Virtual spiritual care 2 Wedding wish granted 3 Executive changes 7 PERIODICAL RATE PUBLICATION
NOVEMBER 2024 VOLUME 40, NUMBER 11
Health systems combat vaccine hesitancy with conversations, planning By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
An SSM Health employee in Wisconsin who was fully immunized contracted measles on a commercial flight earlier this year, resulting in a significant exposure that involved both health care workers and community members. “So she became the second case, and
the concentric circles of exposure just kept getting bigger and bigger,” said Dr. Shephali Wulff, the system’s director of infectious diseases and prevention. “Fortunately, there were no secondary cases from that exposure, which was really lucky, but we had some work to do as a health system.” SSM Health coordinated with local public
Covenant Health uses this mascot and logo to promote the system’s “Flu Cru.” The cru is made up of about 50 system leaders who meet to talk about flu prevention and who relay messages about things like vaccination opportunities to co-workers.
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Holy Name hospice gives residents autonomy, holistic care in life-affirming environment By JULIE MINDA
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Photo by Glenn Marzano/@CHA
LOS ANGELES — Here in the shadows of shipping containers stacked high at the seaport and oil refinery pipes that reach into the sky, visitors at Providence St. Joseph Health’s Wilmington Wellness and Activity Center dance. The girls of the Misantla Ballet Folklórico, about a dozen ranging in age from 6 to 16, twirl and sway under the center’s awning while holding up the folds of their long, cotton skirts. The girls mostly live in the area, and the group uses the center to practice for free, says their leader and instructor, Fiacro Castro.
In April 2023, Joe Sergeant was a seemingly healthy 63-year-old who had recently returned to his Montville, New Jersey, hometown after a hiking trip to Arizona. Experiencing excruciating pain at work, he was rushed to the hospital, underwent emergency surgery and was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. Over the ensuing 15 months, says his wife, Nancy Sergeant, he was on a rollercoaster of medical appointments, tests, cancer treatment, news that the cancer was undetectable, and a surgery last May that revealed widespread cancer that could not be detected by technology or blood tests. During that surgery, the surgeon removed much of his small intestine to bring him some physical comfort. Doctors said he had a few days to less than three months to live. Healing from surgery, with four drainage points on his abdomen including an ostomy bag, Joe’s condition was fragile, and he would need to be discharged from the hospital to a medical hospice, a social worker told Joe and Nancy. Nancy began scouting out recommended hospices immediately. She says
Members of the Misantla Ballet Folklórico practice a traditional dance on the patio of the Providence St. Joseph Health’s Wilmington Wellness and Activity Center, in south Los Angeles. The group performs at community events and displays a banner with the Providence logo.
Community center run by Providence hospital is hub of Los Angeles neighborhood
By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
African nuns bring spirit of joy, compassion to work at southeast Missouri’s Saint Francis Courtesy Saint Francis Medical Center
By JULIE MINDA
Johnny Harris, a patient of Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, visits with Sr. Margaret Sergon at the hospital. She provided a healing presence during a hospitalization after he had a stroke in January. Sr. Sergon is one of five Little Sisters of St. Francis who work at the hospital.
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — When Johnny Harris was hospitalized in January at Saint Francis Medical Center here after a stroke, he initially found himself very agitated and distressed as he lay in his hospital bed. But, then, Sr. Margaret Sergon came into his room to visit him and “a sense of calm came over me,” he recalls. Sr. Sergon talked with him and prayed with him. Harris says that Sr. Sergon was a caring presence at a very scary time. Bringing comfort to patients as Sr. Ser-
gon did for Harris is the type of impact that the southeast Missouri Catholic hospital and the Little Sisters of St. Francis congregation in Africa were envisioning when they partnered two years ago on a unique type of mission program. Under their arrangement, Saint Francis hires Little Sisters from Africa for various jobs. Those sisters provide a pastoral presence that goes well beyond their formal jobs. And the sisters send a portion of their salaries back to their congregation to fund ministries in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. “Having the Little Sisters with us is a Continued on 8