Addressing health inequities 3 Fourth Trimester care 5 Executive changes 11 PERIODICAL RATE PUBLICATION
OCTOBER 2025 VOLUME 41, NUMBER 10
SSM Health expands age-friendly care initiated in Wisconsin across system
©2025 AFFIRM Films, LLC
By LISA EISENHAUER
A young John O’Leary is wheeled out of the hospital in the movie Soul On Fire, which tells the story of his recovery and transformation into a motivational speaker. Many of his caregivers at what is now known as Mercy Hospital St. Louis served as extras.
In new movie Soul On Fire, Catholic health care plays a starring role By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
ST. LOUIS — Inside the emergency room of what’s now Mercy Hospital St. Louis, 9-year-old John O’Leary lies burned on 100% of his body. He asks his mother if he is going to die. “John, do you want to die?” she answers. “Mom, I don’t want to die,” he responds. “I want to live.” His mom pats his head and replies: “Then baby, you need to fight like you’ve never fought before. You need to take the hand of God and you need to walk this journey with Him. But John, you listen to me: You are going to have to fight.” The scene is from Soul On Fire, which debuts in theaters nationwide on Oct. 10. The movie is based on the book On Fire by O’Leary, now 48. Continued on 6
‘Nobody wants to go to work and be scared’: Bon Secours Mercy rolls out wearable panic buttons for staff Over the next half year, Bon Secours Mercy Health is outfitting select staff with wearable panic buttons, or duress badges. If the employees feel that their safety is threatened, they can double-tap the buttons to discreetly summon help. The health system is making the devices available to most patient-facing team members in emergency departments and behavioral health units and at on-campus medical practices at its 50 hospital locations across Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia. Bon Secours Mercy Health is using the technology because of increasing threats or incidences of violence against health care workers in recent years, says Jodi Pahl, Bon Secours Mercy Health chief nursing officer for workforce, outcomes and experience of care. “Nobody wants to go to work and be scared of being there,” Pahl says. “With
By JULIE MINDA
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By JULIE MINDA
Providence-backed partnership helps ease child care crisis in Northwest Oregon Clatsop County in Northwest Oregon already had a shortage of child care options when the pandemic greatly exacerbated the problem. Concerned about the situation, a collaborative of leaders from public and private organizations convened to assess the problem and come up with solutions. Providence St. Joseph Health’s Oregon region is a backer of the Clatsop Child Care Retention and Expansion Program.
When leaders of SSM Health’s Wisconsin region decided to give the Age-Friendly Health Systems care model a go, the initial idea was to pilot it at SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital — Madison. But before the launch, they decided to go bigger. The age-friendly model is an initiative of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and The John A. Hartford Foundation, two nonprofits focused on better health care, in partnership with CHA and the American Hospital Association. The model was designed to meet the challenge of caring for the nation’s aging population, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement has recommended starting the model in a single unit. Chris Baker, Wisconsin region administrative director of nursing excellence and professional practice, is one of the SSM Health leaders who have championed agefriendly care. “We were already breaking the mold by doing it on 23 units at Madison,” Baker recalls. “And then we thought,
Amanda Shelley runs Magical Moments In-Home Child Care and Play School in Seaside, Oregon. She opened the child care with funding from the Clatsop Child Care Retention and Expansion Program.
ArchCare nursing home builds child care center to attract staff, meet community need. PAGE 9 Day care on Ascension hospital campus in Kansas celebrates 45 years of serving employee families. PAGE 9
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Security head for Scripps Health brings FBI experience, collaboration to make hospitals safer. PAGE 7