Broader formation effort 3 Standing firm on sustainability 4 Executive changes 7 PERIODICAL RATE PUBLICATION
MAY 2025 VOLUME 41, NUMBER 5
REMEMBERING POPE FRANCIS
Eldercare providers worry about impact of potential cuts to Medicaid
Pope leaves behind a legacy of ‘compassion, inclusivity and humility’
Foto © Vatican Media
By LISA EISENHAUER
Sr. Carol Keehan, DC, center, used a May 2019 visit to St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’ general audience to introduce Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM. Sr. Carol retired in June 2019 as CHA president and CEO, and Sr. Mary succeeded her. By JULIE MINDA
The Catholic health ministry joined mourners worldwide in grieving the death of Pope Francis on April 21. The 88-year-old pontiff appeared the day before — Easter Sunday — on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica before about
50,000 people assembled there for an Easter blessing and took one last ride among the faithful in the popemobile before resting and having a quiet dinner that afternoon and early evening, according to Vatican News. He became suddenly ill around 5:30 a.m., suffering a stroke. He then fell into a coma about an hour later at his apartment
at the Casa Santa Marta, near the basilica. He died a “discreet death, almost sudden, without long suffering or public alarm,” the news service said. The service reported, “The passing of Pope Francis came the day after Easter, when he was able to offer the city and Continued on 8
San Vicente de Paúl Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in the Bronx is in one of the nation’s poorest areas, with more than one-third of all households living in poverty. All the residents of the ArchCare facility are from minority populations and most of their care is covered by Medicaid. But as Scott LaRue, president and CEO of the continuing care system that spans the Arch- LaRue diocese of New York, notes, Medicaid reimbursement covers only about 60% of the actual cost of care. “That facility lost $7 million last year,” LaRue says. Although licensed for 120 beds, San Vicente de Paúl is being downsized to 40. Continued on 5
‘A sacred place’ Nebraska hospital opens waiting room for families of organ donors By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
Holy Cross program helps low-income, minority women access breast care
Virginia Mason Franciscan invests in nonprofit that educates, empowers minority youth
By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
As a consultant helping a group of high schools in northwest Washington state address the needs of at-risk students, Jimmy Brown saw several worrying trends about a decade ago: Numerous youth felt they had no trusted adults to turn to, they felt disconnected and they felt they had no voice nor control in their lives. When the pandemic severely curtailed his consultancy work even as the trends he saw worsened, Brown in 2020 used what he’d learned — plus additional research — to establish the Build 2 Lead nonprofit, which has a mission to “empower, engage and educate young people.” The
Four years ago, after their mother suffered a massive stroke with no hope of recovery, Jill Kloke and her sister knew that their mother would want to be an organ donor. But over the two-day wait at a Texas hospital for her mother to be declared brain dead, Kloke and other family members had to find corners inside the hospital to have private, emotional conversations Kloke and to make arrangements. Kloke remembers making phone calls from a bathroom. “We didn’t have a place designated just for our family going through this trauma, and not really having a sacred place to talk,” said Kloke. “We were just in this open lobby, and we couldn’t be together as a family.” Kloke is a registered nurse and patient safety manager at CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center — Bergan Mercy in Omaha, Nebraska, which in November opened a special waiting room for families of organ donors.
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The pink card that nurse and oncology navigator Skarlleth Kauffmann hands out to women is more than just a card, she likes to say. “I always tell them: ‘This pink card can save your life,’” she said. The card, printed in English, Spanish and Creole, explains how women in Broward County, Florida, who meet the program’s eligibility requirements can call to make an appointment for a free mammogram. Holy Cross Health’s Partners in Breast Health program is part of the Continued on 6
By JULIE MINDA
A student serves as a mock patient as Dr. Francis Mtuke, a resident at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, enables Build 2 Lead participants to experience what it’s like working in the operating room at a Virginia Mason Franciscan facility.