituality at Work,” a monologuestyle video blog that Santos produces sev eral times a month. He relates aspects of CommonSpirit’s mission, vision and values directly to employees’ work.

A monthly interview with a division executive about how they live out their own spirituality in that work.

“Feeding the Spirit,” another video blog in which Santos explores formation and spirituality. Among subjects he’s cov ered from a faith perspective are caregiver fatigue and vaccine mandates. He’s blogged about Lent, Easter, Advent and Christmas.

Writing prayers, reflections and mes sages that connect to CommonSpirit’s mis sion, vision, values and the charisms the system prioritizes.

The content is pushed out to senior- and mid-level managers at each CHI Health facility. Those leaders are encouraged to share them at team huddles, by email, in executive meetings and in other forums. The mission content is accessible on the employee intranet and on an app that is available on employees’ smartphones or other devices.

Says Fr. Kent Alan Beau soleil, director of mission at CHI Health in Omaha: “We try to bring these resources to life,” encouraging lead ers throughout the divi sion’s facilities to get the resources to employees “though small group discussion and sharing. We want to foster community among employees and build morale.”

The heartbeat

“Employees love talking about spiritual ity,” says Santos.

Santos says since the mission team has been circulating the formation and spiritu ality resources, CommonSpirit employee satisfaction surveys have shown more Mid west division staff saying they find mean ing in their work. He believes the forma tion work his mission leader team has been doing — including through the resources they’ve been creating and circulating — has

contributed to this change.

“If we have engaged employees, then we have greater patient experiences, and then we have a market differentiator that leads to growth,” Santos says.

Fr. Beausoleil adds that maintaining a focus on the mission “keeps people in tune with the heartbeat of our organization.” It’s been gratifying for the mission integration team to help people tap into their excite ment for being part of that mission.

Cutting edge

Dennis Gonzales, CHA senior director of mission innovation and integration, lauds the CHI Health efforts to “use every avenue possible to reach every staff member” with mission-related resources.

Jill Fisk, CHA director of mission ser vices, adds that mission leaders are “mean ing makers,” who can help ministry staff bridge the gap between their personal and professional purpose. She says that the CHI Health mission leaders are doing this through the “timely, relevant and practical content.”

She says that tapping middle managers outside the mission department to be mis sion champions as CHI Health is doing is a smart strategy.

Gonzales says the mission team’s work is “really on the cutting edge of what all ministries and mission leaders are trying to accomplish in an increasingly virtual world.” He says with growing numbers of people working remotely, mission lead ers are searching for ways to reach and inspire staff and the template used by the CommonSpirit Midwest division “is com pletely replicable and absolutely essential.”

Resilience

Leise notes that many employees at CHI Health work in high-stress jobs and the stress amped up during the pandemic. She says the resources that she and her col leagues are developing aid with resiliency and provide staff a spiritual outlet for han dling the stress.

“When we are extra stressed it’s even more critical to attend to our spirit.” She says the spirituality resources her team is generating are helping staff to do this.

Scott Bruce is retiring as president and chief executive of St. Mary’s Healthcare of Amsterdam, New York, effective later this year. He has worked at St. Mary’s for over 25 years. St. Mary’s and its board of directors are conducting a national search for the next president and chief executive.

Providence St. Joseph Health has made these changes: Darian Harris to chief execu tive for Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, California, and Providence Redwood Memorial Hospital, in Fortuna, California. He was chief executive for Healdsburg and Petaluma Valley hospitals in Sonoma County. Karl Keeler to chief executive of Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center and its Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center in Burbank, California. Keeler was president of MercyOne in Iowa.

Centura Health, which is affiliated with CommonSpirit Health, has made these changes: Twilla Lee to chief executive of three Centura Health Kansas hospitals: St. Catherine Hospital — Garden City, St. Cath erine Hospital — Dodge City, and Bob Wilson Memorial Hospital in Ulysses. Lee was chief executive of Lutheran Downtown Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Patrick Sharp to chief executive of Penrose Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and St. Francis Hospital–Interquest. The facilities are in Colorado Springs, Colo rado. The change is effective Oct. 3. Sharp was chief executive of Mercy Hospital in Durango, Colorado, another Centura facility.

Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, has made these changes: Dr. Michael Magro to president and Dr. Edward O’Dell to chief medical officer of St. Mary Medical Center of Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Magro and O’Dell retain the same roles at Nazareth Hospital in Philadelphia, which also is part of Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic.

ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES

PeaceHealth of Vancouver, Washington, has made these changes: Michelle James to senior vice president for patient care services and chief nursing officer, and Anne Rasmussen to system vice president and chief development officer.

ANNIVERSARIES

St. Joseph Healthcare, Bangor, Maine, part of Covenant Health, 75 years.

Mercy Health — St. Elizabeth Board man Hospital, Boardman, Ohio, part of Bon Secours Mercy Health, 15 years.

Our Lady of the Lake Health Livings ton in Walker, Louisiana, part of Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, 10 years.

Bruce Magro James Keeler

O'Dell Rasmussen

Bishop David J. Bonnar of the Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, blesses the COVID-19 memorial at Mercy Health — St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital at its dedication Sept. 8. In addition to the bronze sculpture designed by Timothy Schmalz, the memorial includes a time capsule to be opened in 2120 — 100 years from the start of the pandemic. It also has a plaque that pays tribute to those who cared for COVID’s victims, another that honors those who died from or were affected by the virus, and a third meant to serve as a historical marker. “For more than two years, we have used words such as unprecedented and crises to describe what we have endured, so it is only fitting that we always remember this time and those who perished due to this virus,” Dr. John Luellen, president of Mercy Health — Youngstown, said at the dedication. Mercy Health — Youngstown is part of Bon Secours Mercy Health.

Leise

Fr. Beausoleil

HSHS Illinois hospitals offer ‘warm handoff’ to treatment for substance dependence

By LISA EISENHAUER

Hospital Sisters Health System this year expanded to all of its nine hospitals in Illinois a federally funded and stateadministered program to ease the path to treatment and potential recovery for patients who show signs of substance use disorder. The program supports “warm handoffs,” meaning a patient may go straight from a hospital to an outpatient or inpatient addiction treatment program.

Kimberly Luz, director of community outreach for HSHS Illinois, said the pro gram got a trial run at HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon, Illinois, in 2019 but that effort was stalled by COVID-19. She said the revival and expansion of the pro gram was prompted by a spike in the num ber of patients who were presenting with serious substance use disor ders since the start of the pandemic.

“We just kind of looked at the numbers to see if this is something that we felt would benefit our communities and found overwhelmingly that, yes, there’s an increase of substance use,” Luz said.

Health care providers across the nation are trying to counter a rise in dangerous drug abuse and overdose deaths, particu larly involving opioids. The National Insti tute on Drug Abuse reports that research ers “have observed increases in substance use and drug overdoses in the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared a national emergency in March 2020.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in May that provisional data indicates 107,622 deaths in the United States last year were from drug overdoses, a jump of 52% from 70,630 in 2019. Of the 2021 total, 80,816 overdose deaths were linked to opioids. The Illinois Department of Public Health said fatal overdoses in that state climbed to 3,717 in 2021, up 33% from two years before. Of last year’s total, 3,013 deaths involved opioids.

Chasing a high

Luz recalled talking to a county sheriff who told her that, until recent years, indi viduals who misused substances had their personal go-to preference among drugs. Nowadays, the sheriff said, users who are chasing a high are willing to go with what ever drug is available.

Luz said that seems to match what HSHS providers have noticed, especially amid the spread of cheap synthetic opioids which are being added to street drugs to increase intoxication. “We’re seeing that if some one is using meth or cocaine or even mari juana, more and more, it’s being laced with fentanyl and with other synthetic opioids, because then it guarantees a customer is going to (become) addicted and come back more and more,” she noted.

The program HSHS is using to rapidly connect patients to drug treatment is over seen by the Illinois Department of Human Services. It is funded through grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

HSHS’ program is a partnership with the Gateway Foundation, a nonprofit provider of substance use disorder treatment across the country that has its largest presence in Illinois. Gateway staffs a warm handoff program at 26 hospitals across the state. Other Catholic ministries that Gateway works with include Saint Anthony Hospital and the three hospitals within the Loyola Medicine system, which is part of Trinity Health; all four hospitals are in Chicago or its suburbs.

Gateway is one of five agencies that contract with the state to facilitate warm

FATAL

handoffs to recovery services. The Illinois Department of Human Services said ser vice delivery by those agencies “must be consistent with the evidence-based Screen ing, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment, or SBIRT, model that has been the focus of multiple Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrationfunded cooperative agreements and discre tionary grants.” Under that model:

Screening quickly assesses the sever ity of substance use and identifies the appropriate level of treatment.

Brief intervention focuses on increas ing insight and awareness regarding sub stance use and motivation toward behav ioral change.

Referral to treatment provides those identified as needing more extensive treat ment with access to specialty care.

Luz said HSHS likes the team approach that Gateway uses in its program. Any time a patient who is getting care in an emergency department or who is admitted to one of the HSHS hospitals presents with a sub stance use disorder, HSHS workers notify a Gateway “engagement specialist” assigned to the hospital. That specialist is either a certified addiction treatment counselor or

a licensed clinical social worker. Once the patient is medically stable, the counselor meets with the patient for an intake screen ing and assessment. The screening and assessment can occur virtually, if necessary.

Assessment, hand-holding

Teresa Garate, Gateway’s senior vice president of strategic partnerships, explained that the counselors use moti vational interviewing techniques to help patients acknowledge their substance use disorder and the counselors encourage them to enter treatment for addiction.

Once a patient agrees to treatment, the counselor makes a referral to a recovery program based on services and programs covered by the patient’s insurance and the availability of immediate slots for patients. The referral could be to one of the 17 inpa tient or outpatient programs run by Gate way in Illinois or to a program run by other providers. Garate said the counselors work with uninsured patients to see if they qual ify to enroll in Medicaid.

Gateway also pairs patients with another staff member called a recovery coach. These are people who are in long-term recovery from substance use disorders. “That person is going to do the hand-holding and get the person from the hospital to their treatment facility,” Garate said.

can assist with job placement, housing and other social supports.

The recovery coaches are especially good at helping patients overcome the shame that sometimes surrounds seeking out mental health or substance use disor der care, Garate said. “They talk about, ‘I had this disease and it’s a chronic disease, and now I’m living long-term recovery,’ and that there should be no stigma around this issue,” she said.

Cautious optimism

While the warm handoff program ini tially focused on patients whose disorders involve opioids, now any patient diagnosed with substance use disorder is offered assistance. Luz noted, for example, that just as for opioids, studies suggest that the use of alcohol and methamphetamines took a jump during the pandemic and that increase has been noticeable among HSHS patients.

Though the warm handoff collaboration between HSHS and Gateway currently is just for patients who seek care at an emer gency department or are admitted to a hos pital, Luz said HSHS is open to eventually having the counselors meet with patients with substance use disorders who are iden tified at primary care physicians’ offices.

In the fiscal year that ended July 1, inter ventions were offered to 120 patients at the hospitals and about 40% agreed to a direct handoff to a recovery program. “That’s much higher than if we hand someone some information or give them a phone number to call on their own,” Luz said. “We are very pleased with the results that we’re seeing and with the expansion.”

Since Illinois began the warm handoff program in 2017 and through the end of March, the state said 8,150 persons were provided outreach services and 5,503 of them screened positive for opioid and other illegal substance use and expressed an interest in treatment; 3,253 of these patients completed a meeting with a counselor; and 2,572 showed up for the treatment intake.

— Kimberly Luz

The recovery coach’s support can include helping a patient entering a recov ery program secure safe, reliable child care and/or transportation. The coach encour ages the patient and connects the recover ing person to community programs that

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Luz said HSHS hopes to persuade more patients with substance use disorders to enter recovery programs. “It’s discourag ing sometimes to see the number of refus als” for the treatment, she said. “Those are the people that you hope the next time they come in, it’s not one of those fatal over doses, but maybe they’ll be more ready.”

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“We’re seeing that if someone is using meth or cocaine or even marijuana, more and more, it’s being laced with fentanyl and with other synthetic opioids, because then it guarantees a customer is going to (become) addicted and come back more and more.”