Researching All of Us 2 NICU boutique 2 Executive changes 6 PERIODICAL RATE PUBLICATION
SEPTEMBER 1, 2023 VOLUME 39, NUMBER 14
Vision statement guides CHA’s development of next strategic plan
GUN VIOLENCE : ‘A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS’
Trinity Health backs campaign that urges parents to ask about unlocked guns
By JULIE MINDA
By JULIE MINDA Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via AP
CHA is creating its next strategic plan, and it is using its new vision statement as a guide for that process. The vision statement that CHA unveiled at the virtual Catholic Health Assembly in June is: “We Will Empower Bold Change to Elevate Human Flourishing.” The association developed the vision statement through engagement with the board, CHA members, staff and other stakeholders. Now, the association is undertaking an extensive process to build ministry consensus around the statement’s meaning and then to apply that understanding as it sets forth its fiscal year 2025 to 2027 strategic plan. CHA will present that plan to the board for approval at a May meeting. If the plan is approved, CHA will roll it out at the June
Students from Philadelphia-area schools join others to protest violence and to demand a safer world. The march was in the Northwest section of Philadelphia in 2022. Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, which has a catchment area that includes Philadelphia, has a campaign underway on gun safety.
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SEASON OF CREATION By KATHLEEN NELSON
Providence St. Joseph Health has set an ambitious goal: to be carbon negative by 2030. Helping to steer its course is Dr. Brian Chesebro, who recently joined Providence’s national advocacy and social responsibility division as medical director of environmental stewardship. Chesebro will help transform Providence’s clinical delivery of care Chesebro by reducing pollution through mitigation, developing resilient systems and advocating for planet-safe policies and decisions. An anesthesiologist by training, his personal struggle and journey have helped put Providence on its climate-friendly path. “In a way, it is my mental health therapy,” he says. “This job and this work saved me.” Continued on 8
Decorating with a repurpose. PAGE 3 Check out CHA's resources. PAGE 8
David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP
Doctor relishes new role steering Providence toward environmental sustainability Students gather in a parking lot near St. Louis’ Central Visual and Performing Arts High School after a shooting there last fall. The Archdiocese of St. Louis convened a firearms summit this summer focused on how to reverse the tide of gun violence. Health care workers were among those who spoke out.
During pediatric patient visits, clinicians at some Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic facilities are advising parents to inquire about unsecured firearms before their children go to visit a friend or relative. The office visit discussions are part of a broader campaign that Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic began at the start of this year called “Doesn’t Kill to Ask.” Through those conversations, plus public service announcements, news releases, social media posts, newsletters and other means, the region and its facilities hope to normalize discussions about gun safety so that parents can feel comfortable asking about firearms when their kids are visiting friends and family.
Hundreds gather for gun violence summit hosted by St. Louis archdiocese By VALERIE SCHREMP HAHN
SHREWSBURY, Mo. — After the shooting death of 9-yearold Evelyn Dieckhaus along with two other students and three adults at a school in Nashville, Tennessee, in March, members of her grandparents’ parish more than 350 miles away in Washington, Missouri, gathered to pray. “People showed up in great numbers, not really knowing what to say,” said Fr. Mike Boehm, then the pastor of the parish, St. Francis Borgia. “It was really a time for our church to be seen as a beacon of hope.” Fr. Boehm was among those who called for the Catholic Church to become a beacon of hope — and action — during a Continued on 5
CHI Saint Joseph Health pioneers virtual nursing technology By DALE SINGER
Patients at Saint Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, are getting some of their care from nurse Corey Ross, even though he’s working from hundreds of miles away. Ross is part of a pioneering effort at Saint Joseph known as virtually integrated care, in which nurses on the floor are joined electronically by nurses whose presence is activated with a simple tap on a wallmounted screen. Hospital officials say the system helps address the nationwide nursing shortage and extend the capabilities of nurses. “It’s about putting together new models that add technology to help the nurses at the bedside,” says Kathleen Sanford, executive vice president, chief nursing officer, for CommonSpirit Health, which selected Continued on 6
Virtual nurse Corey Ross joins via video a discussion with other care team members at Saint Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. The hospital’s virtually integrated care program is helping address staffing challenges while adding a registered nurse working remotely to the hospital care team, which includes a bedside nurse and a patient care assistant.