CHA’S NEW VISION STATEMENT

Over the past several years, Catholic health care has faced unprecedented challenges. From the start of the COVID pandemic and the severe financial and workforce strains that followed, to the ongoing polarization in society that has led to attacks on our Catholic identity, it became clear that external pressures were thrusting us into a time of transition and much-needed change. With this new reality in mind, CHA’s Board of Trustees and leaders from across our membership recognized that in order to serve in dynamic ways and meet the needs of our patients and community, we must change how we approach our work. There was a strong feeling that in this profound time of transformation, we must let go of what has been while actively embracing what is to come.

Last year, as the CHA board considered a refresh of CHA’s Fiscal Year 2021-23 strategic plan, it decided that a new vision statement was necessary to guide CHA into the future and serve as a compass for our roadmap, a new Fiscal Year 2024-26 strategic plan. During a ninemonth period beginning in the fall, and culminating with the virtual Catholic Health Assembly in June, we engaged in a visioning process that was directed by a six-person committee from the CHA board.

The result of this work is a new vision statement for CHA: We Will Empower Bold Change to Elevate Human Flourishing

This vision statement complements our mission “to advance the Catholic health ministry of the United States in caring for people and communities.” Along with our core values of respect, integrity, stewardship and excellence, this vision reinforces our commitment to the belief that every person is a treasure, every life a sacred gift, every human being a unity of body, mind and spirit. Taken together, our mission, vision and values give us a clarity of purpose, priorities and principles as we continue to advocate for health policy that leaves no one behind.

The vision statement is aspirational, as it calls us to elevate human flourishing.

During the assembly, Laura Kaiser, president and CEO of SSM Health and past chairperson of the CHA Board of Trustees, said, “Human flourishing means standing tall and strong, being blessed with good health, longevity and a thriving environment. Flourishing is the result of faith and justice — and is much more than just ‘getting by.’” She added, “When we provide compassionate care and protect human dignity, we help all those who suffer to ‘flourish in the courts of our God.’”

Damond Boatwright, president and CEO of Hospital Sisters Health System, who currently serves as CHA’s chairperson, also spoke about the vision statement during the assembly. He called CHA to lead the transformation of care and payment reform, to embrace a spirit of innovation and to lead through the shared values of Catholic health care. He said, “As members of this association and leaders in Catholic health care, let’s not be dismayed by what seems impossible. Our tradition has been a source of love and service for … over 2000 years, and it continues to equip us for the work we need to take on today.” He then called on attendees to join him in “rising with faith and courage to advance a better future — a future where we see improved access to health care for all people; a future where we find new ways of overcoming the challenges in front of us; a future where we continue to advance the tradition of Jesus’ healing ministry.”

The founders of our health ministries had the courage to move beyond their known reality. They responded to God’s call and trusted in God’s abiding presence. Today, we, too, are called to trust God; to embrace what is emerging in Catholic health care; and to have the courage — as we open doors to provide access to care for all — to step through this threshold into a new reality.

I am certain that guided by our vision, the Catholic health ministry will elevate its prophetic voice, and we will help lead the transformation of health care in this country.

OPENING DOORS: ACCESS TO CARE

43 HOW THE ERDs CAN DEEPEN OUR CATHOLIC IDENTITY

Myles N. Sheehan, SJ, MD

Departments

2 EDITOR’S NOTE BETSY TAYLOR

49 COMMUNITY BENEFIT Community Benefit at CHA: How It Started and Where It’s Headed JULIE TROCCHIO, BSN, MS, and NANCY LIM, RN, MPH

52 THINKING GLOBALLY Mapping Christian Health Assets to Support Global Health Response BRUCE COMPTON, SAMONE FRANZESE, MD, and CAROLYN O’BRIEN, MSPH

56 ETHICS

Water Shapes Our Connection to Life BRIAN M. KANE, PhD

59 HEALTH EQUITY

From the Boardroom to the Bedside: Avera Embraces Diversity Formation Curriculum FAITH MINNICH KJESBO, MAMFT

61 MISSION

Enhancing Access to Care Along the U.S.–Mexican Border Near San Diego DENNIS GONZALES, PhD, and KENDRA BRANDSTEIN, PhD, MPH, MSW

4 CAREFUL UNDERSTANDING OF PATIENT NEEDS LIES AT THE HEART OF CARE Sr. Dorothy Thum, RSM

9 WHAT PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS WANT PROVIDERS TO KNOW Tricia Steele

16 FOR PEOPLE WITH HIV, ‘TEST AND TREAT’ IS KEY Michael J. O’Loughlin

21 COMMUNITY CLINIC DELIVERS CARE WITH DIGNITY FOR THE UNDERSERVED Robert Lippman, DBH, MSW

27 UNDERSTANDING VETERANS’ UNIQUE NEEDS IS CRUCIAL TO THEIR CARE

Christina J. Schauer, MSN, ARNP, ACNS-BC

32 PROTECT WHAT’S PRECIOUS: RETAINING MEDICAID COVERAGE IS VITAL FOR VULNERABLE POPULATIONS

Paulo G. Pontemayor

36 REFLECTION: A JOURNEY TO UKRAINE — THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AND THE CATHOLIC RESPONSE Bruce Compton

41 REFLECTION: CATHOLIC HOSPITALS AND THE LOCAL CHURCH — WHY THEY MATTER TO ONE ANOTHER AND TO COMMUNITIES

Sr. Doris Gottemoeller, RSM

15 POPE FRANCIS — FINDING GOD IN DAILY LIFE

64 PRAYER SERVICE

Jesus’ return to Capernaum where he meets a paralytic person is one of the more interesting health care stories in the Bible; it’s about many things — faith, friendship, holistic healing of body, mind and spirit — but it’s also about health care access.

Crowds gather around Jesus when he returns to this city by the Sea of Galilee, and he preaches to them from the home where he is staying. Because the doorway is packed with a crowd wanting to see him, four men break through the roof and lower a paralytic person down to Jesus, in hopes that he can heal the man. Jesus first forgives his sins — a true balm of spiritual care — and then tells the man to pick up his mat and walk.

It’s striking to me that this person in need of healing had a support network. There were people around him who essentially figured out how to navigate a challenging system — when the men supporting the paralytic person can’t get through the door, they go through the roof — to get him the access to the healing he needed. It’s also a story about how healing is not just a physical process. Jesus tends to the person’s spiritual needs before the physical ones. This Biblical story is visually represented in the national awards CHA gives out, and I think it’s with good reason. The story encompasses so many aspects of care that transcend time.

This issue of Health Progress is themed around Opening Doors: Access to Care, taking a look at some of the complexities involved in finding, paying for and receiving the right care at the right time and in the right place.

Opening doors to this care involves multiple factors. In his article, Paulo Pontemayor, CHA’s senior director of government relations, points to the fact that today health care access is tied to insurance coverage. And that CHA’s membership has long viewed health care as “a basic human right essential to human flourishing.” So, work by CHA and other organizations to educate those on Medicaid about how to “Protect What’s Precious” and keep their coverage is one way to open a door. But, as this issue makes clear, more than one door needs to be opened.

Author Tricia Steele writes about the worries of patients with chronic conditions, how they need timely access to care providers — often including specialists not always located near them. She describes how they need to feel listened to and like a valued part of their own care team. She reminds readers how some days just getting out of bed and navigating a complicated, convoluted system can feel overwhelming for someone with chronic illness.

Elsewhere in this issue, there are articles about ways to meet, communicate and care for populations as varied as those who are poor, those with HIV, those living through wartime, and military veterans. It is true that the barriers to affordable, quality health care can loom large. But I hope these pages will provide some inspiration for what’s working, and what still needs to be worked on.

Regular readers also will enjoy hearing that author Sally J. Altman and the Before Ferguson Beyond Ferguson team were recognized in Atlanta in May for the third installment of the Health Progress articles focused on racial and health equity in the St. Louis region. The American Society of Business Publication Editors’ ASBPE Educational Foundation bestowed the Journalism That Matters award for the piece published in 2022. We usually don’t seek a lot of attention when Health Progress receives recognition, but thought this award merited a little notice, especially as the articles are part of CHA’s resources and ongoing work for health equity through the “We Are Called” campaign.

When Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic person and performed the miracle that allowed him to walk, the Bible says: “They were all astounded and glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this.’” (Mark 2:12) My hope for us all in the continuing work of Catholic health care is that we may be inspired by this tradition, and astound one another and those we care for with a steadfast commitment to bring comfort and healing.

®

VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING BRIAN

P. REARDON EDITOR

BETSY TAYLOR btaylor@chausa.org

MANAGING EDITOR

CHARLOTTE KELLEY ckelley@chausa.org

GRAPHIC DESIGNER NORMA

KLINGSICK

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2023 Awards For 2022 Coverage

Catholic Press Awards: Magazine of the Year — Professional and Special Interest Magazine, First Place; Best Special Section, First Place; Best Layout of Article/Column, First Place; Best Color Cover, Honorable Mention; Best Story and Photo Package, First Place; Best Regular Column — General Commentary, First Place; Best Coverage — Pandemic, Second Place; Best Coverage — Racial Inequities, Third Place; Best Essay, Second and Third Place; Best Feature Article, Second Place; Best Reporting on a Special Age Group, First Place; Best Reporting on Social Justice Issues — Care for God’s Creation, Second Place; Best Reporting on Social Justice Issues — Dignity and Rights of the Workers, First Place; Best Writing — Analysis, Honorable Mention.

American Society of Business Publication Editors Awards: Journalism That Matters Award; All Content — Enterprise News Story, Regional Silver Award; Print — Single Topic Coverage by a Team, Regional Bronze Award.

Produced in USA. Health Progress ISSN 0882-1577. Summer 2023 (Vol. 104, No. 3).

Copyright © by The Catholic Health Association of the United States. Published quarterly by The Catholic Health Association of the United States, 4455 Woodson Road, St. Louis, MO 63134-3797. Periodicals postage paid at St. Louis, MO, and additional mailing offices. Subscription prices per year: CHA members, free; nonmembers, $29 (domestic and foreign); single copies, $10.

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Editorial Advisory Council

Trevor Bonat, MA, MS, chief mission integration officer, Ascension Saint Agnes, Baltimore

Sr. Rosemary Donley, SC, PhD, APRN-BC, professor of nursing, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh

Fr. Joseph J. Driscoll, DMin, director of ministry formation and organizational spirituality, Redeemer Health, Meadowbrook, Pennsylvania

Tracy Neary, regional vice president, mission integration, St. Vincent Healthcare, Billings, Montana

Gabriela Robles, MBA, MAHCM, vice president, community partnerships, Providence St. Joseph Health, Irvine, California

Jennifer Stanley, MD, physician formation leader and regional medical director, Ascension St. Vincent, North Vernon, Indiana

Rachelle Reyes Wenger, MPA, system vice president, public policy and advocacy engagement, CommonSpirit Health, Los Angeles

Nathan Ziegler, PhD, system vice president, diversity, leadership and performance excellence, CommonSpirit Health, Chicago

Cha Editorial Contributors

ADVOCACY AND PUBLIC POLICY: Lisa Smith, MPA

COMMUNITY BENEFIT: Julie Trocchio, BSN, MS

CONTINUUM OF CARE AND AGING SERVICES: Julie Trocchio, BSN, MS

ETHICS: Nathaniel Blanton Hibner, PhD; Brian Kane, PhD

FINANCE: Loren Chandler, CPA, MBA, FACHE

GLOBAL OUTREACH: Bruce Compton

LEADERSHIP AND MINISTRY DEVELOPMENT: Diarmuid Rooney, MSPsych, MTS, DSocAdmin

LEGAL: Catherine A. Hurley, JD

MISSION INTEGRATION: Dennis Gonzales, PhD