Catholic health systems take on educational role as election nears
By LISA EISENHAUER
‘Not abandoned ... not alone’
In advance of this year’s general election, Trinity Health launched Civics 101: Care for the Common Good Challenge.
The eight-week challenge is virtual. Once a week until Oct. 28, staffers are invited to watch a threeto four-minute video focused on an aspect of civics, such as the rights and duties of voters. Each video ends with a QR code that links to a quiz viewers can take to rack up bragging rights points.
“Their goal is this champion status,” explains Tina Weatherwax-Grant, senior vice president, public policy and advocacy at Trinity Health. “We’re hoping it’s a Continued on 5
ADDRESSING THE MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS
Hochman reflects as he prepares to hand off top post at Providence
By JULIE MINDA
When Dr. Rod Hochman retires as Providence St. Joseph Health president and CEO at the end of this year, he will have worked 45 years in health care, with the last 17 at Providence or its affiliates. Providence Chief Operating Officer Erik Wexler will succeed him at the health system’s helm beginning Jan. 1.
On the cusp of his retirement, Hochman speaks with Catholic Health World about how his passion for medicine propelled his career, how he decided to transition to health care administration, how he’s been formed throughout his tenure in Catholic health care and what he hopes retirement will look like for him. His responses have been edited for length and clarity.
By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
ST. LOUIS — People experiencing a mental health crisis and seeking treatment here have a new resource to get help. SSM Health in August opened a behavioral health urgent care and long-acting injection clinic at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital.
The new urgent care, the first of its kind in the city, is expected to alleviate traffic in the Saint Louis University Hospital emergency room, where people often show up
By JULIE MINDA
When Deacon Ed Shoener’s daughter Katie made her first suicide attempt in 2005, his parish church “was the last place” he would have gone for help, he says. “The church didn’t know what to do,” he explains, when it came to supporting people with mental illness and their families.
He hopes the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers is changing that. The association offers parishes training, resources and connections to provide meaningful support to people who have mental illness. Any parish can access the association’s resources.
Deacon Shoener partnered in founding
What did you enjoy most about being a physician?
One of the most remarkable things about being a physician — and I was recently talking with a group of Sisters of Providence about this — is there’s a real similarity between becoming a sister and becoming a physician. Both take an oath for life, and we take it very seriously, and we take seriously the components that are service related — we care for everyone, no matter who they are.
The entrance to the behavioral health urgent care and long-acting injection clinic at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital is the emergency entrance to the former main building of the hospital. A new hospital opened next door in 2020.
Jerry Naunheim Jr.
Jerry Naunheim Jr./@CHA
Dr. Rod Hochman, president and CEO of Providence St. Joseph Health, at the 2022 Catholic Health Assembly in Indianapolis.
Esteban Quintana prepares materials on mental health awareness he distributes as part of his work with a mental health ministry at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in San Diego.
Blessing events
To ensure that partner agencies know how much CHRISTUS Health values them and their work, some of the system’s regions now hold blessing ceremonies to honor those agencies.
Burnout busters
Two SSM Health doctors are leading efforts that make use of technology tools sharpened by artificial intelligence and machine learning to help counter provider burnout.
Mercy Paralympians
A client of Mercy facilities won two of the 105 medals that the U.S. team claimed at the 2024 Paralympics and another client was on the rugby team that brought home a silver. Exploring Burnout Culture within Education and Its Impact on Clinical Co-Worker Well-being webinar
Deans of Catholic Colleges of Nursing Networking Call
Ethicists provide answers, raise questions about brain death and organ transplantation at CHA webinar
By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
How should advances in medicine change the Catholic approach to brain death and organ transplantation? When is someone considered dead? And how is that determination made?
Ethicists discussed these issues during a CHA-sponsored webinar, “Brain Death and Transplantation: Questions and Controversies,” on Sept. 4. The webinar kicked off the fourth series of Emerging Topics in Catholic Health Care Ethics.
Dr. Daniel Sulmasy, the Andre Hellegers professor of biomedical ethics and director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, started by stating the widely used definition of brain death.
“The way I put it is that the human organism has ceased to exist as a self-integrating whole,” he said. “That’s the point at which we ... say that this human being is dead.”
This standard for brain death was set in 1968, when a committee at Harvard Medical School recommended that neurological criteria in addition to cardiopulmonary criteria be used. Even if a person’s hypothalamus is functioning, they can still meet the neurologic criteria for death. The hypothalamus is the part of the brain that helps maintain the body’s homeostasis, or a stable state.
The role of the hypothalamus
The webinar moderator, Dr. Myles Sheehan, a Jesuit priest who is the director for the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University, brought up the case of Jahi McMath, a 13-year-old girl who was considered brain dead in 2013 after routine tonsil surgery. Her family fought a legal battle to keep her alive and the girl continued to grow. She died 4½ years later of complications.
“There was a time where I might have thought, wow, the family is not working with the medical team here,” said Dr. Allen Roberts II, a clinical ethicist and the associate medical director and physician executive director for inpatient operations at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington. “But, you know, I’ve come a long way since then. I really believe that family is worthy of celebration. They advo-
cated for her, and the case brought the whole issue of the hypothalamus, really, to the fore. And I think she is one of the reasons that this debate is alive and well.”
The three discussed different ways to test the function of the hypothalamus. “And this is a place where, I think, the current guidelines from 2023 and the American Academy of Neurology ... have simply dismissed the hypothalamus as a necessary entity to be assayed,” said Roberts. “I respectfully disagree with that. I think we should allow science to progress, and at such time we will have a closer proxy determination of hypothalamic function, and therefore a closer alignment with the definition of brain death, as we know.”
Fr. Sheehan said they were discussing the hypothalamus not because they argue that someone with a severe brain injury should have to remain on life support. “That’s a different decision,” he said. “What we are saying is we would not want to see this person become an organ donor, because they’re still alive. And that’s the problem that we perceive as coming up, necessitating more attention to the hypothalamus and the diagnosis of whole brain death.”
Procuring organs for donation
The three discussed procedures and ethics involved in preserving organs used for transplantation. Sulmasy explained that to avoid damage to the heart or lungs after blood flow has stopped, some surgeons involved in transplants in Europe and the United States declare patients dead by circulatory criteria. They then hook them up to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, which often restarts the heart, and clamp off the arteries to the brain so the patients don’t wake up. This causes brain death, he said, and invalidates the basis by which a doctor has declared death.
“Some folks had the clever idea to say this, but with all due respect to James Bond,
you only die twice,” he said.
Sulmasy said he understood that people want organs to be in good condition to help others, “but the good end does not justify the means. And to me, there are deeply troubling ethical issues with the means by which this is accomplished.”
Ethical issues also may arise with clamping blood flow to the brain and restoring circulation to the heart and lungs to preserve the organs, the speakers said.
One alternative, Sulmasy explained, is normothermic machine perfusion, sometimes called “heart in a box.” In this case, “instead of restarting circulation in the body and violating the declaration of death or causing brain death,” he said, a surgeon would remove the organ from the body and put it into a machine that perfuses it with oxygenated blood until it goes into a recipient’s body. Given the alternative of perfusing the organs while they are in the body, he said, “Why wouldn’t you choose the one that is not ethically controversial?” The procedure may cost more, he said, but it might make up the loss by increasing the number of organs donated.
‘Add another test’
Fr. Sheehan closed by asking the other ethicists their choice of three different positions on the current standards of brain death: it’s too problematic and it’s morally difficult to continue with the standards; current standards are appropriate; or brain death is a real entity, but further diagnostic clarification is needed.
Sulmasy said that for brain death, doctors need to be “more certain than we are,” to meet the criterion that the whole brain has ceased to function. “The simplest thing to do is to add another test for the hypothalamus, because we’re not testing for the hypothalamus right now,” he said.
Roberts pointed out that death by circulatory criteria is a discovered entity observable over time, and he thinks of death by neurologic criteria as an invented entity. “I do believe in answer number three, and that is that there does indeed exist something that we can refer to confidently, morally, with moral certitude ... that death by neurologic criteria can be diagnosed,” he said. vhahn@chausa.org
Dignity Health erecting $70 million regional cancer center in California
Dignity Health has started construction on a $70 million regional cancer center in Redding, California, that the system says will bring comprehensive cancer care to northern California, addressing critical gaps in services. The facility will be called the Sierra Pacific Regional Cancer Center. It is to open in 2026.
According to a release, the center will consolidate all cancer services and treatments into one location. This will stream-
line patient care by integrating various specialties and services, including medical oncology, radiation therapy, diagnostics and supportive services like nutrition assistance and social work.
The center will offer a continuum of cancer care. Among the offerings: chemotherapy, biotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy, genetic counseling, dietician counseling, access to clinical trials, cancer navigators, integrative therapy and support
groups.
Mercy Foundation North, the fundraising arm of Dignity’s Redding hospital, has raised over $10.5 million for the center. This includes $3 million from Sierra Pacific Industries, a lumber manufacturer based in Anderson, California.
Dignity Health has four hospitals in the North State region of California, including Mercy Medical Center Redding. Dignity Health is part of CommonSpirit Health.
Medicaid unwinds as predicted, with enrollment declines, more uninsured
By LISA EISENHAUER
A prediction that providers would begin to see more uninsured patients with the end of the pandemic-era continuous coverage requirement for Medicaid appears to be proving correct.
Researchers who are tracking the Medicaid unwinding report that millions of people have been dropped from the rolls, which they projected before the process began last year. Meanwhile, the leader of a Catholic health system says more uninsured patients are coming in for care.
Unwinding is the term used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to describe the process the agency gave states 14 months to complete to redetermine the eligibility of all Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollees. Both federal programs are administered by the states.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when enrollment for the two programs hit a record of 94 million, a federal provision gave states a boost in funding in return for locking in coverage. That provision lapsed on April 1, 2023, and states could immediately begin determining who was still eligible based on income and family size.
Tricia Brooks, a research professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center for Children and Families, is among those closely watching as states report their unwinding statistics. With the process nearly complete, tallies indicate that as of Aug. 1, the rolls had shrunk by about 25 million, or about 26%.
Brooks expects it to take another year before clear data is available so she and other researchers can tell how many of those who left the Medicaid and CHIP rolls moved to private insurance or to low-cost options in the health insurance marketplace set up under the Affordable Care Act. She’s certain, however, that some of those who were disenrolled fell through the cracks in the redetermination process and lost coverage despite remaining eligible.
shrinks
At the start of the unwinding on April 1, 2023, 94 million were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP. As of Aug. 23, 2024:
million redeterminations were still in process
25.1 million people had been disenrolled
Sources: Medicaid.gov, Kaiser Family Foundation
dural or administrative reason.”
The Kaiser Family Foundation notes on its website that’s tracking the unwinding: “High procedural disenrollment rates are concerning because many people who are disenrolled for these paperwork reasons may still be eligible for Medicaid coverage.”
CHA toolkit
In advance of the unwinding, CHA created a toolkit called Protect What’s Precious as part of its Medicaid Makes It Possible campaign. The resources in the toolkit can help guide patients through eligibility redeterminations. The free resources can be downloaded and rebranded or co-branded by CHA members.
Paulo Pontemayor, senior director of governmental relations at CHA, says that, even as the Medicaid unwinding nears its end, those resources remain relevant to help patients understand how they can regain eligibility or apply for other assistance.
“Some of these people are not going to be gaining other insurance,” Brooks says. “There’s no question that some are going to be uninsured.”
Trinity Health impact
The Congressional Budget Office estimated in June that the share of Americans without insurance reached an all-time low last year, at 7.2%. The nonpartisan office projects that by 2034 that rate will hit 8.9%, as policies put in place during the pandemic expire.
Mike Slubowski, president and CEO of Trinity Health, says his system already is seeing the effects of the unwinding and evidence that more people are ending up without any health insurance. Of the 30 million patients across Trinity Health’s 26-state footprint, the percentage who have no coverage has grown by about a third, to 2.2%, since the nation-
wide review of Medicaid eligibility started last year. That translates to about 220,000 more uninsured patients and an estimated revenue loss to Trinity Health of about $27 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30 from treating so many more patients who are uninsured rather than covered by Medicaid.
“We think that if we had not developed some of the educational partnerships we did and our active financial counseling, it would have likely been much higher in terms of the percent of uninsured.”
— Mike Slubowski
In preparation for the unwinding, Trinity Health took proactive steps to educate its providers and patients about the potential loss of Medicaid and CHIP eligibility. That effort included sending more than 200,000 letters to inform patients of redetermination rules, which varied from state to state, and training the system’s financial counselors to help patients who lost coverage explore other health insurance options.
“We think that if we had not developed some of the educational partnerships we did and our active financial counseling, it would have likely been much higher in terms of the percent of uninsured,” Slubowski says.
Renewal process varied
Brooks notes that some states made the redetermination process fairly simple, including by using ex parte renewals. In ex parte renewals, states look at financial data already on the record for families, such as from applications for federal food assistance programs, to determine Medicaid eligibility. Other states made the process much more challenging, such as by requiring enrollees to submit tax documents and other paperwork to confirm they meet eligibility requirements.
Federal data show that for May there were 6.2 million Medicaid or CHIP enrollees whose coverage was up for review. Of them, 67.7% were renewed and threefourths of the renewals were through an ex parte process. Of those who lost coverage, in 63.5% of cases the loss was “for a proce-
Pontemayor says CHA continues to advocate for policies that support and boost Medicaid, including by encouraging policymakers to approve continuous coverage rules. Such rules are already in place in most states for children enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP, ensuring that they have coverage for at least a year upon meeting eligibility requirements.
“We were grateful for Congress and the administration’s work to make continuous eligibility for children a reality, and now let’s work to make it so that adults can also have continuous eligibility,” Pontemayor says.
Coalition formed
Earlier this year, CHA joined 25 other organizations in the Connecting to Coverage Coalition. The coalition is focused on minimizing the disruptions from the unwinding and smoothing the transition to other forms of insurance for those moved off Medicaid rolls.
Executive Director Catherine Finley says the coalition is using its website as a clearinghouse of information for and from members about the impacts of the unwinding and potential responses. The organization also advocates for policies that make health insurance accessible. In addition, it is working to develop ties between coalition members and federal and state officials whose decisions affect insurance access.
“We really, as a coalition, want to see people get the insurance that they’re eligible for and that works for their families,” Finley says.
‘The right thing to do’
If the goal of the unwinding was to see that those who remained eligible for Medicaid kept their coverage and those who weren’t got connected to other forms of health insurance, Finley doesn’t think the process could be called successful. That’s because it’s apparent that many people who should have stayed on the rolls got removed, she says.
Nevertheless, Finley says there were some successes within the process, such as a greatly expanded use of ex parte renewals. A recommendation that CMS streamline the use of ex parte renewals is among many the coalition makes for improving the efficiency and accuracy of Medicaid and CHIP eligibility redeterminations in a policy paper it published in June.
Slubowski says getting patients coverage through Medicaid, private insurance or one of the federal marketplace plans is critical for health care providers, especially Catholic providers such as Trinity Health that turn no one away. “If we can get some form of coverage, we can still live out our mission of care for those living in poverty, which is the right thing to do,” he says.
leisenhauer@chausa.org
Brooks
Slubowski
Pontemayor
As part of the St. Joseph Health tradition, we use the term “sacred encounter,” and as a physician it is about that relationship between you, and the patient and the family, around something so intimate and important as health. (St. Joseph combined with Providence Health & Services to form Providence St. Joseph Health.)
I’ve always kidded my board that if they didn’t like what I was doing, I’d just hang up my shingle and go back to practicing medicine again. … The highest order is taking care of people.
What prompted you to transition into health care administration?
It’s not like I woke up one day and said, “I want to be an administrator.” When I was head of residency and associate dean at a Mayo Clinic affiliate near Syracuse, New York, I was invited onto the board. In that role, I learned the intricacies of health care finances, budgeting — I basically got five MBAs’ worth of knowledge of health care. I later moved along to leadership roles in health care in Cincinnati but continued to never refuse a role that was offered there. Slowly, I realized that my administrative responsibilities were becoming a burden to my partners and my patients, so I had to get out of active practice with patients.
What brought you to Catholic health care?
Midway in my career, I moved to Seattle, and (former Catholic Healthcare West CEO) Lloyd Dean asked me to be on the Catholic Healthcare West board, to bring clinical experience. CHW’s seven founding congregations were part of that board and those sisters gave me a thorough education on Catholic health care. I loved my time on that board, and those relationships cemented things for me.
Then, when I was leading Swedish Health Services, my friend and colleague (and former CEO of Providence Health & Services) John Koster and I began considering a merger, and it seemed natural for
Lend an ear: Take a listen to some of the podcasts with connections to Catholic health care
By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
When a new season of CHA’s Health Calls podcast started in September, it seemed like a good time to see what other podcasts Catholic health systems and groups affiliated with them are creating. There is no shortage. Some of the audio productions share narrative stories about remarkable cases. Some offer expert advice on medical conditions. Some provide a holistic take on wellness.
While podcasts endure online, this list sticks with a sampling of those that continue to produce episodes through 2024. For more links to podcasts, go to chausa. org/chw.
CHA Health Calls debuted its fifth season with a focus on technology and humanity. The first episode features Catholic Health Assembly keynote speaker, author and futurist Tom Koulopoulos.
SSM Health
The Glennon Factor, produced by SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s
(the secular health system) Swedish and Providence to join together. The people at Providence became very close friends of mine, and I needed those mentors in Catholic health care. At that time — 2012 — we were among the first to form a relationship between a Catholic and other-thanCatholic system.
It’s been great in Catholic health care to have bosses who are more concerned with caring for the health of communities than with the bottom line itself. Working with people who are more interested in the common good than just with hitting margin has been a fantastic transition, and it aligns with why I went into medicine.
What have these last several years of your leadership in health care been like? For all of us, it’s been COVID, COVID, COVID. This has been an existential crisis of a magnitude that we’ve never faced, and I think — and I’ve said this before — it was health care’s finest moment. I was chair of the American Hospital Association during the second year of the pandemic, and I saw — in health care, we didn’t know what we were up against, we had to figure it out quickly, and our doctors and caregivers on the front line, and all of health care did a fabulous job. And Catholic health care
Foundation, is “dedicated to unveiling the essence of SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital through heartfelt narratives”; focuses on interactions between staff, caregivers, patients, and the community; and delves into heavy topics without taking itself too seriously.
The January 2024 debut episode, “The Tumor Funeral,” focuses on a bone tumor in a teen’s arm, an osteosarcoma that the teen named Jeffrey, and the “funeral” she and her clinicians held at the end of her chemotherapy treatment.
Providence St. Joseph Health
Providence St. Joseph Health produces several podcasts that delve into a variety of topics. Talk With a Doc poses questions to Providence medical experts; Culture of Health explores meaningful and lasting solutions to health disparities; Work2BeWell features teens exploring mental health topics; and Heart Matters, a partnership with the Providence Heart Institute and Boston Scientific, focuses on aspects of heart health.
should be proud of how we dealt with the issues and what we did.
What’s struck you as the leader of a ministry system?
I kid people that as a Catholic health care CEO, you make three pilgrimages a year: one, to Wall Street to beg for money; one, to Washington, D.C., to advocate for what you need; and one, to the Vatican, which is a complex, bureaucratic institution that is 2,000 years old. You have to balance all three, and as a ministry CEO you have to drive it right down the middle, make it all work, and do the best for the patients and the community.
I’ve relied on my partnership with my chief mission officer. We need to ensure we’re true to who we are, and Providence is a values-driven organization. We take politics out of it, and that’s a great thing about being a faith-based organization.
Thankfully we have a document called the “Hopes and Aspirations” that the Sisters of Providence wrote when they transitioned their ministry to the sponsorship of the public juridic person. That document is a guidepost from those who built this system with their own hands. They get first dibs on the direction we go. I’m giving that document to Erik to keep on his desk as I’ve done.
Bon Secours Mercy Health
Called To Be Well, produced since February 2022, talks about the well-being of mind, body and spirit through meditations and interviews with Bon Secours Mercy Health professionals. Recent episodes cover the topics of connecting mental health and movement, the system’s recognition program and the importance of celebrating gratitude, and a review of current statistics on mental health.
Scripps Health
The San Diego Health Podcast is produced biweekly and taps health providers from Scripps Health on a variety of topics to help listeners “get well and stay healthy.” Recent episodes include discussions with doctors about laser treatments to rejuvenate skin, causes of back pain and how to determine if surgery is necessary, and heart issues during pregnancy. Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego and Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista are Catholic facilities.
Dignity Health
Hello Healthy Podcast, from Dignity Health, presents health-related discussions from experts at several system hospitals in California. Podcasts are searchable by topic, doctors, and keywords, and cover topics such as preventing pickleball injuries, a new pancreatic cancer screening program, and when it’s time to visit the obstetrics emergency department. Dignity Health is part of CommonSpirit Health.
St.
Joseph’s
Health
MedCast, produced by St. Joseph’s Health of Syracuse, New York, is also searchable by topic, doctor and keyword,
Looking back over 45 years in health care, how is the system worse, and how is it better?
Health disparities are not getting better and who gets access to care is not getting better. It’s frustrating that we have not been able to crack this nut on primary and preventive care in the U.S. I wish it was better.
But, scientifically, I cannot believe where we are. We have the blueprint for every individual person and disease, and we understand diseases better and we can amass the power of computing billions and billions of pieces of data about health — it almost takes your breath away. We can cure diseases we’ve never cured before, we develop vaccines in months. The science and technology are moving at light speed.
What are your plans for retirement?
I don’t believe in the word “retirement”! But, I will be CEO emeritus for a year supporting Erik. Once I am no longer CEO, as a private citizen, I will advocate more for the causes that are important to me, and I will be able to be louder and have more freedom of speech than as a health system CEO. I also will continue to chair (the health care data company) Truveta as well as continue to serve on the medical school and business school and GE HealthCare boards that I am on. My dad always talked about the need to give back. My wife and I have started a scholarship program for medical students to attend Boston University and one for Swedish doctors to get their MBA, and those are funded in perpetuity. We’re also starting a family foundation to give back to causes we believe in, such as ones promoting health equity and care access. I’m also looking forward to time with my four grandkids and with my wife of 46 years. I’ll be finding my own balance — my own center of gravity — between my faith, my wishes, my family and giving back.
What do you want to share with the ministry?
As a lot of people in transition discover, it’s all about the relationships. And these relationships with the people I work with and care about are precious. jminda@chausa.org
and episodes date back to 2018. Recent episodes include a discussion with an orthopedic surgeon about summer injuries and a talk with a general surgeon about da Vinci robotic surgery technology. St. Joseph’s Health is a member of Trinity Health.
Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System
The Doctor Will Hear You Now, produced since February 2023 by the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System, taps experts from its facilities in Louisiana and Mississippi to discuss topics like weight management and medication options, building a relationship with a primary care provider, and the system’s collaboration with Louisiana State University’s athletics program.
CommonSpirit Health
The EthicsLab podcast explores some of the more challenging issues in clinical ethics and features guests from around the country and world. Its most recent episode, produced in July, discusses how chaplaincy and spiritual care are essential components in health care.
Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic
Beyond the Stethoscope premiered its second season Sept. 12. Past episodes explore LGBTQ+ inequities in health care, when to visit the emergency room, Black maternal health week, and preventing exercise injuries. It’s hosted by Margie Zimmerman, Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic’s donor engagement and experience officer, and episodes can also be viewed on YouTube. vhahn@chausa.org
Dr. Rod Hochman, president and CEO of Providence St. Joseph Health, participates in a meeting at the system headquarters in Renton, Washington.
Election resources
From page 1
fun, interactive way for colleagues to get this refresher on the importance of civics.”
At SSM Health, the advocacy team has provided social workers and other frontline staff with guides on rules around voter registration and when and where voters can cast ballots. The information makes it easier for those workers to help patients exercise their right to vote.
Meanwhile, Providence St. Joseph Health has joined organizations supporting Proposition 35 in California. That initiative would make a tax on managed health care insurance plans permanent and require the revenue to be used for services provided through Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.
As the general election nears, these and other Catholic health systems nationwide are using their advocacy resources to take stances on specific issues and to educate staff on the duties of the electorate and to encourage voting. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is doing the same, creating election-related resources around a theme of “Faithful Citizenship.” The conference’s resources, as well as some of those created by Catholic health systems, are available to the public.
At the top of its resources page, the conference quotes Pope Francis: “We need to participate for the common good. Sometimes we hear: a good Catholic is not interested in politics. This is not true: good Catholics immerse themselves in politics by offering the best of themselves so that the leader can govern.”
While Catholic hospitals and systems are prohibited under the Internal Revenue Code from directly or indirectly participating or intervening in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office, as charitable organizations, they are permitted to conduct nonpartisan activities that educate the public and help them participate in the electoral process.
Democracy and Catholicism
Catholic health care executives in charge of advocacy say, like the pope and the bishops, they and other leaders of their systems see a clear connection between democratic civic engagement and Catholic teachings.
Ali Santore, who as part of her duties as executive vice president and chief administrative officer leads Providence’s gov-
ernment team, says the system’s “Vote for Health” campaign is an extension of its Catholic mission and the practices of its founding congregations.
“Providence, dating back to the Sisters of Providence and the Sisters of St. Joseph, has always been active in civic engagement and a deep advocate for the communities that we serve,” Santore notes. “So, in Vote for Health, we’re really extending that advocacy of our foundresses and letting people know that everyone is an advocate, that every voice and every vote has power.”
The Vote for Health website encourages users to take four key actions:
Register to vote and check out their status.
Learn more about how and where to vote in their state and about important deadlines.
Learn more about any health-related measures on their ballot and the issues that can shape the health of their communities.
Get out the vote and participate in their local election.
“A lot of times, what’s happening nationally is important, but there are even more local health care issues on the ballot that can be really impactful for not only health care reimbursement funding, but the social determinants of health,” Santore points out. “Things like food security, mental health, housing — all of those issues that are so important to Providence and our mission — many times find themselves on the ballot.”
In Montana, one of seven western states Providence serves, the system is closely watching an issue that is not on the ballot but will be affected by the outcome of state races. Montana’s Medicaid expansion program will expire next June unless lawmakers and the governor agree to extend it. The issue has become a hot topic in contests for state offices.
Providence is in support of the extension, which aligns with the system’s policy priority to protect the health care safety net. “It’s very important that our caregivers and the community in Montana understand that their vote is going to have a direct impact on Medicaid coverage in the state of Montana for that expansion population,” Santore says.
Civics lessons
Trinity Health’s system-wide educational efforts, such as the Civics 101
SHARE THE JOY
Catholic Health World invites you to extend a seasonal greeting to your employees and to colleagues in the Catholic health ministry. Visit chausa.org/Christmas for more details. Send an email to ads@chausa.org to reserve your ad space.
Include your organization’s Christmas message in the December issue of
challenge, are focused on familiarizing staffers with the system’s advocacy work and helping them see the connection between good citizenship and the tenets of Catholicism. “We recognize that our Catholic teachings instruct us to promote the common good, and so we have a proactive advocacy agenda at Trinity Health that does just that,” WeatherwaxGrant says.
Franciscan Sisters celebrate Wisconsin hospital’s 125th year
Emails with the latest Civics 101 challenge video show up weekly in the inboxes of thousands of Trinity Health staffers who volunteered to be “Take Action Advocates” and speak out in support of the system’s advocacy efforts. Even employees who aren’t Take Action Advocates get internal communications inviting them to take the Civics 101 challenge; they just aren’t getting direct emails.
Trinity Health’s election-related communications also share the web address of the system’s election center. That website provides links to information on elections, such as voting registration rules, deadlines and sample ballots, that can be personalized based on the voter’s home address. That website is open to the public.
Weatherwax-Grant says the idea for Civics 101 came from Mike Slubowski, Trinity Health’s president and CEO. She says he asked what the system could do to encourage staffers to remember and appreciate the value of civics. Conversations about how to achieve that started about 12 months ago, she says.
“And then we just thought, maybe six months ago, as we get in the thick of election season, people are going to be even more interested in this stuff, so how can we create really short, pithy, fun, interesting content that our colleagues can engage around? That was our objective,” Weatherwax-Grant recalls. “We hope we met it.”
Tools for staff
As Froedtert Holy Family Memorial Hospital marks its 125th anniversary, the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity are celebrating their continued involvement with the hospital they founded in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
The congregation is based in the same city along Lake Michigan about 80 miles north of Milwaukee. Its members still serve as the hospital’s sponsor and retain an ownership stake in the hospital.
Since 2021, Holy Family Memorial Hospital has been part of the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network. Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Sponsored Ministries oversees the Catholicity of the hospital along with that of five other facilities founded by the congregation in Wisconsin, Nebraska and Ohio.
The hospital created a video and booklet detailing its founding by the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity and its growth. Links to the video and booklet are at hfmhealth.org/125.
CommonSpirit subsidiary buys central Arizona hospital
Dignity Health, a subsidiary of CommonSpirit Health, has purchased a Mesa, Arizona, hospital from Medical Properties Trust.
The purchase, which closed in July, is of the 50-bed, nonprofit Arizona General Hospital in Mesa, in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area.
Medical Properties Trust had funded the construction of the hospital and a network of other facilities, which were built between 2015 and 2017. Adeptus Health originally operated them. In 2017, Adeptus filed for bankruptcy protection, and Dignity Health began leasing all the sites.
At SSM Health, Michael Richards, vice president of government affairs and public policy, says that the system isn’t advocating for or against any ballot initiatives in the four states it serves. The system is providing frontline staff with resources around how, where and when to vote.
SSM Health also is encouraging staff to go to the polls. The advocacy team sent to all leaders in the system detailed statespecific information on such topics as voting registration deadlines. The team also provided a document that addresses frequently asked election-related questions.
“This is no different than making sure people have the resources to be healthy,” Richards says. “You want them to also have the resources to be active in their community.”
SSM Health also plans another communication listing what’s on the ballots in each of the states but with no position.
Respectful reminders
Several systems are providing reflections that leaders can share at meetings and huddles to help center staffers while encouraging them to do their civic duty.
Given the intensity of the rhetoric around issues and races nationwide, advocacy and communications leaders say their systems are reminding staff to keep civil any discussions that touch on politics.
Victoria Wilson, a spokeswoman for PeaceHealth, says: “In alignment with our PeaceHealth values, we always encourage our caregivers to demonstrate compassion and understanding towards one another and be mindful of words and actions. We want to ensure all caregivers feel respected, safe and comfortable if and when sociopolitical conversations occur in the workplace.” leisenhauer@chausa.org
The Arizona General Hospital has not been operated as Catholic. That will continue to be the case now that Dignity Health owns the facility. The hospital does, however, adhere to a “Statement of Common Values,” according to Dignity Health.
In addition to the Mesa facility, Dignity Health operates seven hospitals and a network of outpatient sites in Arizona.
Webinar explores decision-making for long-term care residents
The ethical issues surrounding informed decision-making on medical care by or for residents of long-term care communities are complicated.
Becket Gremmels, system vice president of theology and ethics at CommonSpirit Health, delved into those issues during a webinar Sept. 26 hosted by CHA.
Gremmels discussed care providers’ fundamental moral duty of respecting residents’ wishes. “One of those elements of respecting them as a person means not forcing residents to have a treatment that they don't want,” he said.
He also covered the importance of determining whether residents have the capacity to make decisions about their own treatment. If patients lack capacity but have a designated surrogate, Gremmels noted, those surrogates are required ethically and legally to follow residents’ known wishes. If those wishes are unknown, surrogates are required to make decisions that align with the person’s values and beliefs.
Gremmels highlighted the collaborative approach of shared decision-making between residents, families and care providers as a means to avoid divisions.
WeatherwaxGrant Richards
Santore
Mental health resources
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the association in 2019, three years after his daughter took her own life at the age of 29.
Since the association’s launch, about 2,700 people have accessed its services and resources. About 50 or 60 dioceses across the U.S. are represented in the informal network, as well as dioceses from 40 to 50 other countries. Hundreds of parishes within those U.S. dioceses have developed mental health ministries with the association’s support.
Deacon Shoener’s dream is that someday every parish across the U.S. will offer a mental health ministry. He says, “Ours is a really new ministry, but a core part of our ministry is to have (people impacted by mental illness) reassured that they are loved by God, that they are not abandoned, that they are not alone. Ours is a ministry that is about accompanying people.”
Widespread mental illness
According to statistics from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 22.8% of U.S. adults experienced mental illness in 2021 and 16.5% of U.S. youth aged 6 to 17 experienced a mental health disorder in 2016. Yet, for both the adults and youth, only about half received treatment. Further, mental illness can be linked with suicide. NAMI says suicide is the second leading cause of death among people aged 10 to 14 and the third leading cause of death among those aged 15 to 24.
Even though mental illness is pervasive across the U.S., few parishes seemed to be prepared to address it effectively in the past, says Deacon Shoener, who lives in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Decades ago, when his daughter was struggling with bipolar disorder, there was a heavy stigma about mental illness — it often went undiscussed in and unaddressed by parishes. “When our daughter was diagnosed, we were worried — we didn’t want people to know, but we later learned many people were in the same situation,” Deacon Shoener says.
He adds that Catholic clergy do not always receive comprehensive training in mental health care. And, hospital chaplains are not required to receive extensive training in mental illness either, though efforts are underway to increase the training available to them. For instance, the University of San Diego has established the Catholic Institute for Mental Health Ministry that offers a behavioral health certificate for chaplains.
Fear, ignorance, hurtful attitudes
When his daughter died, Deacon Shoener wrote a profoundly personal and heartfelt obituary for the Scranton Times-Tribune that spoke to the damaging way that people talk about those with mental illness. In part he wrote that, “in the case of mental illness there is so much fear, ignorance and hurtful attitudes that the people who suffer from mental illness needlessly suffer further.” He decried how society derogatively labels people who are mentally ill and how it fails
to appropriately address mental illness.
“Please know that Katie was a sweet, wonderful person that loved life, the people around her — and Jesus Christ,” he wrote.
Hundreds of thousands of people reacted to the obituary online and many reached out directly to Deacon Shoener. Some of the people who contacted him shared that their parishes were trying in isolation to address mental health.
It was evident there was a need for a more intentional, interconnected church effort, says Deacon Shoener. He says with a laugh that the overwhelming response to the obituary “was God’s way to get this hard-headed guy from Scranton to do something.”
A hunger for this ministry
Conversations that followed the obituary posting led to Deacon Shoener connecting with Bishop John Dolan, who was the auxiliary bishop for the San Diego diocese at that time and has since become bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix. Bishop Dolan has a passion for aiding people who have mental illness — his family has lost three siblings and a brother-in-law to suicide. He had been implementing a mental health ministry in the San Diego diocese.
When they connected, Bishop Dolan and Deacon Shoener first focused on establishing the Catholic Institute for Mental Health Ministry at the Catholic University of San Diego. Launched in 2017, that institute develops mental health ministry training and education resources. After establishing the institute, Bishop Dolan and Deacon Shoener discussed the need for developing a broader, more comprehensive approach to ensure more dioceses and parishes had the resources to start their own ministries or to bolster the programs they already have.
The two men formed an advisory group of people with experience in mental health ministry. That group created the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers. Deacon Shoener is president of the association and heads a nine-member board that includes Bishop Dolan. The association has a four-member staff. It is funded by private donations.
The association has gathered concepts from existing parish programs and developed training curriculum and materials. Parishes that wish to start a mental health ministry are encouraged to designate a point person and assemble a team to support the work. Once a parish program is built, those heading the program recruit parishioners to complete the training. The goal is to have numerous parishioners aware of the importance of mental wellness, know how best to approach those who are in need and offer support, and then be able to accompany them. That could include praying with them, keeping the conversation going over time to provide companionship, and pointing them to mental health resources and providers. Parishioners are not expected to provide mental health counseling or therapy themselves.
Growing network
The association holds networking calls and conferences and soon will begin hosting regional meetings. Deacon Shoener says
Bishop conference’s campaign encourages parishes to mobilize around mental health
Recognizing the urgent need to address the mental health crisis in the U.S., the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is undertaking a National Catholic Mental Health Campaign.
Launched last year on World Mental Health Day — Oct. 10 — the campaign seeks to raise awareness about mental illness, remove its stigma, advocate for those who struggle to receive help, and inspire a national conversation around the topic of mental health.
To mobilize the Catholic Church to respond to the mental health crisis, the bishops’ conference provides resources at usccb.org/mentalhealth. This is an ongoing, year-round campaign.
On the website is an introductory video, a novena that people can pray for those impacted by mental illness, materials parishes can use to observe World Mental Health Day, and recordings of roundtables on mental health. Those roundtables were discussions among mental health experts, bishops and other Catholic ministry leaders.
As part of the campaign, the USCCB is encouraging parishes to promote the campaign and its goals, initiate the praying of the novena, and integrate mental health topics into homilies. The bishops suggest this activity be tied to World Mental Health Day. The bishops also encourage parishes to explore ways
the quick spread and uptake of the association’s programming indicates that “people are hungry for” this type of ministry.
Barbara Zahner is a founding member of the association and also helped start mental health ministries in her home diocese of San Jose, California. A board-certified chaplain with experience in hospitals and hospices as well as nonprofit leadership, she says there is a national epidemic of loneliness and well-documented mental health challenges. She says these parish ministries can help parishioners be Christlike to people experiencing mental distress.
She notes that she sees a natural connection between these parish programs and Catholic health facilities, and it would be good for them to work together. For instance, given that a hospital discharge can be scary for people with mental illness and for people
to start a mental health ministry in their community.
Church leaders who helped to launch the campaign are Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development; and Bishop Robert Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life, and Youth.
CHA Advocacy Director Clay O’Dell serves on an advisory board that helped to create the campaign. CHA prioritizes mental and behavioral health and advocates for mental health care to have parity with medical care access and coverage.
CHA notes on its website: “access to mental and behavioral health services is a serious issue currently facing the U.S. health care system. Even as the nation has taken great strides over the past several years to expand coverage and drastically reduce the number of uninsured, access to mental health services and substance use disorder treatments continues to lag behind.” CHA’s advocacy team is working to address this concern. Information on CHA’s work in this area is available at chausa.org/ mentalhealthservices.
— JULIE MINDA
who lack support at home, Zahner says hospitals could work with parish mental health ministries. The ministries could link hospital patients being discharged home to a parish with parishioners who have been trained through the association’s programs.
Paraphrasing the head of the Los Angeles-based Homeboy Industries, a nonprofit focused on gang intervention, Zahner says, “People long to be safe, seen and cherished.” jminda@chausa.org
Parishes tailor their mental health ministries to local needs
Hundreds of parishes across the U.S. have used resources from the Association of Catholic Mental Health Ministers to bolster their existing mental health ministries or to create new ones, and that roster of parishes is growing. Visit chausa.org/chw to read about five such ministries.
Veneranda Reyes, left, and Louise Conners take part in a mental health ministry program offered by the St. Francis of Assisi Parish in San Jose, California.
Deacon Shoener
Zahner
KEEPING UP
PRESIDENTS/CEOS
Organizations within CommonSpirit Health have made these changes:
Anthony Ashby to president of CHI Health Immanuel in Omaha, Nebraska, from interim president.
Kristen Blum to president of CHI Health Mercy — Council Bluffs in Iowa. Blum most recently led the virtual health services team of the facility.
Steven Foster to president and CEO of Mercy General Hospital in Sacramento, California. Most recently, Foster led St. Luke’s Health Sugar Land Hospital and Patients Medical Center in South Houston. Foster succeeds Dr. Tina Johnson, who was appointed Dignity Health Sacramento Market president earlier this year.
Hospital Sisters Health System and facilities within that system have made these changes:
Robert J. Erickson to HSHS Wisconsin Market president and CEO, with oversight of that market’s four hospitals. Since April, he had been president and CEO for HSHS St. Vincent Hospital and HSHS St. Mary’s
Mental health clinic
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experiencing a mental health crisis. Most patients can be stabilized and sent home, but inpatient and support services are available through the hospital if needed.
“As we all know, behavioral health crises don’t happen on a schedule. Our residents need a place to go immediately in their most vulnerable moments,” Dr. Matifadza “Mati” Hlatshwayo Davis, the city’s health director, said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The city’s Department of Health is one of the partners of the project.
The urgent care is located along a busy St. Louis artery, near public transportation. It is inside the old emergency room space of
the former main hospital building. The system built a new hospital next door, which opened in 2020.
Davis said the urgent care should help fill gaps in care created by the loss of behavioral health beds at another facility, South City Hospital, that closed in 2023.
“Citizens and their families will be able to walk into this location and get the behavioral health care and resources they desperately need when they need them,” she said.
The facility includes a long-acting injection clinic, the third SSM Health operates in the region. SSM Health opened a similar clinic at SSM Health DePaul Hospital — St. Louis in 2018 and behavioral health urgent care in 2020 on the same campus in the suburb of Bridgeton. It opened a long-acting injection clinic in the suburb of
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Hospital Medical Center in Green Bay, and now adds responsibility for two additional hospitals to that role. Erickson succeeds Brian Charlier, who retired.
John Wagner to HSHS Wisconsin Market chief operating officer, a new role for that market. He was president and CEO of the former HSHS Sacred Heart and St. Joseph’s hospitals in Western Wisconsin.
ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES
CommonSpirit Health and one of its facilities have made these changes:
Dr. Thomas McGinn to CommonSpirit Health senior executive vice president and chief physician executive officer, a new position at the system.
Dr. Vimal Mishra to chief medical officer of Dignity Health Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Sacramento.
Hospital Sisters Health System of Springfield, Illinois, and organizations within that system have made these changes:
Jeff Sterling to HSHS system vice president of managed care.
Anthony Powers to chief administrative officer of HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital in Effingham and HSHS Good Shepherd Hospital in Shelbyville, both of Illinois. CAO is a new role at HSHS.
Wentzville in 2020 that includes an intensive outpatient program for adolescents, adults and geriatric patients. A pilot longacting injection program elsewhere on the campus of Saint Louis University Hospital will be moved next to the urgent care.
The clinics treat those with behavioral health disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disease and substance abuse disorder. People can get an injection that works for a month or longer to treat those disorders instead of having to take daily medication. Consistency of the dosage and not having to remember to take the medication every day can decrease the risk of relapse or other complications.
“We are opening a behavioral health urgent care next door to the long-acting injectable clinic because we’ve seen the effectiveness of these two services combined,” Dr. Erick Messias, the system’s chief medical officer of the behavioral health division, said at the ribbon cutting.
Responding to growing needs
The long-acting injection clinic in Bridgeton gets about 400 visits a month, and the urgent care gets closer to 300. In St. Louis, SSM Health expects about 40 people to visit the clinic monthly and 184 people to visit the urgent care, with those numbers growing over time.
At the ribbon cutting, Dr. Alexander Garza, SSM Health’s chief community health officer, pointed out that more than 50 million Americans have experienced a behavioral health issue, but fewer than half of them have had access to behavioral health care. He said those who have behavioral health issues also suffer more medical issues. Their families and communities suffer as well, he said.
“SSM Health continues its 150-year tradition of responding to the needs of the communities we are so blessed to serve by investing in innovative care and delivering behavioral health urgent care and the longacting injectable clinic, but also by coming together with our community partners in a transformative way, by meeting people where they are and when they are in crisis,” he said.
In addition to the city health department, the urgent care and clinic will work with Places for People, a behavioral health organization. The organization will provide behavioral health assessments and other services, such as connections to transportation and housing.
“We are prepared to be able to support complex needs and help people achieve stability,” Barb Zawier, an executive at Places for People, said in a statement.
The urgent care and injection clinic were
Andrew Bowman to chief administrative officer at HSHS St. Nicholas Hospital in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
Colleen Koski to chief administrative officer at HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital in Oconto Falls, Wisconsin.
Isabelle Garibaldi to chief nursing officer of HSHS Wisconsin market.
Samuel J. Spencer to senior vice president of operations for Saint Francis Healthcare System of Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
GRANT
CHRISTUS Children’s Hospital in San Antonio has received a $1 million gift from the Melissa and John Kauth Foundation. The facility will use the funds to establish the CHRISTUS Children’s Comprehensive Clinic, which will provide care to children with autism, epilepsy, and other conditions in a one-stop location. Located in the MultiAssistance Center at Morgan’s Wonderland, the facility will house the division of pediatric neurology and neurosciences of CHRISTUS Children’s Hospital. Morgan’s Wonderland is a nonprofit theme park in San Antonio that bills itself as “the first theme park where everyone can play,” including people with disabilities. John Kauth cofounded Intercontinental Wealth Advisors.
mostly funded by donations raised through the philanthropic Mabee Foundation and donations secured by the SSM Health Foundation — St. Louis. At the ribbon cutting, the SSM Health Foundation presented a check for more than $3 million for the project.
The former emergency room was renovated to include 11 examination rooms, eight for the behavioral health urgent care and three for the long-acting injection clinic. The clinic will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, modeled after times when most people visit hospitals, said Matthew Mindrup, the director of outpatient behavioral health for SSM Health St. Louis.
The project extends beyond the behavioral health urgent care and the injectables clinic, he said. The partnership with the outside agencies will help ensure that patients follow up, make appointments, or even get a ride for a return visit.
“Historically, a lot of what we’ve done is once a patient leaves, it’s best of luck in hoping the patient will make it to their next follow-up appointment,” Mindrup said. “It’s transformative in that we’re going to be connected with these patients after discharge to ensure they have the resources needed to get to their next level of care.”
‘I’ve come a long way’
Justin Brasfield of St. Louis is one of the long-acting injectable clinic’s patients. Once a month, he gets a shot of paliperidone palmitate to help treat a schizoaffective and bipolar disorder. He has been on medication since 2012 but started getting the shot in 2014. He sought out the treatment after family members noticed mood swings and he noticed that his appetite and enthusiasm for daily activities had waned. He sometimes takes a daily pill to tide him over until his next injection. “Recently, what I’ve been doing has been helping big time,” he said.
While Brasfield has received the injectables elsewhere on the hospital campus, he’s happy that the services will be streamlined in the clinic and more accessible to others who may need them. People have told him he should be a patient advocate because he’s learned what questions to ask and who to go to for help.
He’s married, has a steady job, is active in church, and has a supportive family, he said. “Just to have the resources available to you, and to use those tools, that really helps out a whole lot,” he said. “I just told my grandmother today I’m proud of myself. I’ve come a long way.”
vhahn@chausa.org
Ashby Wagner Sterling Garibaldi
Blum McGinn
Bowman Spencer Erickson Mishra Koski Powers
PeaceHealth counteracts nursing shortage with excellence-focused training
By LORI ROSE
When Rosy Serna’s mother was diagnosed with diabetes, it inspired the thenteenager to look toward a future in health care.
“My parents are both immigrants from Mexico,” she said. “I’m the only one of five siblings who put themselves through college and pursued an education. I wanted to give back to my mom and help her live a better life.”
Today, Serna, 29, is a nurse in the surgical intensive care unit at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield, Oregon. She tends to cardiovascular, trauma and neurological patients. The work is rewarding, she says, but demanding, which is reflected in the challenges health systems face finding experienced nurses.
Serna, who started her career in health care by working in hospital housekeeping, said participating in PeaceHealth Oregon’s nurse residency program helped give her the tools to survive the first overwhelming year as a licensed nurse and follow her passion.
The PeaceHealth Oregon network, part of the larger Vancouver, Washington-based system that also serves Alaska and Washington state, established the nurse residency program in 2017. The program now is part of PeaceHealth Oregon’s Institute for Nursing Excellence, which launched in late 2022.
‘A reality shock’
The institute supports nurses in the day-to-day practice of caring for patients and in the long-range development of their careers. It focuses on evidence-based approaches from Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic and other well-known health care providers to develop excellence in nursing processes and nurture innovation.
The residency program is a means to recruit, train and retain new nurses through education, experience, mentorship and team building during their first year at PeaceHealth Oregon network hospitals, which include RiverBend, plus smaller facilities in Cottage Grove and Florence.
Many new graduates struggle with the transition from school to their first job working with real patients, said Nicole Gooding, the director of the institute.
“There’s a reality shock,” she said. “It causes people to question whether they made the right career choice, and holding the lives of other people in your hands is an awesome responsibility that can be overwhelming.”
Through the residency program, firstyear nurses are mentored and guided to make the transition easier so they can perform at their best. “Last year we retained 93% of new graduate nurses, where in literature it’s not uncommon for up to 50% loss,” Gooding said. “And you don’t just lose that person to your place of employment, often
“We want to engage our nurses in making meaningful improvements. Nurses are really creative human beings, and they can come up with some really brilliant ideas.”
— Nicole Gooding
they leave the practice entirely.”
A recent $1.5 million gift from The Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation is funding an endowment to help continue the program. The foundation was established in 1977 in Eugene, Oregon. Donald Barker was a prominent leader in the state’s timber industry, and the foundation has a legacy of giving in both Oregon and California.
Filling the pipeline
Closing the gap in the state’s nursing shortage is a complicated issue. According to the Oregon Center for Nursing, the state’s nursing workforce is severely stressed, with an estimated 29,000 openings for nursing jobs through 2032. In Oregon, PeaceHealth’s RiverBend serves a region including Lane County and communities along the coast and throughout southern Oregon.
Recruiting and retaining quality staff is one goal of the Institute for Nursing Excellence, but addressing the shortage of homegrown nurses is another. Because Oregon doesn’t produce enough nurses to meet demand, it ends up relying on licensed nurses migrating from outside of the state to practice.
To help boost the number of health care workers joining the workforce from within the state, the institute partners with numerous regional and nationally accredited nursing schools, including Lane Community College and Bushnell University, both
in Eugene. It provides mentorship opportunities so that students get hands-on experience, and it also works with local secondary schools to promote interest in health care as a career.
“We are really, really grateful for The Coeta and Donald Barker (Foundation) investment,” Gooding said. “It really does make a difference in our ability to take good care of our community. And the other thing that’s really cool about it is that when somebody chooses a career in the health care field, they’re generally choosing a wellpaying job, and so through these programs we can help lift families up.”
Nursing as an art and science
As a member of the first class of the residency program, Serna was impressed by the resources and networking opportunities she encountered and the support she was given to feel empowered to improve practices and procedures.
As part of the program, she worked on a self-directed project to increase safety in the handling of patients. “Eventually, due to my project, I started working with department educators to train new nurses on safe patient handling,” Serna said. “I am proud of that. I wanted to do a project that would have some longevity. That’s my way of giving back.”
Gooding pointed out that nursing is both an art and a science. “We want to engage our nurses in making meaningful improvements,” she said. “Nurses are really creative human beings, and they can come up with some really brilliant ideas.”
For established nurses and other clinicians, serving as a mentor is also a positive, Gooding said. “It’s really rejuvenating and renewing for them,” she said. “It’s a winwin for our caregivers because they get to expand their own personal missions.”
Gooding said the Institute for Nursing Excellence’s mission to inspire nurses to perform at their best and deliver exceptional care to patients and families falls right in line with PeaceHealth’s values of “respecting humanity and understanding that we need to do that as a team.”
She added: “The crux is to treat humans in a loving and caring way to emulate Jesus Christ through our core values: respect, collaboration, stewardship and social justice.”
Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago goes electric with new fleet of vehicles
By DALE SINGER
If many of its patients suffer from asthma, how can a hospital not only treat their illness but also ease their symptoms and even help keep them from getting sick in the first place?
For Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago, part of the answer is on the city’s Southwest Side streets, now in the form of three electric vehicles. The trio of Kias bring adult and pediatric patients in for treatment, free of charge, to the hospital or any of its six community clinics around the city.
“The population that we serve, many of them don’t have transportation,” said Guy A. Medaglia, the president and CEO of Saint Anthony. “Unless we go and pick them up, they can’t come in for things like COVID shots or flu shots or if they need clinic visits.
“We found this out because we are out in the community. I’ve been here for 17 years, finding out the needs of the people in the community. It is really important to be able to pick them up. We don’t bill for it. We don’t get any money for it. And I think that’s some of the reason we were able to secure a grant.”
The money for the vehicles — which are brightly wrapped with the hospital’s name
and a picture of its life-sized mascot, a bear named Little Tony — came from the city in the form of a $150,000 Chicago Climate Infrastructure Fund grant. The funds paid for the electric vehicles and the installation of two charging stations. Medaglia said Saint Anthony is the first hospital in the city to make use of electric vehicles.
The impulse behind the whole plan, he added, is the hospital’s legacy as a force in its community, where it logs about 35,000 emergency room visits a year and has a
pediatric patient population of 30%.
“We’re a little stubborn over here,” Medaglia said. “We’re fighting for an underserved community, and sometimes underserved communities can’t fight for themselves. So we have to fight for them. We don’t like losing.”
Medaglia noted the ongoing concerns about air quality, which is worsened by emissions from gas-burning vehicles. “In today’s world, if you’re going to put a fleet together, electric cars are the way to go, so
I challenged members of our team to see if they were able to obtain any grants,” he said. The electric cars are not the only change for Saint Anthony. It is transitioning to a new location, known as the Focal Point Community Campus, that is about 2 miles away and planned to open in 2027 or 2028, on 30 acres. The campus will provide affordable living spaces as well as wellness, education and workforce development opportunities.
Medaglia said the hospital will keep close track of how the campus develops, to make sure that area residents are not negatively affected by the necessary demolition and new construction.
“Data is very important,” he said. “We wanted to measure the quality of the air as the demolition is going on. The community wanted their own person to also track the air quality, which they did, and the numbers were the same.”
Though its use of technology and location may change, Medaglia added, the inspiration behind the care at Saint Anthony remains the same.
“It’s more than just a hospital,” he said. “We’re focusing on wellness. That’s a very big piece for us. We want to make sure that with a young population in our community, this generation coming up, that we can get them more focused on creating a healthy environment.”
Gooding
Medaglia
Little Tony, Saint Anthony Hospital’s mascot, registers his excitement over one of the new electric cars in the hospital’s fleet.
Rebekah Hartzog, left, a nurse in the mother/baby unit at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield, Oregon, looks over records along with and Autumn Christopherson, charge nurse in the unit.
