Garden feeds those in need 3 Lights, camera, ethics 5 Executive changes 7 PERIODICAL RATE PUBLICATION
JUNE 15, 2023 VOLUME 39, NUMBER 10
Ministry care providers support call-to-action to counter epidemic of loneliness
SSM Health’s support brings asthma supplies into public schools across Oklahoma By LISA EISENHAUER
By LISA EISENHAUER
SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City is making it possible for a nonprofit organization to put asthma inhalers in every public school in the Sooner State. The hospital, part of St. Louis-based SSM Health, is giving $192,568 through a grant and in-kind donations to the Brendon McLarty Memorial Foundation. The foundation is using the gifts to provide Oklahoma’s 539 public school districts with at least one inhaler and related supplies for every school, about 1,600 in all.
Dr. Venkata Dalai sees the evidence among patients of what the U.S. surgeon general spotlights in a recent advisory called “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation.” A psychiatrist on staff at Mercy Hospital Fort Smith in Northwest Arkansas, part of Chesterfield, Missouri- Dalai based Mercy, Dalai says that for some patients the biggest need is for a social support structure. “I feel helpless sometimes because the problem is not depression, the problem is not anxiety,” he says. “The problem is
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Brandy McMahand leads a ‘Beauty and Barbershop Talk’ program at Corte Tropical Dominican Salon & Barbershop in Mauldin, South Carolina. McMahand, a nurse and case manager for the Healthy Outcomes Program at Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, has been leading free sessions on the basics of heart health and other healthy living topics for barbers and stylists in the Greenville, South Carolina, area. This is one of those groups.
AN EPIDEMIC OF LONELINESS
Bon Secours St. Francis in South Carolina equips barbers, stylists to talk health with customers By JULIE MINDA
Children carry backpacks with gifts provided by the Brendon McLarty Memorial Foundation. The nonprofit is focused on asthma education and awareness. It is using funding from SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City to get free asthma supplies into the state’s public schools.
The topics of conversation have been shifting a bit lately at the UpTown Barber Shop near Greenville, South Carolina. Much more so than in the past, UpTown owner and master barber Timothy “Dreze” Shell and his clients have been talking about heart health, blood pressure, healthy living and mental health. Shell has been initiating such conversations with clients since earlier this year when he and nearly 20 other Greenville-
area barbers and stylists accepted Bon Secours St. Francis Health System’s invitation to join its “Beauty and Barbershop Talk” program. Through the program — which is aimed at hair stylists with a predominantly minority clientele — a nurse educator taught the group why and how to discuss health topics with their patrons as well as how to help the patrons take their blood pressure. The group learned to assist clients in seeking care if they need it. Shell says he’s glad the program has Continued on 8
Eldercare facility leaders attuned to shrinking pool of qualified candidates for administrator posts By JULIE MINDA
The same types of factors that have been constricting the job candidate pool for frontline positions in eldercare also have shrunk the number of prospects for top administrator roles. In recent years, exigencies of the COVID19 pandemic have accelerated the departure of workers from the labor pool: Baby Boomers have been retiring in large numbers, burnt out workers have joined the “Great Resignation” out of the labor market or at least into different roles, and too few newcomers are repopulating the pipeline.
Ministry eldercare leaders say they are watching these trends especially closely when it comes to the pipeline of candidates for top administrator positions in continuum-of-care facilities. They say they are continually seeking new ways to identify prospective candidates who are the right fit for ministry leadership and to illustrate to these prospects the many rewards of being a leader in the Catholic health ministry. “It’s truly a calling to care for the aged — it’s a vocation and a ministry. It is challenging but also rewarding work,” says Continued on 6
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It’s truly a calling to care for the aged — it’s a vocation and a ministry. It is challenging but also rewarding work. But there are not always enough people to fill these positions. We’re all vying for the same group of people.” — Sr. M. Peter Lillian Di Maria
ABOUT HALF
of U.S. adults report experiencing loneliness, with some of the highest rates among young adults. Loneliness increases the risk of premature death by
26%
.
Lacking social connection can increase the
RISK FOR PREMATURE DEATH as much as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.
Social isolation among older adults alone accounts for an estimated
$6.7 BILLION
in excess Medicare spending annually, largely due to increased hospital and nursing facility spending. Chronic loneliness and social isolation can increase the
RISK OF DEVELOPING DEMENTIA
by approximately 50% in older adults. Source: “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation,” the U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory on the healing effects of social connection and community, 2023