Executive changes

Honoring pandemic's victims and caregivers

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.

Technology-enabled formation tools

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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 Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health. The division Santos works in covers CommonSpirit Health facilities in Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota and Minnesota — they all are branded “CHI Health.”

Since the CHI-Dignity merger, mission leaders throughout CommonSpirit have been working to foster cohesion, collaboration and unity among the system’s 150,000plus employees and to guide them in formation around the system’s mission, vision and values, says Ken Carlson. He is director 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 relevant to employees and their work. The mission group took advantage of technology already in their toolbox, including video recording 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. 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 several 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 covered from a faith perspective are caregiver fatigue and vaccine mandates. He’s blogged about Lent, Easter, Advent and Christmas.

Writing prayers, reflections and messages that connect to CommonSpirit’s mission, 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 Beausoleil, director of mission at CHI Health in Omaha: “We try to bring these resources to life,” encouraging leaders throughout the division’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 spirituality,” says Santos.

Santos says since the mission team has been circulating the formation and spirituality resources, CommonSpirit employee satisfaction surveys have shown more Midwest division staff saying they find meaning in their work. He believes the formation work his mission leader team has been doing — including through the resources they’ve been creating and circulating — has

Leise Fr. Beausoleil

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 excitement 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 services, adds that mission leaders are “meaning 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 mission 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 leaders are searching for ways to reach and inspire staff and the template used by the CommonSpirit Midwest division “is completely 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 colleagues are developing aid with resiliency and provide staff a spiritual outlet for handling 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.

KEEPING UP

Bruce Keeler Magro

O'Dell James Rasmussen

PRESIDENTS AND CEOS

Mike Lutes to president of the Bon Secours — Richmond, Virginia, market, effective Oct. 10. He was senior vice president 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.

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 executive 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. Catherine 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, Colorado. 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.