Mom pods 7 Executive changes 7 PERIODICAL RATE PUBLICATION
MAY 15, 2023 VOLUME 39, NUMBER 8
Benedictine president: Pandemic challenges linger in nursing homes By LISA EISENHAUER
MINNEAPOLIS — Jerry Carley, president and chief executive of Minnesotabased Benedictine, says the challenges brought on by COVID-19 are far from over for skilled nursing care facilities and nursing homes, even as the national emergencies around the pandemic end. Carley says regulatory demands and workforce pressures are putting the squeeze on a segment of health care that already was shrinking despite strong demand for its services. In an interview in mid-April with Catholic Health World and a brief followup conversation in early May, Carley talked
Swedish provides inpatient addiction treatment for pregnant people
about how Benedictine, which has more than 30 senior living communities in Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Missouri and Illinois, is responding to the challenges. His comments have been edited for length and clarity. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced revised COVIDrelated guidelines for nursing homes that take effect when the public health emergency ends May 11. What will change for nursing homes? The main change is that for the most part operationally what we knew pre-COVID Continued on 6
Jerry Carley, president and chief executive of Benedictine, at his office in suburban Minneapolis. He says state and federal support is needed to help nursing homes attract staff.
Trafficking victims get trauma-informed care at CommonSpirit clinics
Jenny Lao with her son, who was born healthy about two months after she completed the inpatient addiction treatment program at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle in 2018. Lao continues to take part in “medically shared” group meetings with care providers from the program and other graduates.
By LISA EISENHAUER
One of the patients seen at the Human Trafficking Medical Safe Haven Program’s clinic at Dignity Health Medical Group — Northridge in suburban Los Angeles was a woman in her 60s who had been a captive domestic servant for 10 years and spoke no English. The woman had untreated diabetes that had created vision problems. She had a heart attack as those problems were being addressed. She received outpatient care through the clinic and inpatient care at Dignity Health — Northridge Hospital Medical Center as she transitioned from victim to survivor and on to a new life through the collaboration of her care team, law enforcement and community-based organizations. Dr. Pamela Davis, the physician group’s medical director and the designated champion of its safe haven clinic, says caring for Davis patients who have endured the trauma of being trafficked and held captive is eye-opening for care providers. Continued on 3
By LISA EISENHAUER
are associated with the cumulative, chronic stress caused by multiple adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. Individuals who have high scores on ACEs screenings have a higher probability of requiring special education, dropping out of high school, becoming teen parents, experiencing severe depression, and being arrested for criminal behavior. Preventing severe childhood traumas
SEATTLE — Jenny Lao says the addiction treatment program she entered at Swedish Medical Center saved her life. “I feel really blessed,” says Lao, now the mother of a preschooler and the stepmother of two other children. Lao had struggled with substance use disorder since her teens and served time in prison by the time, at age 30, she found herself expecting and dependent on opiates. “I was so convinced that I would not be able to be a mom,” Lao recalls. “What I didn’t know then was that my disease was just running rampant in my head. All I could hear was if you just take a pill, this is all gonna go away.” Lao says she knew that she needed care for her substance use disorder for the sake of herself and her unborn child. She also knew that women with substance use disorders often faced harsh judgment when
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This family received support from A Family Place in Oregon, including parenting classes, kids’ clothes, diapers and access to social services. The aid helped the mother to escape an abusive home situation and stabilize her life. Providence St. Joseph Health’s Oregon region has been providing funding to northwestern Oregon’s Lutheran Community Services Northwest for its A Family Place services.
Catholic providers aim to reduce harm from adverse childhood experiences By JULIE MINDA
Decades of research establish that severe, chronic traumas endured in childhood can have far-reaching negative impacts on physical and mental health over a person’s lifetime. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says heart disease, cancer, respiratory diseases, diabetes and suicide — five of the 10 leading causes of death in the U.S. —
Black pastors urge colon cancer testing In an effort to reduce the high rate of colorectal cancer deaths among Black Americans, Providence St. Joseph Health is turning to some trusted and influential voices in Black communities — church pastors. Thirty Black Los Angeles church leaders are part of an exhibit that encourages preventive screenings. The pastors are pictured on 6-foot-high banners accompanied by a quote from each. The banners will travel among the churches and Providence hospitals in the Los Angeles area. The American Cancer Society says Black Americans are about 20% more likely than members of other racial or ethnic groups to get colorectal cancer and about 40% more likely to die from it. The display went up in mid-April at Providence St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. On hand for the opening was Dr. Anton Bilchik, a surgeon who treated actor Chadwick Boseman. The star of the blockbuster movie Black Panther, Boseman died of colon cancer in 2020 at the age of 43.