Sisters of Charity of Nazareth

Sister Mary Kathleen Sheehan Legacy Society Announced at Donor Appreciation Event

2010-09-08T09:43:00.004-04:00

From the St. John Center For Homeless Men

Original art and 10 founding members mark the launch of the Sister Mary Kathleen Sheehan Legacy Society, a designation for individuals or families who name St. John Center in their wills.

The painting entitled “The Angels of St. John Center,” created by longtime St. John Center supporter and board member Mary Bryan, was unveiled June 17 at the second annual donor appreciation event. Sr. Kathleen received the first print of the image that features an angel protecting St. John Center and names representative of the thousands of “angels” who support the agency with financial contributions.

Sr. Kathleen challenged the audience with these words: My hope and prayer for all of us is that we will continue to be symbols of hope for those in desperate need of love, that we find a common bond, and are inspired to bring about a world where peace and justice will prevail.

Charter Legacy Society members Nancy and Larry Otto were present to receive their print. Other charter members include Leona and Stewart Wolfson, James E. Westbay, Jennifer and Mark Nickel, Sarah and Ron Sweat, and Maria Price.

“During this past year St. John Center was particularly touched by an angel in the person of Christina Evers,” said Ron Sweat, Director of Mission Advancement. Ms. Evers, who died in 2009, had long been a supporter and remembered St. John Center with a generous gift from her estate.

“This agency has been well supported by a cloud of witnesses for 24 years,” reflected Maria Price, Executive Director. “Leaving a gift of any size is a final gesture of generosity that leaves a lasting imprint of love.”

Women Who Lead

2010-09-01T15:22:00.005-04:00

From Caribbean Business: a profile on Nazareth College Graduate, Maria M. Melendez Ramos

Any educator will tell you there is no greater reward than watching former students become productive citizens and leaders. "This is the greatest privilege and satisfaction an educator can experience," said Dr. Maria M. Melendez Ramos, head of school at St. John's School. Having first worked at St. John's as the secondary division principal for most of the 1980s, she later moved to Connecticut to complete her doctoral studies and hold a number of leadership positions in school districts in that state.

Now that she has returned to Puerto Rico and the school that has always had a special place in her heart, she is committed to using the experience and knowledge she has gained over the years to develop the school to it's fullest potential. This includes integrating technology as part of the teaching strategies used by the teachers, along with introducing other innovations to benefit the school and it's students.

Having been mentored by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Kentucky, when she was studying at a college-prep school during her formative years, she credits the Sisters, especially role-model Margaret Rose Greisbaum, SCN, with inspiring her to enter the field of education. Now, with her daughter Natasha, currently a fifth-grade teacher in Connecticut, Melendez already has succeeded in passing that legacy along and is keen on inspiring other young professionals to enter the field of education as well. "If you are passionate about teaching and really care about your students, then this is where you belong," she said.

With her daughter Natasha and son Carlos both grown and with families of their own, Melendez uses her leisure time to read, swim and enjoy the ocean. Her four beautiful grandchildren are also a very important part of her life.

2010 Nazareth Picnic Video

2010-09-01T08:45:00.002-04:00

Nazareth Picnic 2010

The 2010 Nazareth Picnic has come to an end. A steady crowd visited Nazareth Campus throughout the day. The booths were busy all day … and folks lined up for the petting zoo. Our thanks to each person who volunteered and each person who came out to support the Nazareth Picnic and our SCN ministries!

Click here to view a photo gallery of the 2010 Nazareth Picnic.

Nazareth Picnic Winners

2010-08-31T09:02:00.002-04:00

The 6th annual Nazareth Picnic held last Saturday was, again, a huge success. Thanks to all who volunteered or participated in any way! Following are the winners of the capital prize, quilt and afghan:

Capital Prize:

1st prize - $2,000 - Steve Newton, Soddy Daisy, Tenn.
2nd prize - $1,000 - Ann Margaret Boone, SCN, and the Nazareth Village residents, Nazareth, Ky.
3rd prize - $500 - Maxine Teipen, Indianapolis, Ind.

Quilt:

Thomas Skees, Cecilia, Ky.

Afghan:

Ray Nabholz, Conway, Ark.

Nazareth Picnic - A Success!

2010-08-28T21:21:00.002-04:00

The 2010 Nazareth Picnic has come to an end. A steady crowd visited Nazareth Campus throughout the day with over 1400 Fried Chicken dinners served. The booths were busy all day … and folks lined up for the petting zoo. We hope to have a photo gallery available within the next few days. Our thanks to each person who volunteered and each person who came out to support the Nazareth Picnic and our SCN ministries! View pictures of the day here.

Nazareth Picnic

2010-08-28T17:27:00.004-04:00

Nazareth Picnic is underway this Saturday, August 28, 2010. Hundreds of families have come out to spend the day! There's plenty to do - booths, games, tasty cakes, candy and fried chicken, face painting, entertainment, a children's area, and a petting zoo. This is the sixth annual Nazareth Picnic. This event helps support SCN ministries around the world. The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth empower families and improve lives! There's still plenty of time to come to the picnic which lasts until 8 tonight.

Nazareth Picnic

2010-08-18T09:41:00.005-04:00

Join us for the Nazareth Picnic at the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Motherhouse Campus on Saturday, August 28, 2–8 p.m.

There will be entertainment throughout the day featuring:

1:30–3:00 p.m. Cathy Lavender & Meehan

3:00–5:00 p.m. Andrew Scott Newton

5:00–7:00 p.m. Anna Shepherd

5:30–7:30 p.m. Rhythm Shoe Cloggers & Kentucky Home Cloggers

7:00–8:00 p.m. Anne Milligan

CAPITAL PRIZES

1st – $2,000

2nd – $1,000

3rd – $500

Handmade quilt to be given away at 8 p.m.

(Ticket holders need not be present to win.)

CHICKEN DINNER

Adults $8

Children 12 and under $5

Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, cole slaw, homemade yeast rolls, choice of cherry or apple pie for dessert, iced tea, lemonade or water

Seating by ticket number

Air-Conditioned Dining Area – Motherhouse Dining Room

Outdoor dining area also available

Grilled Hambugers and Hotdogs also available on the grounds

Booths • Cakes • Candy • Games • Children's Activities • Petting Zoo

Moving Mountains in Nepal

2010-08-16T14:20:00.004-04:00

It had been ten years since her last visit, and Mary Elizabeth Miller, SCN, was looking forward to seeing how the ministries in Nepal were growing.

Landing in Kathmandu in February 2009, while transportation workers in the city were striking, the first few hours got off to an adventurous start as she found herself travelling by rickshaw in order to make her way to SCN ministries.

As she visited SCNs across the country, she was struck by one thought over and over, “Mother Catherine would be smiling at your work. She would be so proud. SCNs are truly reaching out to people in need, empowering women, helping the poor, teaching the children ...”

While in Kathmandu, Sister Mary Elizabeth visited the Navjyoti Centre. “To see the smiles and accomplishments of many of the disabled students and clients is truly inspiring,” says Sister Mary Elizabeth.

In Surkhet, Sister Mary Elizabeth witnessed the success of a women’s empowerment group. Coordinators reach out to women in remote villages and work to instill in them a sense of confidence and self respect. One of the women in the program shared, “we used to be fighting each other, now we work together.” And how they have worked together to clean up the village, learn skills, and to protect one another when family members become violent. Sister Mary Elizabeth says the women in the village are so proud of all they have accomplished, that they designed matching pink and black saris. Now when the women are seen together, they command respect. It’s as if others in the village “sit up straight, take notice,” says Sister Mary Elizabeth.

The need to empower women and children is great. Describing how women in one village were so shy and lacked confidence says Sister Mary Elizabeth, they would sometimes cry when addressed or even asked their names. These same women now have confidence, and are willing to stand up for themselves, and advocate for others. In empowerment programs, women also learn a trade, basic English and writing, hygiene, first aid, and other life skills. They are asked to return to their villages and empower others.

As Sister Mary Elizabeth travelled from ministry to ministry, she says she couldn’t help but be in awe of the Sisters working tirelessly to educate children and parents, care for the disabled, and those providing much needed health care. Upon visiting a SCN mobile medical clinic, she spoke to one woman who walked seven hours to receive care. The woman was one of more than 240 patients waiting to see a doctor that day. Most had travelled great distances and were willing to stand patiently in long lines. All were grateful to receive medical care. No matter what ministry or areas Sister Mary Elizabeth visited, she said she was constantly struck that the “people were so happy to see us, so excited and pleased we were coming to the village.”

Also visiting Nepal in 2009 was Bridget Kappalumakal, SCN, who found herself arriving in Kathmandu during a strike. That meant nothing on wheels would move- not even a bicycle, says Sister Bridget, nothing except the “two legs.” Sister Bridget recounts, “I did not know what I was going to do but then a boy appeared with a placard with my name on it and said the Sisters sent him to meet me ... I asked him, ‘how we were going to go’ and he said casually, ‘walking ...’ We saw no cars, motorcycles, rickshaws or bicycles along the way ... The boy walked ahead of us pulling the bag through the ups and downs of the road, mud, rock, water and everything else and finally, we reached home at the end of about 2 1⁄2 hours.”

Sister Bridget welcomed the strike as an opportunity that allowed her to experience the unpredictability of events that the people of Nepal and the Sisters must embrace. “One has to learn to take things as they come and make the needed adjustments,” shares Sister Bridget.

Sister Bridget’s visit in June to Kathmandu was just one week after the church bombing at Assumption Catholic Church that killed three people and injured more than a dozen. SCNs, stunned and saddened by the attack, knew some of the victims. The shock was still very fresh in everyone’s mind says Sister Bridget. The day after she reached Kathmandu, another victim, who had suffered burns, died. Sister Bridget went to the victims’ funeral. “I had the opportunity to be present for her funeral in the same church which was bombed a week earlier ... It was a very moving and heart wrenching experience as the father of the little girl and his other two younger children were holding on to each other and sobbing. They were inconsolable and all in the church were in tears. The effects of the bombing were still seen on the high ceiling of the church where the bomb blasted and went up.”

From Kathmandu, Sister Bridget made her first visit to Surkhet to visit a women’s center, school, and the convent. “Surkhet is a beautiful place and Sister Rosita Kavilpurayidathil, our pioneer woman there, has done wonders with the people especially women and children.”

Sister Bridget witnessed firsthand what she describes as the “empowered women of Sister Rosita.” It happened on World Environment Day in the village of Gadi, about two hours drive from the Center. Sister Bridget and others were about half way to Gadi, when their van was stopped by a road blocked due to a dispute. The Sisters had no choice but to start out on foot for a 2-hour walk, mostly uphill. After walking some distance, the Sisters stopped briefly for a break and a cup of tea. Women dressed in pink and black saris came along who had heard about the roadblock. “They told us they will go and bring the vehicle ... and bring they did,” says Sister Bridget. “About 15 of them marched down the hill ... and came back with the vehicle. What we were not able to do they did with group bargaining power. These same women, some years ago, could not even stand up and say even one word in the class let alone in front of others, have now been transformed into powerful forces in the society, able to demand their rights.”

Sister Bridget’s last stop in Nepal was Dharan, where she had yet another adventure. “When I reached the airport at Birathnagar, I found no Sisters there to receive me as we had planned ... I found out that there was a strike in one area and our Sisters were stuck ... So, they called one of their friends, a shopkeeper, and told him to meet me and take me to the place where the Sisters were waiting. I asked the man how we were going and he said on the motorcycle.” I responded, “On the bike? With my luggage?” He said, “Don’t worry. We’ll manage. So, I sat on the bike and kept my heavy bag in my lap and away we went.”

Sister Bridget returned to India with many memories and a renewed respect for all in ministry in Nepal and all who live in that country. “This is the everyday experience of our Sisters in Nepal. They do not know what will happen from hour to hour, from day to day. But they continue their ministries in joy and enthusiasm and dedication, believing in the promise of Jesus that ‘I will be with you always.’”

Student unions threaten to attack Nepal schools

2010-08-07T22:44:00.001-04:00

From: http://www.ucanews.com/2010/08/05/student-unions-threaten-nepal-schools/

By Chirendra Satyal, Kathmandu

Nepal student unions have threatened violence against schools that failed to follow a union directive to go on strike in protest against education changes introduced by the government.

Eleven student unions enforced a nationwide strike on Aug. 5 to protest against the phasing out of the Proficiency Certificate Level exams.

“Bhasker Kafle, president of the All Nepal National Free Students Union, phoned asking why we had not followed their directive to close down,” said Jesuit Father Boniface Tigga, principal of St. Xavier’s School in Kathmandu.

“He warned that our school buses could be burnt if we did not follow directives. We would not close just because of a demand in the local press – but fearing the worst we have decided to send the children home this morning.”

The 1,800-student school faced great difficulty in having to contact parents and deal with young children who could not return home alone, Father Tigga added.

Students from the St. Mary’s Catholic High School for girls in Kathmandu also had to return home.

Class 11 students said their school was forced to close hurriedly.

However, other schools in the city defied threats and remain open.

Elsewhere, riot police in armored vans guarded Kathmandu colleges that had shut their gates.

Various student groups have engaged in street clashes over the past week.

Meanwhile, schools in other regions of the country faced similar problems.

Father Tigga said that he had received calls from Jesuit schools in eastern Nepal that had closed.

Sister Cecelia Simick, from the western town of Surkhet, said her school had to call off classes.

“But our small children could be seen in uniform loitering on the roadsides,” she said.

“We do not have any clear idea about why this strike was called,” added the Sister of Charity of Nazareth nun.

Sister Eva’s Loving Strength

2010-08-05T09:59:00.002-04:00

Eva Kowalski, SCN, sees Hospice patients’ grace, dignity and beauty

By Amy Taylor | Common Thread

Some Hospice of Nelson County volunteers prefer to visit a certain type of patient – maybe someone who can hold a conversation, or a patient who shares a similar background in quilting or fishing or music-making.

For Eva Kowalski, all patients are the right kind of patient. After decades of lovingly caring for homeless youngsters and AIDS sufferers, the Sister of Charity of Nazareth (SCN) never asks questions – and never says no – when asked to take on a new hospice case.

“There’s no patient nobody wants,” according to Kowalski, who demonstrates her belief every day.

That’s how the 66-year-old has ended up taking on three patients, an unheard-of volunteer caseload in the Hospice that’s part of Flaget Memorial Hospital in Bardstown. Most volunteers are content to visit one person at a time.

Kowalski is special in a number of ways, from her easy acceptance of being called “Eva” instead of “Sister,” to her tanned, trim figure that shows her love for golf, to her joyful attitude toward dying patients, no matter their circumstances.

She credits a lot to the quiet, loving strength she learned from her coal miner father, now gone, and to the zest for life she learned from her mother, “who is 93 and as chipper as they come.” She and her brother learned much about love from their parents, who took in six foster children over the years.

“That was a great experience,” Kowalski said. “It taught me that kids might do bad things, but there are no bad kids; only good kids. We have to touch their innate goodness and show it to them.”

After Kowalski was educated by the SCN’s, she joined the order in 1962. Then she spent 18 years at St. Thomas-St. Vincent in Louisville, a home “for children who couldn’t be with their parents. It was short-term residential care.” When that home closed, she worked five years at Home of the Innocents, an emergency shelter for children.

Kowalski found that the most difficult youngsters offered her the greatest chance to love.

“I loved every minute of it,” she said. “I loved the challenge of dealing with children in crisis. I always had hope that every child could leave a little bit happier, and a little closer to being the person God called them to be. You never, ever, EVER give up on a child. Never, ever.”

When her work in Louisville was done, Kowalski, who has a master’s degree in counseling psychology, moved to Florida to work in a shelter for runaway and homeless youth for 13 years.

“Some of the kids had AIDS,” she said. “Some of the boys and girls were prostituting themselves. Though I was coordinator of intake, I was very interested in outreach – that’s when we walked the beaches, went under bridges, or went to sleazebag motels looking for kids to invite them to come in for ‘three hots and a cot,’ we called it.”

While on sabbatical, Kowalski was led to serve a Catholic Charities “buddy program” for dying AIDS patients. “They had a right to have somebody with them when nobody else wanted to be with them,” she said. “Some had support, but many, when they told their families about their AIDS, were ostracized. Overall, I loved their courage and their spirit.”

Then cancer hit Kowalski in 1994. The example set by her AIDS patients helped sustain her, she said.

“I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon and liver cancer; 80 percent of my liver was cancerous. At first I refused chemo treatments. Then I went to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota,” where doctors convinced her to undergo chemotherapy.

Doctors told her that after chemo, she would require surgery to remove the remaining cancer. Surgery was never done. After chemo, it wasn’t needed.

“I’ve been cancer-free for years,” Kowalski said. “I shouldn’t be alive. It’s called a miracle.”

Cancer taught her two vital lessons, the volunteer said.

“One: I’m not afraid to die. The other: I never knew how much I was loved. I take those two things with me everywhere I go.”

Today after moving back to Bardstown to be closer to the SCN community, Kowalski takes those lessons to three Hospice of Nelson County patients every week.

“They’re all so radically different,” the volunteer said. “‘Nell’ is an intellectual. ‘Helen’ is a country person, full of wisdom about nature. ‘Rose’ has severe dementia, so she can’t talk or walk, but she loves to hold hands, and enjoys rides in her wheelchair.”

Hospice patients are dying – but “they still have grace and dignity and beauty,” she said. “I can live a good day or a bad day. You wake up every day and choose how to deal with suffering, illness and death.”

New Clinic Enables Sisters to Stay in ‘Rural Area’

2010-08-02T08:24:00.003-04:00

By Fabvienen Taylor

LEXINGTON — Ask Franciscan Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, a Sister of Charity, how long they plan to work as nurse practitioners in Durant and Lexington, they answer: “forever, or as long as the Lord wills it.”

The pair rotate working, one week at a time, at the Lexington Medical Clinic, a new facility, and the Durant Primary Care Clinic.

“The work is meaningful and it seems to be God’s call for us, and our communities have endorsed our being here,” said Sister Held.

For these two sisters and their religious communities, “here” means more than where they now live. “Here” means the Diocese of Jackson.

Both the Franciscan Sisters of Milwaukee (OSF) and the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Ky. (SCN), have long histories of working in health care and teaching, primarily with the marginalized and the poor, in the diocese.

In 1983, Sisters Held and Merrill worked in health care with Sacred Heart Southern Missions (SHSM) in Holly Springs, in the northeast part of the state.

From there they went to Oxford and worked for the Lafayette County Health Department. Later, they worked at the DePorres Health Center in Marks, which Sister Marilyn Aiello, a Sinsinawa Dominican and medical doctor, founded and was medical director of for many years. It was Sister Aiello, who had left DePorres and was working at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC), who alerted them to the need for nurse practitioners at the UMMC clinic in Lexington.

As the sisters moved from ministry to ministry they ended up living together.

From 2003 until last year, they worked at the UMMC clinic.

“We were down-sized,” said Sister Held.

Prior to that the clinic had cut positions to part-time but with the 2009 downsizing, the two nurse practitioners faced the possibility of having to move elsewhere to work.

“But the need was still here,” Sister Held said, citing dire health and poverty statistics in Holmes County and the lack of physicians.

“We felt committed to the people here and we try to live in the community where we serve,” she said.

“When you love where are, when you love the people and the people love you, you kind of sink your roots in a place,” Sister Held said.

Fortunately, for them and their patients, the sisters did not have to uproot to greener pastures. While at UMMC they had worked with Dr. Elias Abboud, a family practitioner.

He offered the sisters part-time work at his Durant clinic and shared with them his intention to establish a new clinic in Lexington, if they would work with him.

True to his commitment, work on the new clinic began in 2009. It was set to open in the latter part of the year.

But inclement weather delayed the opening of the Lexington Medical Clinic until April 2010. The new clinic is one of several businesses in the new building, which is located on Highway 12 just inside the city limits.

In addition to offices and a patient waiting area, there are three examination rooms. There are also three staff workers.

“We started with six patients a day but the numbers have built up to between 20 to 30 each day. We see babies up to the very elderly, but we don’t do prenatal care,” Sister Merrill said.

“Dr. Abboud made our being here, our staying here, possible,” she said. “He is really dedicated to the people here. He doesn’t toot his own horn but he really is doing a good service to the community.”

In addition to operating clinics in Lexington and Durant, Dr. Abboud works in the small UMMC hospital in Lexington and a hospital in Meridian.

He attends Gluckstadt St. Joseph Parish with his family and lives in Madison.

“The sisters committed to stay with me and work at the Durant clinic and at a new clinic in Lexington,” Dr. Abboud said.

“We have many patients there. If you treat people right, they will continue to come to you,” he said.

Patients can pay for services at the clinic with Medicare, Medicaid and other insurances carriers, he said.

“We help people the best way we can,” Dr. Abboud said. “We work with them.”

In addition to the UMMC clinic and hospital, a federally-funded clinic, the Mallory Community Health Center, is located in Lexington.

In practicing rural medicine, the sisters said they don’t have as many resources as more populated areas.

“There are not specialists here so we have to wear a lot of hats,” Sister Held said. “That is a real challenge because there can be a time lag in getting prompt information.”

For example, an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine is available at the hospital one day a week.

“You can’t get it on a moment’s notice. The hospital has an emergency room physician but if someone has a heart attack they have to be sent to Jackson. If they want a cardiologist appointment people have to go to Greenwood, Canton, Madison or Jackson.”

The ailments they treat among their patients are asthma, and with Holmes County rated one of the most obese in the state, high rates of diabetes, hypertension and other chronic illnesses, including mental illness.

“Poverty is a huge stressor for people here,” Sister Held said. “One out of four adults is unemployed and 51 percent of the children live below the poverty level.”

For many health professionals and doctors, working in rural clinics is not where they want to work.

“And they should not be in rural clinics,” said Sister Merrill. “We go where the need is. We know our calling is to work among the poor and we are well-suited here.”

And thanks to Dr. Abboud, they are better able to stay put until “forever, or as long as the Lord wills it.”

A Life Devoted to Spiritual Care

2010-07-27T10:08:00.002-04:00

From HealthScope Magazine

In 1812, the Sisters of Charity (SCN) began their works of education and health care in the wilderness of Kentucky. In 1952, a gentle legacy of caring was established when Memorial Hospital was founded in Chattanooga by the SCN.

Today, Memorial Health Care System, which includes Memorial North Park in Hixson, is Chattanooga’s only faith-based hospital system. Sister Celine Osbourn, is the remaining Sister of Charity of Nazareth in Chattanooga and serves as the Spiritual Care Representative at Memorial North Park. A unique figure and a vital part of Memorial Health Care System, Sister Celine is respected and admired for her servant leadership.

The Journey to Chattanooga

Sister Celine, the middle child of ten in a Catholic family, grew up in Springfield, Kentucky. At the age of 18, she joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and spent more than 35 years in education and principalship with a Master’s degree in educational administration. The journey to Chattanooga started with her roommate, Sister Thomas de Sales, SCN. “She was the last Sister of Charity of Nazareth to serve as Memorial Hospital’s chief executive officer,” Sister Celine, recalls. “I came to Chattanooga in 1993 to serve a ministry in the hospital that had meant so very much to her. Since the doors first opened we’ve had 101 sisters serving at Memorial. Our desire was to have people of all faiths feel comfortable and supported in their spiritual needs as well as their physical and emotional ones.”

“The day Sister Celine walked through the door our entire culture changed,” says Jerry McCrary, house administrator at North Park Hospital when Memorial bought it in 1998. “A new dimension was added, and it was faith.”

One of her first priorities was a chapel where people could go to meditate and pray. Built entirely with donations from friends and hospital employees, the Christ the Healer chapel is open to everyone and features beautiful stained glass windows depicting Biblical scenes of healing.

Patient Advocacy

“Sister Celine visits every single patient every day,” says Deb Moore, senior vice president and administrator for Memorial North Park Hospital. “Even if only for a few minutes, she is expressing care and compassion. Sometimes people just need to talk, and other times they might have a deeper concern like financial worries or end of life issues.”

Ms. Moore has seen Sister Celine play a critical role in representing the patient’s wishes when it is not their desire to continue with extreme measures to extend their life. She is able to convey the feelings of the patient and ease the family anxiety, bringing calm to an emotional situation.

As Mr. McCrary starts his evening as house administrator, he values the feedback she provides about patients like those newly diagnosed with cancer or families with special needs.

“Recently we had a family so poor that they had no financial means to feed themselves, and they were determined to be here for their acutely ill family member,” Jerry recalls. “Sister Celine arranged for their meals to be provided by the hospital.”

A Healing Mission

“Sister Celine is an integral part of who we are, and she helps us remember our roots,” says Sister Eileen Wrobleski, CSC, senior vice president of Mission Integration for Memorial Health Care System and a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. “She not only attends to the spiritual needs of the patients and their families but also participates in meetings and activities to help maintain an awareness of the organization’s mission and values.”

As the top executive for Memorial North Park, Deb Moore describes Sister Celine as a prayer partner and a spiritual mentor. “I always discuss with her the strategic steps for the hospital to be sure that the way we are making progress is measured against our values and that our mission is reflected in how we are making those decisions.”

The expressions of those core values – Reverence, Integrity, Compassion and Excellence – are seen and heard throughout the hospital in many of the works of Sister Celine, including the Healing Garden, the artwork in the patient rooms, the music in the hallways before Christmas provided by local church choirs, the donation of medications, equipment and supplies to Belize, the participation of department employees in delivering the noon prayer over the public address system and the annual Blessing of the Hands.

Executive Assistant Cindy Carroll says, “Sister Celine’s work extends to the support staff too. She gives me a special blessing as she touches my hands, and this reminds me why I am here.”

A Love For Life

“People often have an image of nuns that evolves as they get to know us and discover that we like to have fun like anybody else,” says Sister Eileen. “For example, Sister [Celine] and I both like football.”

An avid fan of Notre Dame football and Kentucky Wildcats basketball, Sister Celine has been known to host a Kentucky Derby party complete with a fancy hat contest.

“She knows her jockeys!” laughs Betsy Kammerdiener, Memorial Hospital chaplain and Baptist ordained minister. “I’ve worked with Sisters from many different congregations, and she is a wonderful example of their spirit. At Memorial North Park she has set the tone for what good ministry looks like, embracing people from all races and denominations.”

The Future With Sister Celine

At 82, Sister Celine has no thoughts of retiring, and she is leading a new program for SCN Associates to carry on their legacy and history. Betsy Kammerdiener and Cindy Carroll are both participating in the two-year program of classes and retreats that give them the chance to connect with the spirit of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and continue their ministry at Memorial, in Chattanooga, and around the world – keeping a little piece of Sister Celine in their hearts forever.

Taking a Look

2010-07-22T16:13:00.002-04:00

Invited community gets sneak peak at new area hospital

The Times-Tribune

CORBIN — By Carl Keith Greene / Staff Writer

The ribbon was cut and invited community leaders got their first look inside the new St. Joseph-London hospital on a rainy Wednesday.

The $152 million hospital’s construction began about two years ago and is expected to open Aug. 19 when patients will be transported from the existing facility in downtown to the new building.

Along with patients, some 1,000 employees will populate the 340,000 square-foot building with 120 patient rooms, six surgical suites and five heart catheterization laboratories.

The hospital has on its medical staff some 165 active and affiliate medical staff members.

A circular chapel bearing a stained glass window in the shape of a cross, with each of the tiny glass portions of the cross engraved with a Biblical verse, is just off the entrance.

An atrium style lobby greets patients and visitors with plenty of light and plenty of welcome.

Along with the latest medical technology, the hospital features expansive interior spaces, original artwork and all patient rooms are for single occupancy.

Outside is a lake that can be viewed from the Fountain View Cafe, the hospital’s cafeteria which will be open from 6:30 a.m. to midnight.

Along with the lake will be a Healing Garden.

Wednesday, the hospital was dedicated by Ronald W. Gainer, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lexington.

In his homily, Gainer said, “When Jesus healed, he wanted his contemporaries to know the kingdom of his Father had dawned upon them. And these miracles of bringing people who were broken and ill and sick to wholeness was a sign of God’s will for us, a sign of he presence of the kingdom.”

He noted that after Pentecost, the ministry of healing and preaching the presence of the kingdom was passed on to the church.

“In our catholic community of faith, we have a proud and centuries-long history and legacy of continuing the work of God’s healing through the hospitals and various health care services that we have tried to sponsor and provide,” he added.

The bishop was followed by St. Joseph Health System’s president and CEO, Gene Woods.

He called the opening of St. Joseph-London as one of “the most anticipated” openings of all in the St. Joseph system.

“This building and the state-of-the-art technology that will now pour forth will enable us to take care even to another level,” he added.

Next came Elizabeth Wendeln, of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, who bought the hospital in 1946 from London physician H.V. Pennington, who built the hospital in 1926.

She is the secretary of the St. Joseph Health System Board.

She recalled the early days of the hospital, then called Marymount.

One of the items from the London newspaper she quoted was, “Mr. H.V. Pennington offers the purchase of the Pennington Hospital to the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth at the cost of $120,000. This does not include one mobile General Electric x-ray, one Victor ultra-violet machine or two microscopes that are now needed in another laboratory. It does include nine-and-a-half acres of land, all the buildings, three cows, one mule and all the chickens.”

London’s Mike Fiechter, chair of St. Joseph Health System Board said, “As with many of you, Marymount Hospital, and now St. Joseph, have had a powerful impact on my life and the life of my family. I was born there in 1956. My sisters were born there and I understand the legacy of care that they offer.”

He described the new facility as patient-centered.

Kentucky State Sen. David Williams told those present, “This building that’s here today and the care that is represented that will come in the future has a statewide impact.”

Mayor Troy Rudder gave the final presentation.

“We are truly, truly honored to be in the presence of so many people who make such a difference in our community,” he began.

“I have found a proverb, ‘He who has health has hope. And he who has hope has everything.’ St. Joe, you’re our hope. You’re the hope of all the people in time of distress, time of illness. You provide quality care for all of us. You are our hope.”

Following the mayor, Gainer blessed the hospital and the new crucifixes that are to be hung in the building and the ribbon was cut.

A large group of visitors toured the new facility.

From 5-9 p.m. Friday, a Community Celebration and Sneak Preview Party will be held with facility tours, refreshments, Bluegrass music and giveaways.

And Saturday, July 31, from 1-3 p.m., an expectant parents reception will be held.

Remembering St. Vincent's

2010-07-22T16:05:00.001-04:00

The St. Vincent's Home for Boys in Roanoke was torn down in 2008 to make room for a church parking lot. A new memorial marks the spot where the orphanage stood. WVTF's Rhonda Miller has more from a former St. Vincent's boy who says a good life begins wherever you are.

Garifuna Religious Sisters Honored In Los Angeles

2010-07-19T14:35:00.002-04:00

From Village View Post

About six months ago, after a visit to the Mother House of the the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans, Louisiana, Mrs. Anita Martinez conceived the idea of bringing all the Garifuna religious sisters to Los Angeles to recognize, honor, and celebrate them for their great service to God, our church and humanity. The first thing that Mrs. Martinez did was form a committee of twenty-two talented individuals. She then divided the committee into several sub-committees, and went about the arduous task of identifying and locating the sisters. When it was all over, they had located fifteen sisters – ten from Belize: Sr. Joan Flores, Sr. Evelyn Estrada, Sr.Josita Ogaldez, Sr. Esther Marie Estero, Sr. Mary Rebecca Carlos Castillo, Sr. Jean Martinez and Sr. Veronica Ruth Lambey, all Sisters of the Holy Family; Sr. Mary Avila Avila and Sr. Mary Julia Apolonio, both Oblate Sisters of Providence and Sr. Barbara Flores, a Sister of Charity of Nazareth. Four of the sisters hail from Honduras. They are: Sr. Mary Felicia Avila, an Oblate Sister of Providence, Hermana Nolvia Manaiza from the Missionares de Nuestra Senora de la Presentacion; Hermana Maria Euzebia Chebita Avila Benedith, from the Missionara Claretina Religiosos Maria Imaculada, and Hermana Leonarda Martinez Lalin belonging to Hermanas Oblatas al Divino Amor. The only Guatemalan in the group is Hermana Flory Leiva from Livingston, serving in the Hermanas Escolares de San Francisco order. “At first it was difficult rounding up all these sisters because initially I was told that there were no Garifuna religious sisters in Honduras,”said Mrs. Martinez, chair of the committee. “This was hard to accept so I kept asking around until I got the names of Sister Leonarda Lalin and later Sister Nolvia Manaiza and made contact with them,” she concluded.

The celebration began with a welcome reception at the home of Mrs. Anita Martinez, where all the sisters had gathered on Friday afternoon, to meet and greet each other, and members of the committee. “It was a joy meeting and reconnecting with my fellow Garifuna Sisters,” said Sister Mary Avila Avila. “Having also celebrated two weeks ago in New York City - a celebration given by my cousin, Claudette Sacasa, and her committee, and surrounded by family and friends, I can truthfully say that this recognition of the Garifuna Sisters here in Los Angeles filled my cup to overflow. What an awesome way to conclude my 50th anniversary. I give thanks to God for all who have supported me in my religious life,” said Sister Avila. At the welcome reception the sisters were treated to a variety of Garifuna and Belizean dishes and delicacies.

The next day, Saturday, the community gathered at Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini Church for a Thanksgiving Mass. The celebrant was Father Vincent Musaby'Imana, a priest from Uganda, Africa. He was assisted by three Garifuna deacons - Deacon Alvin Lambey, from the Diocese of Belize, Deacon Harold Sampson, from the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, and yours truly, Deacon Nieves Hernandez, from the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona. I was also the Homilist. In my homily, I acknowledged each of the sisters individually and shared personal stories and anecdotes about them. I told the approximately three hundred or so well wishers how wonderful it was for a change to honor and celebrate people deserving of recognition, honor and celebrity like our sisters – people who had dedicated their lives in serving God, his church and his people; instead of honoring and celebrating people like movie stars, athletes, musicians and politicians, who were not always worthy to be honored and celebrated. Following the Mass, everyone proceeded to the church’s parish hall where a dinner reception and awards program had been planned for the sisters.

The program consisted of performances by local Garifuna artists, and a keynote address given by Deacon Alvin Lambey, who had traveled all the way from Belize with his wife, Eleanor, to attend the celebrations. In his keynote address, Deacon Lambey made the point that although the sisters may not have educated and interacted with all Belizeans, including himself, that their goodness, contributions and hard work had in some way benefited those they did not touch directly through those they were able to touch. He concluded his remarks by thanking the sisters for their hard work and contributions, and wished all of them well. The evening concluded with each of the sisters being awarded a plaque from the committee and each giving a speech. They each expressed their gratitude to the committee for bringing them to Los Angeles to be honored in such a beautiful and meaningful way.

The next day Sunday, the sisters were treated to a brunch at Shanghai Red’s Restaurant in Marina Del Rey, California, and then taken on a limousine tour where they visited several historical landmarks in Los Angeles. Following the tour, the sisters were treated to dinner at Mar’s Caribbean Gardens Restaurant in Gardena, California. “The sisters had a wonderful time this weekend,” said Ms. Helen Laurie, a member of the committee, who was responsible for producing the beautiful Thanksgiving Mass Booklets and the Commemorative Brochures. “I am delighted to have been part of the preparations to celebrate these awe-inspiring women of God. It is a blessing to have made their acquaintance and be spiritually inspired by their love and commitment to God and humanity,” she concluded.

From the looks of everything the weekend was a success, thanks to Mrs. Anita Martinez and the Garifuna Sisters Recognition Committee, and to all those who in some way, contributed to the success of the celebrations.

"Following the Mass, everyone proceeded to the church’s parish hall where a dinner reception and awards program had been planned for the sisters."

Celebrating 50 Years

2010-07-09T13:47:00.004-04:00

Members of the 1960 Entrance Class from Pittsburgh and Nazareth spent a week together at Dunbar Retreat House in Dunbar, PA, July 1–8, 2010.

SCNs Ann Carol Mann, Barbara VonBokern, Connie Tarallo, Corrine Giel, Donna Marie Palya, Janice Downs, LaVerne Sihelnik, Lorena Fleischmann, Mary Anne Burkardt, Sarah Marie Geier, Sharen Baldy, and Therese Arru spent time together sharing culinary arts, telling stories, sharing memories of novitiate days and early mission experiences, laughing, crying, and enjoying the beauty of our 'home' there as well as other scenic attractions in the area.

Prayer times together added to the depth of sharing which helped everyone get to know one another in a very special way. The highlight of the time was visiting the Sisters at St. Louise convent — sharing a meal with them, having the 'grand tour' of their home, and then visiting the Sisters living in Lourdes Hall and Caritas Apartment.

We left tearfully and gratefully with a song in our hearts: "Ubi Caritas et amor — Ubit Caritas Deus ibi est!"

A Soft Spot for Circuitry

2010-07-07T10:57:00.004-04:00

From the New York Times

Nothing Eileen Oldaker tried could calm her mother when she called from the nursing home, disoriented and distressed in what was likely the early stages of dementia. So Ms. Oldaker hung up, dialed the nurses’ station and begged them to get Paro.

Paro is a robot modeled after a baby harp seal. It trills and paddles when petted, blinks when the lights go up, opens its eyes at loud noises and yelps when handled roughly or held upside down. Two microprocessors under its artificial white fur adjust its behavior based on information from dozens of hidden sensors that monitor sound, light, temperature and touch. It perks up at the sound of its name, praise and, over time, the words it hears frequently.

“Oh, there’s my baby,” Ms. Oldaker’s mother, Millie Lesek, exclaimed that night last winter when a staff member delivered the seal to her. “Here, Paro, come to me.”

“Meeaakk,” it replied, blinking up at her through long lashes.

Janet Walters, the staff member at Vincentian Home in Pittsburgh who recalled the incident, said she asked Mrs. Lesek if she would watch Paro for a little while.

“I need someone to baby-sit,” she told her.

“Don’t rush,” Mrs. Lesek instructed, stroking Paro’s antiseptic coat in a motion that elicited a wriggle of apparent delight. “He can stay the night with me.”

After years of effort to coax empathy from circuitry, devices designed to soothe, support and keep us company are venturing out of the laboratory. Paro, its name derived from the first sounds of the words “personal robot,” is one of a handful that take forms that are often odd, still primitive and yet, for at least some early users, strangely compelling.

For recovering addicts, doctors at the University of Massachusetts are testing a wearable sensor designed to discern drug cravings and send text messages with just the right blend of tough love.

For those with a hankering for a custom-built companion and $125,000 to spend, a talking robotic head can be modeled on the personality of your choice. It will smile at its own jokes and recognize familiar faces.

For dieters, a 15-inch robot with a touch-screen belly, big eyes and a female voice sits on the kitchen counter and offers encouragement after calculating their calories and exercise.

“Would you come back tomorrow to talk?” the robot coach asks hopefully at the end of each session. “It’s good if we can discuss your progress every day.”

Robots guided by some form of artificial intelligence now explore outer space, drop bombs, perform surgery and play soccer. Computers running artificial intelligence software handle customer service calls and beat humans at chess and, maybe, “Jeopardy!”

Machines as Companions

But building a machine that fills the basic human need for companionship has proved more difficult. Even at its edgiest, artificial intelligence cannot hold up its side of a wide-ranging conversation or, say, tell by an expression when someone is about to cry. Still, the new devices take advantage of the innate soft spot many people have for objects that seem to care — or need someone to care for them.

Their appearances in nursing homes, schools and the occasional living room are adding fuel to science fiction fantasies of machines that people can relate to as well as rely on. And they are adding a personal dimension to a debate over what human responsibilities machines should, and should not, be allowed to undertake.

Ms. Oldaker, a part-time administrative assistant, said she was glad Paro could keep her mother company when she could not. In the months before Mrs. Lesek died in March, the robot became a fixture in the room even during her daughter’s own frequent visits.

“He likes to lie on my left arm here,” Mrs. Lesek would tell her daughter. “He’s learned some new words,” she would report.

Ms. Oldaker readily took up the game, if that is what it was.

“Here, Mom, I’ll take him,” she would say, boosting Paro onto her own lap when her mother’s food tray arrived.

Even when their ministrations extended beyond the robot’s two-hour charge, Mrs. Lesek managed to derive a kind of maternal satisfaction from the seal’s sudden stillness.

“I’m the only one who can put him to sleep,” Mrs. Lesek would tell her daughter when the battery ran out.

“He was very therapeutic for her, and for me too,” Ms. Oldaker said. “It was nice just to see her enjoying something.”

Like pet therapy without the pet, Paro may hold benefits for patients who are allergic, and even those who are not. It need not be fed or cleaned up after, it does not bite, and it may, in some cases, offer an alternative to medication, a standard recourse for patients who are depressed or hard to control.

In Japan, about 1,000 Paros have been sold to nursing homes, hospitals and individual consumers. In Denmark, government health officials are trying to quantify its effect on blood pressure and other stress indicators. Since the robot went on sale in the United States late last year, a few elder care facilities have bought one; several dozen others, hedging their bets, have signed rental agreements with the Japanese manufacturer.

But some social critics see the use of robots with such patients as a sign of the low status of the elderly, especially those with dementia. As the technology improves, argues Sherry Turkle, a psychologist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it will only grow more tempting to substitute Paro and its ilk for a family member, friend — or actual pet — in an ever-widening number of situations.

“Paro is the beginning,” she said. “It’s allowing us to say, ‘A robot makes sense in this situation.’ But does it really? And then what? What about a robot that reads to your kid? A robot you tell your troubles to? Who among us will eventually be deserving enough to deserve people?”

But if there is an argument to be made that people should aspire to more for their loved ones than an emotional rapport with machines, some suggest that such relationships may not be so unfamiliar. Who among us, after all, has not feigned interest in another? Or abruptly switched off their affections, for that matter?

In any case, the question, some artificial intelligence aficionados say, is not whether to avoid the feelings that friendly machines evoke in us, but to figure out how to process them.

“We as a species have to learn how to deal with this new range of synthetic emotions that we’re experiencing — synthetic in the sense that they’re emanating from a manufactured object,” said Timothy Hornyak, author of “Loving the Machine,” a book about robots in Japan, where the world’s most rapidly aging population is showing a growing acceptance of robotic care. “Our technology,” he argues, “is getting ahead of our psychology.”

More proficient at emotional bonding and less toylike than their precursors — say, Aibo the metallic dog or the talking Furby of Christmas crazes past — these devices are still unlikely to replace anyone’s best friend. But as the cost of making them falls, they may be vying for a silicon-based place in our affections.

Strangely Compelling

Marleen Dean, the activities manager at Vincentian Home, where Mrs. Lesek was a resident, was not easily won over. When the home bought six Paro seals with a grant from a local government this year, “I thought, ‘What are they doing, paying $6,000 for a toy that I could get at a thrift store for $2?’ ” she said.

So she did her own test, giving residents who had responded to Paro a teddy bear with the same white fur and eyes that also opened and closed. “No reaction at all,” she reported.

Vincentian now includes “Paro visits” in its daily roster of rehabilitative services, including aromatherapy and visits from real pets. Agitated residents are often calmed by Paro; perpetually unresponsive patients light up when it is placed in their hands.

“It’s something about how it shimmies and opens its eyes when they talk to it,” Ms. Dean said, still somewhat mystified. “It seems like it’s responding to them.”

Even when it is not. Part of the seal’s appeal, according to Dr. Takanori Shibata, the computer scientist who invented Paro with financing from the Japanese government, stems from a kind of robotic sleight of hand. Scientists have observed that people tend to dislike robots whose behavior does not match their preconceptions. Because the technology was not sophisticated enough to conjure any animal accurately, he chose one that was unfamiliar, but still lovable enough that people could project their imaginations onto it. “People think of Paro,” he said, “as ‘like living.’ ”

It is a process he — and others — have begun calling “robot therapy.”

At the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington on a recent sunny afternoon, about a dozen residents and visitors from a neighboring retirement home gathered in the cafeteria for their weekly session. The guests brought their own slightly dingy-looking Paros, and in wheelchairs and walkers they took turns grooming, petting and crooning to the two robotic seals.

Paro’s charms did not work on everyone.

“I’m not absolutely convinced,” said Mary Anna Roche, 88, a former newspaper reporter. The seal’s novelty, she suggested, would wear off quickly.

But she softened when she looked at her friend Clem Smith running her fingers through Paro’s fur.

“What are they feeding you?” Ms. Smith, a Shakespeare lover who said she was 98, asked the seal. “You’re getting fat.”

A stickler for accuracy, Ms. Roche scolded her friend. “You’re 101, remember? I was at your birthday!”

The seal stirred at her tone.

“Oh!” Ms. Roche exclaimed. “He’s opening his eyes.”

As the hour wore on, staff members observed that the robot facilitated human interaction, rather than replaced it.

“This is a nice gathering,” said Philip Richardson, who had spoken only a few words since having a stroke a few months earlier.

Dorothy Marette, the clinical psychologist supervising the cafeteria klatch, said she initially presumed that those who responded to Paro did not realize it was a robot — or that they forgot it between visits.

Yet several patients whose mental faculties are entirely intact have made special visits to her office to see the robotic harp seal.

“I know that this isn’t an animal,” said Pierre Carter, 62, smiling down at the robot he calls Fluffy. “But it brings out natural feelings.”

Then Dr. Marette acknowledged an observation she had made of her own behavior: “It’s hard to walk down the hall with it cooing and making noises and not start talking to it. I had a car that I used to talk to that was a lot less responsive.”

Accepting a Trusty Tool

That effect, computer science experts said, stems from what appears to be a basic human reflex to treat objects that respond to their surroundings as alive, even when we know perfectly well that they are not.

Teenagers wept over the deaths of their digital Tamagotchi pets in the late 1990s; some owners of Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners are known to dress them up and give them nicknames.

”When something responds to us, we are built for our emotions to trigger, even when we are 110 percent certain that it is not human,” said Clifford Nass, a professor of computer science at Stanford University. “Which brings up the ethical question: Should you meet the needs of people with something that basically suckers them?”

An answer may lie in whether one signs on to be manipulated.

For Amna Carreiro, a program manager at the M.I.T. Media Lab who volunteered to try a prototype of Autom, the diet coach robot, the point was to lose weight. After naming her robot Maya (“Just something about the way it looked”) and dutifully entering her meals and exercise on its touch screen for a few nights, “It kind of became part of the family,” she said. She lost nine pounds in six weeks.

Cory Kidd, who developed Autom as a graduate student at M.I.T., said that eye contact was crucial to the robot’s appeal and that he had opted for a female voice because of research showing that people see women as especially supportive and helpful. If a user enters an enthusiastic “Definitely!” to the question “Will you tell me what you’ve eaten today?” Autom gets right down to business. A reluctant “If you insist” elicits a more coaxing tone. It was the blend of the machine’s dispassion with its personal attention that Ms. Carreiro found particularly helpful.

“It would say, ‘You did not fulfill your goal today; how about 15 minutes of extra walking tomorrow?’ ” she recalled. “It was always ready with a Plan B.”

Aetna, the insurance company, said it hoped to set up a trial to see whether people using it stayed on their diets longer than those who used other programs when the robot goes on sale next year.

Of course, Autom’s users can choose to lie. That may be less feasible with an emotion detector under development with a million-dollar grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse that is aimed at substance abusers who want to stay clean.

Dr. Edward Boyer of the University of Massachusetts Medical School plans to test the system, which he calls a “portable conscience,” on Iraq veterans later this year. The volunteers will enter information, like places or people or events that set off cravings, and select a range of messages that they think will be most effective in a moment of temptation.

Then they don wristbands with sensors that detect physiological information correlated with their craving. With a spike in pulse not related to exertion, for instance, a wireless signal would alert the person’s cellphone, which in turn would flash a message like “What are you doing now? Is this a good time to talk?” It might grow more insistent if there was no reply. (Hallmark has been solicited for help in generating evocative messages.)

With GPS units and the right algorithms, such a system could tactfully suggest other routes when recovering addicts approached places that hold particular temptation — like a corner where they used to buy drugs. It could show pictures of their children or play a motivational song.

“It works when you begin to see it as a trustworthy companion,” Dr. Boyer said. “It’s designed to be there for you.”

Sisters travel to Botswana

2010-07-03T12:43:00.012-04:00

Sisters Susan Gatz and Elaine McCarron left Louisville, Kentucky yesterday to travel to Botswana. Sister Susan, Vice President of the SCN Congregation, will visit the ministry sites for two weeks. Sister Elaine will stay for two months to help in numerous ways.

Sisters and friends gathered at St. Vincent Church in Nazareth, KY to bless the travelers during the morning liturgy. Then, a group of Sisters and Associates bid them farewell at the airport.

The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth began ministry in Botswana in September 2000.

Botswana is in Africa, just north of the country of South Africa. It is about the size of Texas. Approximately 1.6 million people live in Botswana, which has a high rate of HIV/AIDS infection.

SCN Family Ministries in Botswana include:

- Outreach for those infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS

- Day care services for children in need, including those orphaned because of HIV/AIDS

- Administering a 10-bed Hospice for those affected by HIV/AIDS

- Skills training for women so they can support themselves and their families

- Efforts to provide easier access to basic necessities like water

American Healthcare Association Selects Nazareth Home for Award

2010-07-02T14:53:00.001-04:00

The American Healthcare Association National Quality Award Program has selected Nazareth Home, Louisville, Ky., as a “Bronze – Commitment to Quality” award winner for 2010. This is the first year they have been awarded this distinction. This award is part of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award program designed to recognize business and health care organizations for performance excellence. To put this in perspective, there are roughly 16,000 nursing homes in the United States. This award has been given to 1,543 nursing homes since the inception of the program and was awarded to 496 facilities in 46 states this year. There are less than 40 nursing homes nationally in the two higher categories of Silver and Gold. In Kentucky, nine nursing centers have been awarded the Bronze distinction in 2010.

Update on Shooting at Mokama

2010-07-01T11:22:00.005-04:00

The SCN Family is asking for prayers following an attack at the Mokama, India campus where SCNs live and minister.

The victim, Father Michael Ignatius, is recovering following surgery. He was attacked on June 28 in the Rectory which is located on the same campus where the SCNs first began their ministries more than six decades ago. Ministries on campus include a hospital, hostels, and a nursing school.

According to Father Michael, three men in masks burst into the room where he was watching television and began firing shots. Several shots were fired, fracturing both of his hands. Father Michael was alone and it is believed the door to the parish house may have been left unlocked. Father Michael was taken to Nazareth Hospital in Mokama and transferred to Kurji Holy Family in Patna, India. He underwent surgery so doctors could further explore and clean the wounds to investigate for internal injury. According to the attending surgeon, the eight incoming and outgoing bullet holes are not life threatening.

Father Michael says that it is a mystery for him why these attackers came for his life. “I have no enmity with any of the Catholics of the parish,” says Father Michael. He also says it is something like a nightmare when he thinks of how he faced the last bullet which they aimed straight to his head from a close angle. He had just a fraction of a second to react quickly to block the way of the incoming bullet with a chair. Father Michael says he will go back to Mokama if asked to do so. Father Alex Vedamackiam has left Mokama and is staying in another city until the Archbishop returns later in July.

The school and the hostel for the boys and girls have closed for the week. The parish house also remains closed. There is an uneasy silence all around says Father Gladis. Sisters in Mokama are safe but concerned. They have played a key role in helping to care for Father Michael. The hospital employees and nurses are also shaken.

The attack is under investigation.

More in the Union of Catholic Asian News: Masked Men Shoot and Injure Priest in Bihar

Masked Men Shoot and Injure Priest in Bihar

2010-06-30T11:59:00.004-04:00

Story by Malini Manjoly, SCN from Union of Catholic Asian News

Three masked men shot and wounded a Catholic priest in Mokama in the Indian state of Bihar last night.

The motives for the attack are unclear.

Father Michael Ignatius, the local parish priest, received four gunshot wounds which shattered his hands but are not life threatening. He was rushed by police escort to Kurji Holy Family Hospital, Patna, where he is still being treated.

Father Ignatius says he was watching television at his residence when the attack took place. The men came into his unlocked room, fired at him and left. As he fell to the ground and called for help, they returned and fired again. He claimed they were aiming for his chest but he blocked the bullets with his hands.

Assistant parish priest Father Alex Vedamackiam was in his room at the time and was unharmed.

The watchman at the residence recognized one of the attackers, a local Catholic, who has now fled. Police have taken his younger brother into custody.

The attackers’ motives are still under investigation. Police have ruled out robbery as the watchman’s cell phone was the only thing stolen.

Mokama is a notorious crime black spot. Father Matthew Uzhuthal, vicar general of Patna archdiocese, was stabbed to death in 2005 by a youth who allegedly demanded money. The murdered cleric had also been parish priest in Mokama for several years.

At MDA camp, ‘you don't see the disability, you just see the person'

2010-06-28T09:45:00.002-04:00

From Southern Maryland Newspapers Online

Philip Bouyer, 11, gets a ride around Camp Maria in the sidecar of motorcyclist Don "Fuzzy" Warren of Dundalk as the Baltimore Metro Harley-Davidson Chapter visited the Muscular Dystrophy Association Camp on Wednesday to offer rides.

When she was 10, and preparing for a summer camp vacation at Camp Maria Retreat Center on Breton Bay, Claire Menke was a bit apprehensive about an extended trip away from family, friends and the familiar scenery of home.

"I was a bit of a mama's girl," said Menke of Middletown, now 15. "Now, not so much. I was a little scared because it was my first time away from home for a long period of time. My first two years, I called home every night. But, you learn to adjust."

Menke has attended MDA Camp at Camp Maria every summer since, except for last year. In 2009, MDA Camp was canceled due to concerns about the H1N1 flu virus. For Menke, the camp provides a welcome change from the routine of life.

From last Sunday through tomorrow, Saturday, Camp Maria is hosting 57 campers with neuromuscular diseases for horseback riding, magic shows, K-9 demonstrations, pinewood derby competitions, dances, campfires and other activities many kids take for granted. The children, ages 6 to 17, come from all across the state.

"Sunday is a blur. Monday and Tuesday we're bonding. Wednesdays, we let them wander off, a little," says camp counselor Dennis Style, a postal worker from Baltimore and a volunteer at the camp since 1997. "After the first day you don't see the disability, you just see the person."

"At home I don't really get out much, aside from school," Menke said. "But camp is a very wide-open place for kids with challenges, or without challenges. It's very accessible."

For many MDA campers, this may be the only week of the year to relax and be seen as an individual, instead of as a person with a disability. There are all sorts of activities available, from scavenger hunts and crafts projects to a wheelchair-based football game created by a former camper. They fish, crab, ride ponies or motorcycles or just enjoy the scenery and relaxed atmosphere at Camp Maria.

"We let them gravitate toward what they're interested in," Style said. "We try not to push, just encourage."

Each camper is paired with a volunteer camp counselor who stays with them for the entire week. There are also several "floating" counselors, available to give the volunteers a break when they need it. Many of the 60 counselors who worked at MDA Camp this year are returning volunteers.

"The counselors get so much more out of it than the kids do," said Rachel Lewkowicz, the camp's director. "For the kids, it's the best week of the year, and for the counselors it's the best week of their year, too. It's a little, happy bubble."

Angela Penn has volunteered as a counselor every summer for the past 35 years. She first heard about MDA Camp from a radio ad recruiting volunteers.

"I had already chosen my vacation week," and it was the week MDA Camp was scheduled to need volunteers, Penn said. Though she first got involved out of a desire to help children, Penn has found that the camp benefits her, too.

"It's an incredible experience. It doesn't matter how much money you make or what you do for a living," Penn said. "All that superficial, you leave it [at home]. It's been a blessing."

The counselors are trained to keep the children healthy and safe and then get out of the way so the campers can have a good time. The camp also has an all-volunteer MAC team: medical and activity coordinators include a doctor, nurse, physical and respiratory therapists and a lifeguard. Having a fully qualified staff and abundant counselors helps parents feel comfortable about sending their children to camp far from home.

"For some parents, this is the only week of vacation they get in a year, and a break to be with their other kids. It's just as special for them," Lewkowicz said. She and other MDA Camp staff reassure parents that though everyday life is full of challenges, Camp Maria's MDA Camp is different.

"Let us have them. We know how to handle them here. We're safe here. Go take a breather."

Joe and Racquel Calvert of Baltimore County came to Camp Maria for a special visitors day with their 5-year-old daughter, Olivia, who will attend the camp next summer. The Calverts were impressed with the facility, the staff and the air of camaraderie among campers and counselors. For their family, the prospect of a week's safe haven — in a place that focuses on fun — can give hope for the whole year.

"As a parent, you want to give your kids the best possible experience, and sometimes no amount of money can do that," Joe Calvert said. "But here, with all these kids, the disability doesn't even matter."

Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Nepal

2010-06-25T08:23:00.002-04:00

SCNs in Nepal

This video highlights the work in ministry of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Nepal.

The mission of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth is to work for justice in solidarity with oppressed peoples, especially the economically poor and women, and to care for the earth.

SCN Family Ministries in Nepal include:

Rehabilitation of mentally-ill women
A school for physically/mentally challenged children
Schools for elementary through high school students
Non-formal education for village and street children
Adult literacy training in marketable skills in cottage industries
Centers for holistic care
Human rights education for women
Development centers which help women become leaders and transform the status of women in their home villages

Catholic Hospital Boosts HIV/AIDS Nursing Care

2010-06-24T13:38:00.002-04:00

By Malini Manjaly, SCN

A Catholic hospital in India’s Bihar state, which has 90,000 HIV/AIDS patients, has conducted a meeting to address the nursing challenges created by the pandemic.

“The main objective of the meeting was to work together in strengthening the quality of nursing education and services in the hospitals,” said T. Dileep Kumar, president of the Indian Nursing Council and nursing adviser to the Indian government.

The Nazareth Hospital in Mokama, about 60 kilometers from Patna, the state capital, organized the one-day meeting of nursing superintendents on June 21.

The hospital, the only one in the state that carries out training on the nursing of HIV/AIDS patients, has so far trained 548 nurses over 22 sessions.

More nurses need to be trained annually as India will be short of about 685,000 nurses by 2012, said Sandeep Kumar, the state government’s assistant health secretary.

“There are 90,000 HIV/AIDS-inflicted patients in Bihar and it is imperative to reduce the transmission of this disease by following universal precautions,” Kumar said.

“The quality of nursing service is very poor” due to a very low nurse-patient ratio in Bihar, he said.

The meeting was supported by:

The Indian Nursing Council
Government of Bihar Health Services
UNICEF Patna
The Futures Group under The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Lawrenceville Students Help Preserve Memories in a Jar

2010-06-18T09:40:00.002-04:00

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

When Veronica Gult's youngest son failed to pass the test to enter Carnegie Mellon University, he gave her a valuable bit of information: "Don't let anyone tell you your answers don't mean anything. They always do."

The residents at Vincentian de Marillac nursing home in Stanton Heights took his advice to heart when they answered questions about their life from students at Career Connections Charter High School in Lawrenceville.

Four students from the school presented eight residents with "memory jars" on Wednesday, which they created after interviewing residents last month. The jars contained questions and answers about the residents' lives: their childhood, family, marriage, even their funeral wishes.

"It's not an everyday thing where you meet new people and at the same time are able to look back at their history," said Alexis Holmes, 16, of Highland Park, a 10th-grader at the school.

The memory jars are part of a "Pay it Forward" initiative, now in its third year at the school. It gives the students a chance to reach out to the school's surrounding communities and interact with residents at places like food banks, shelters and nursing homes.

Nearly a month earlier, eight students traveled to Vincentian de Marillac to eat lunch with residents and talk with them one-on-one. The students asked them more than 100 questions about their past and their lives now, including whether they are afraid to die and who their best friend was as a child. Many of the students found themselves sharing things about their own lives, realizing they had more in common with the residents than they thought.

The students returned yesterday with jars, brightly decorated with ribbons, stickers and pictures to reflect the tastes of the residents. Each jar contained strips of paper that held the answers to every question the students asked.

"It was nice remembering all the things from my past," said Gult, 86. "I never realized I had forgotten so many things until I was asked a question about them."

"It's not about the activity the students are doing with the residents, it's about the connections the students are making," said Aimi Long, activities manager at Vincentian de Marillac. "The residents are getting to experience the young, and the students are getting the experience of working with the residents."

They will keep the jars in their rooms, and every day a staff member will pull a "memory" from the jar so they can talk about it.

"Not only do the residents get to go back and reminisce about things in their past, but family members and staff can learn things about the resident they never knew," Long said.