Catholic Health World - December 15, 2022

Ministry’s holiday greetings 3-13 Chairperson’s Christmas message 2

Hand-painted winter scape warms up waiting room of SSM Health clinic

By JULIE MINDA

When the day’s high temperature hovers at or below freezing, Artemio Huerta’s chilly scenes bring warmth and cheer to patients in a waiting area of SSM Health Dean Medical Group's east Madison, Wisconsin, clinic. The former clinic staffer hand-painted the intricate winter scape on the windowpanes.

Over the course of about two weeks in mid-November, Huerta spent several hours a day adorning the second-story windows with a panorama of snow-covered hills and ice-laced evergreens. There’s a horsedrawn carriage, a snowman family, snow children snowboarding, a steam locomotive rounding a bend and a cluster of cozy lakeside cottages.

This is the third consecutive year that Huerta, a former member of the clinic’s housekeeping crew, has created a window mural of a winter scene for the clinic. The designs are entirely from his imagination.

in

Artist hopes CHA’s saints project promotes well-being of ministry staff

By JULIE MINDA

Early this year, when CHA’s mission director invited emerging artist Lydia Wood to create portraits of seven saints for a CHA project highlighting Catholic health care’s core commitments, Wood instantly intuited that the work would mesh with her own approach to art and her core beliefs.

And Wood, a pediatric nurse, says she felt her enthusiasm grow as CHA’s Jill Fisk told her more about the project. The association planned to publish the portraits on “huddle cards” that people in Catholic health care could use to reconnect with the fullness and beauty of healing in Christ’s name.

Intended as visual meditations, Wood's portraits are

After hiatus for pandemic, Saint Alphonsus restarts foot care clinic

By LISA EISENHAUER

Ronda Lehman, president of Mercy Health — Lima, won’t be disappointed if the Safe Haven Baby Box installed in October next to the emergency room at Mercy Health — St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, is never used. While the box is a safe and discreet means for someone to anonymously surrender an infant, it is more “an outward sign that we are here for women who are in this very distressing situation,” Lehman explains.

— John 13:14-15

By LISA EISENHAUER

When Saint Alphonsus Health System held its first foot care clinic at a homeless shelter back in 2015, Cari Moodie says it was no coincidence that the event took place on Holy Thursday. The volunteers were intentional in following the example set by Jesus at the Last Supper when he demonstrated his love by washing the feet of his disciples.

“We stuck with our tradition and our roots,” explains Moodie, coordinator of faith community nursing for Boise, Idahobased Saint Alphonsus. The system is part of Trinity Health.

The clinics had become frequent events at various locations until the COVID-19

“Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

The scriptural inspiration for Saint Alphonsus Health System foot care clinics

St. Rita’s

Ohio offers safe place for mothers in distress to surrender infants

Muralist Artemio Huerta creates a winter scene on windows in a waiting room at SSM Health Dean Medical Group's east Madison, Wisconsin, clinic. This is the third consecutive year that the former clinic staffer has painted the windows.

Cassie Gillette, an administrative assistant, checks out the Safe Haven Baby Box that Mercy Health — St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, installed next to its emergency department entrance. The box, one of 125 Safe Haven boxes nationwide, provides a way for someone to anonymously surrender an infant at a location where the baby will receive immediate attention.

St. Martin de Porres

St. Josephine Bakhita

Vicki Funaiole, left, and Valerie Mentzer tend to the feet of Lynda Reynolds during a foot care clinic sponsored by Saint Alphonsus Health System at Corpus Christi House, a shelter for those who are unhoused in Boise, Idaho. Funaiole and Mentzer are volunteers with Saint Alphonsus’ faith community nursing program. The foot clinics, once a frequent community health offering, restarted in November after being halted early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lehman

Moving forward in faith to shape a vibrant, sustainable health ministry

By LAURA S. KAISER 2022-2023 Chairperson CHA Board of Trustees and President and chief executive officer SSM Health, St. Louis

In preparation for this year’s Advent season, I began taking stock of the many blessings that surround and support us — even in the midst of the significant headwinds we face as a health care ministry and a nation.

In tumultuous times, it can be easy to forget all the ways we have been blessed by God’s grace. I’m certainly guilty of this myself. Years ago, my family was going through a very difficult time. While friends, colleagues and family members embraced me with care and empathy — true angels on earth — I still found myself despairing at times. It was their support and a song called “Just Be Held” by Casting Crowns that reminded me to step back and recognize God within the stormy circumstances, with

these lyrics:

Lift your hands, lift your eyes

In the storm is where you’ll find Me

And where you are, I’ll hold your heart ... Come to Me, find your rest

In the arms of the God who won’t let go

These words encapsulate what I’ve always found to be true: God is present with us in the storm. At this holy time of year, the celebration of Jesus’ birth, let us praise him together, thanking him for his comfort and guidance as we make our way forward.

As a Catholic health ministry, we are

leaning in more than ever to effectively serve those who are counting on us in all the communities we serve. Over the past few years, we have been challenged, fatigued and heartsick — but never defeated. We continue to ensure our patients, team members and communities receive the care they need in body, mind and spirit. Although our shared ministry is struggling financially, experiencing unprecedented workforce challenges, and facing ever-growing community need, we carry on.

Now, in the middle of the storm, we are called to move forward in faith forging a path toward a new, vibrant, sustainable Catholic health ministry. It may look different than what we have known but we will remain true to Jesus’ perfect example of selfless compassion and love for all people. He cared for the sick and broken with special concern for those most vulnerable and outcast by society. He sought to restore wholeness and dignity to the marginalized. Together, we can continue to carry on, ensuring Catholic health care can continue this healing tradition for generations to come.

As we reflect on God’s love amidst the

storm, I’d like us to consider how we can work to innovate, advocate and choose a vision for our shared ministry in a way that ensures all people have access to highquality, safe, compassionate care. Together, we can light the way to a sustainable future, calling others — payers, pharmaceutical companies, tech firms, disruptors, community leaders and elected officials — to partner in this effort. Together, we can reduce the health equity gap in America, address the challenge of climate change and reveal God’s healing presence to all people in all that we do.

This Christmas, I invite you to join me in reflecting on the many blessings in your own life that surround and support you. I encourage you to praise the Lord in this storm, to be a beacon of hope and kindness for all to see and to thank the compassionate and empathetic people around you. The challenges and opportunities ahead are real. Working together and with his presence, I am confident we will rise.

May you and your loved ones be blessed with peace, hope and health this Christmas and throughout the New Year.

Upcoming Events

from The Catholic Health Association

Ministry Formation Workshop Tuesdays | From Jan. 24 to June 20 | 1 – 3 p.m. ET

Virtual Program: Honoring the Religious Diversity of Our Staff — Leveraging the Expertise of Chaplains Jan. 26 | 1 – 2:15 p.m. ET

Virtual Program: Foundations of Catholic Leadership Orientation: Jan. 31 | 1-2 p.m. ET Sessions: Thursdays | From Feb. 2 to March 23 | 1 – 3:30 p.m. ET

United Against Human Trafficking Networking Zoom Call

Feb. 7 | Noon – 1 p.m. ET

Faith Community Nurse Networking Zoom Call Feb. 27 | 1 – 2 p.m. ET

Deans of Catholic Colleges of Nursing Networking Zoom Call March 7 | 1 – 2 p.m. ET

Winter scape

From page 1

Picturesque pumpkin

A self-taught artist, Huerta got a second job in the clinic’s environmental services department in 2018. He’d continued painting indoor and outdoor murals for Wisconsin restaurants and creating artwork on canvas — something he’d been doing professionally since about 2012.

His SSM Health colleagues were unaware of his artistic gifts until they saw his winning entry in a 2019 pumpkin decorating competition for clinic staff. Torri Grow, a patient access representative for the clinic, says Huerta’s painting on the pumpkin — a haunted house with trees — was “just amazing.”

Grow urged Huerta to paint a wintry scene on the clinic’s windows. She and other colleagues bought the paints. Though Huerta had never painted on glass, he accepted the invitation, completing his first window scape early in 2020, just as the pandemic was hitting.

The pandemic shut down childcare facilities, and Huerta says he had to resign his clinic job to stay home with his then-6year-old daughter and newborn son. After the birth, his wife went back to work as a speech pathologist for SSM Health.

Huerta kept his commercial mural business going through the pandemic. While he says he’d gladly paint the murals at the

clinic without compensation, employees fundraise to pay him a small stipend in appreciation.

New fallen snow

For the most part, he paints from what he sees in his head, doing no preparatory sketches before putting brush to pane. He says he does some research online on painting techniques for certain features of his paintings.

Huerta says he loves to paint snow scenes. Originally from Mexico, he came to Wisconsin in 1995 and experienced for the first time freezing temperatures and a fresh blanket of snow. While he could do without the cold, he says he’s still wowed by the beauty of snow.

He plans to return to the clinic in the spring to give the window display a seasonal lift — perhaps adding spring leaves to the trees. Although no information was available on whether the snow people will survive the spring thaw in Madison, Grow says the clinic likely will keep this year’s mural up until June.

Huerta says he looks forward to returning year after year to paint the window murals. “I had never done this kind of painting before. I didn’t even know it could be done on glass. It is challenging to do but also fun!”

Visit chausa.org/chworld to view more of Huerta’s art. jminda@chausa.org

Lisa Eisenhauer leisenhauer@chausa.org 314-253-3437

Graphic Design Norma Klingsick Advertising ads@chausa.org 314-253-3477

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Kaiser

A snowman family greets winter in Madison, Wisconsin, with open (stick) arms in Artemio Huerta’s mural. It’s becoming a tradition for Huerta to paint the wall of windows in a second floor waiting room of a SSM Health Dean Medical Group clinic where he once worked.

“Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and what fills it resound; let the plains be joyful and all that is in them. Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice before the LORD who comes, who comes to govern the earth, To govern the world with justice and the peoples with faithfulness.”

PSALM 96:11-13

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

The Catholic Health Association of the United States

Ann Alvers Liwäy Arceo Lori Ashmore-Ruppel Amy Ballance Kyle Belobrajdic Keon Blackledge Trevor Bodewitz Paula Bommarito Fr. Charles Bouchard Cara Brouder Leslie Brown Janey Brummett Sandy Buttery Tony Cable M. Laurie Cammisa Loren Chandler Bruce Compton Betty Crosby Kimberly Crossman Kathy Curran Janet Dunahue Lisa Eisenhauer Chris Fields Jill Fisk Vicki Gant Dennis Gonzales Sr. Mary Haddad Madeline Hantak Tracie Heck Rebecca Heermann David Hein

Valerie Herron Denise Hess Nathaniel Hibner Brenda Hudson Katie Hurley Brian Kane Charlotte Kelley Karla Keppel Norma Klingsick Margaret Kriso Jenn Lyke Cheryl Mance Dottie Martin Josh Matejka Andre Mayne Ken Mayo Crystal Mendez Julie Minda Debbie Morrow Sharon Novak Clay O’Dell Michele Oranski Nick Osterholt Paulo Pontemayor Kevin Prior Deanna Quigley Brian Reardon Katrina Reid Chrissie Rodgers Diarmuid Rooney Ken Schanuel Cherie Schroeder Lisa Smith Indu Spugnardi Lucas Swanepoel Betsy Taylor Danette Thompson Julie Trocchio Sheryl Ullrich Judy VandeWater Dee Walsh Anna Weston

May we share in the warmth of this Christmas season, and allow hope to illuminate the darkness of winter.

nd His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

– Isaiah 9:6

Wishing you God’s peace and good health this Christmas and throughout the new year.

May we continue to bring to life the healing ministry of Jesus, the child born unto us who loves and inspires us to go and do likewise.

God’s Gift of Love is JESUS

This Christmas Season, may you be blessed with many warm encounters of God’s love.

Luke 1:47 Avera.org

My spirit rejoices in God my savior.

blessings CHRISTMAS

May the blessings of the holiday season bring peace and joy to you this year.

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“And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:14

Blessings to you and your loved ones from Ascension

Our caregivers, support teams and subsidiaries are grateful to be part of a vibrant Catholic healthcare community, dedicated to spreading peace, love and compassion to all people, all year round.

Welcoming and reverencing the Christ Child among us this sacred season and throughout the year.

Wishing you and your loved ones the gifts of

PEACE LOVE & JOY

this Christmas season. May your new year be happy and healthy.

Good tidings of great joy!

As we celebrate His birth, let the blessings of the season fill our hearts with joy.

May the love that brings healing, justice and peace to the world, be born in each of us this Christmas season.

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Colossians 3:12

Life, blessed.

Family. A word of many meanings. Dear relatives. A group of friends. Even a dedicated community of caregivers. In the spirit of this Holy season, may your life and those of your loved ones be graced with peace, wonder and light.

Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth, goodwill to humankind. LUKE 2:14

We see the life in you.

Providence.org

At Providence St. Joseph Health, we use our voice to advocate for vulnerable populations and needed reforms in health care. Together, our 120,000 caregivers serve in 52 hospitals, 1,085 clinics and a vast spectrum of health and social services across Alaska, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and Washington. As a comprehensive health care organization, we are serving more people, advancing best practices, and continuing our more than 100-year tradition of serving the poor and vulnerable. Providence St. Joseph Health is committed to touching millions of more lives and enhancing the health of the American West to transform care for the next generation and beyond.

May the joy and light of God be with you and all those you love this Christmas season.

My eyes have seen your salvation, Which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, A light for revelation to the Gentiles, And glory for your people Israel.

— Luke 2:30-32

KEEPING UP

PRESIDENTS AND CEOS

Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health has announced these changes: Brian Smith is retiring Dec. 31 as president of the health system. He began at Bon Secours Mercy’s predecessor Mercy Health in 1990. Andrea Gwyn to president of Mercy Health — St. Anne Hospital in Toledo, Ohio. She will continue as president of Ohio’s Mercy Health — Perrysburg Hospital, a position she has held since July 2021.

ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES

Ascension St. Vincent’s Birmingham in Alabama has made these changes: Tim Puthoff to chief operating officer, Sheila McKenna to chief strategy officer and Betsy Pautler to chief mission integration officer.

Mary Carter Waren to mission leader of Holy Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, part of Trinity Health.

GRANTS

Avera Health of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, recently received two grants from the Health Resources and Services Administration to support the nursing field and to address health care workforce capacity. The first grant, $1.5 million, will support a three-year Rural Public Health Workforce Training Network Program. That project will cross-train Avera staff to perform some tasks of nursing, such as documentation, allowing nurses to spend more time at the patient bedside. The grant-funded work also will train Avera clinicians in telemedicine, telemetry monitoring and virtual nursing. Avera also will establish a rural training network throughout South Dakota. The second HRSA grant is part of the Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention Registered Nurse Training Program. It provides $1 million over three years to prepare bachelor of science in

nursing students and registered nurses for careers in rural critical access hospitals. The program will provide education in cultural awareness, social determinants of health, health equity and health literacy. Avera’s lead partner in the work is South Dakota State University.

Philanthropist Rosaria Haugland is providing a $1 million matching gift to help PeaceHealth Oregon create a nursing institute. The PeaceHealth Oregon Institute for Nursing Excellence will pursue career development and retention of nurses; develop pipeline programs to increase the pool of new nurses; promote professional governance through shared decision-making; advance professional practice; and promote nursing innovation, evidence-based practices, and research. Haugland and her husband, Dick, formed biotech company Molecular Probes in 1975. That company provided fluorescent dyes for scientific and biomedical research. Rosaria Haugland is now retired.

The Marian Regional Medical Center Foundation of Santa Maria, California, has received a $1 million donation from a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. The funding will enable the hospital to purchase medical equipment to advance the hospital’s heart center services, nursing services, surgical services, and neonatal intensive care unit. The new technology includes the GE S70 Vivid Dimension ultrasound system. Marian Regional is part of CommonSpirit Health.

We wish you a Christmas Season of Love and Light, filled with the spirit and compassion of Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate.

We wish you a Christmas Season of Love and Light, filled with the spirit and compassion of Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate.

We wish you a Christmas Season of Love and Light, filled with the spirit and compassion of Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate.

We wish you a Christmas Season of Love and Light, filled with the spirit and compassion of Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given – Isaiah 6:9

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given – Isaiah 6:9

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given – Isaiah 6:9

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given – Isaiah 6:9

Smith

Puthoff

Gwyn

McKenna Waren Pautler

From page 1

pandemic hit and the system halted them along with other community outreach programs. Last month, Saint Alphonsus restarted its foot clinic ministry at Corpus Christi House in Boise, the same homeless shelter where the first one was held.

Some of the 23 patients who were seen during the 3½-hour event had gone so long without foot care that their nails wrapped around their toes, which were sore and swollen from the pressure.

“Two individuals specifically, when they stood up and put on their new socks and their shoes, they both mentioned how their feet did not hurt,” Moodie recalls. “They could walk now, and their life was instantly better.”

‘Launch and learn phase’

Christopher Stock, vice president of community health and well-being for Saint Alphonsus, says that is the sort of compassionate healing that the system strives for through the foot care clinics and through its other community health programs. The health system’s mission is “to serve together in the spirit of the Gospel as a compassionate and transforming healing presence within our communities.” “So that’s what we work to do,” Stock says.

Saint Alphonsus is restarting other community health programs too. Stock says the rebooting community health services are in a “launch and learn phase.” He expects the services will be back to their pre-COVID frequency in the spring.

The relaunch includes deploying the system’s mobile medical preventive health clinics for their original purpose of providing primary care at no cost to patients across a catchment area that stretches from the urban environment of Boise to the sparsely populated environs of eastern Oregon.

During the pandemic, those units had been repurposed as mobile vaccination dispensaries. They continue to serve that purpose, but Stock says their wider array of services also are in demand in places with few medical services and by populations with little other access to health care.

Stock says the mobile clinics are linked to Saint Alphonsus’ Social Care Hub, a group of community health workers who connect patients to the services of various community partners to address social influencers of health, such as food and transportation insecurity and homelessness.

Giving back

The mobile clinic has a core group of staff, while the foot care clinics rely on volunteers. “When we have the mobile clinics or the foot care clinics, it’s really about bringing together the community and bringing an opportunity for people to serve and give back,” Stock says.

Even when the foot clinics were halted, the volunteers kept up their foot carerelated efforts. They assembled care packages with do-it-yourself essentials such as lotion, clippers and nail files along with a new pair of socks. The packages were available at Corpus Christi House.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the foot care clinics had proved so popular that Saint Alphonsus was holding about one a month at either Corpus Christi House, at senior housing communities or in conjunction with Saint Alphonsus’ mobile health clinics.

Moodie leads a team of eight to 10 workers at each foot care clinic. The mix of staff includes faith community nurses and trained nonmedical volunteers, called health ministers. Patients get a friendly welcome followed by a warm footbath with fragrant essential oils. Then the nurses

scrub, massage and examine patients’ feet. “They get to sit down and let us serve them for a little while,” Moodie says of the patients.

Two of the nurses who are regular volunteers are recent retirees certified in diabetic foot care. If patients need medical care for

their feet, the clinic gives them referrals to podiatrists at Saint Alphonsus or another health system.

Compassionate care

In addition to providing basic foot care, Moodie says the care team also wants the

people who come to the foot care clinics to experience compassion and respect.

People who come to a foot care clinic for the first time are often apprehensive, Moodie says. Most of the patients are age 50 and older. Many of them are unhoused and spend their days on the streets, standing or walking. Some patients have chronic conditions such as diabetes, edema and circulation problems that can cause complications for their feet. A systematic review of research on foot conditions among people who are unsheltered published in 2016 in the journal PLOS ONE found calluses, ingrown toenails, bacterial infections and fractures were common complaints.

The volunteers at the Saint Alphonsus foot clinics offer a warm, safe respite for people who are often living on the margins. Moodie says the volunteers listen nonjudgmentally to every patient. “They can talk to us,” she says of the clinic participants.

Returning patients plan their day around the clinics, Moodie says. At the foot clinic in November, she says some of the patients were so grateful they were smiling through tears as they put on their new socks and prepared to leave. Several asked: “When are you coming again?”

Moodie says the volunteers also are moved by the experience. “I think we have just as big of smiles at the end because our heart is full, because we’ve helped them,” she says.

leisenhauer@chausa.org

➲ Beginning this January, join us as we renew our rhythms of well-being — intentionally, mindfully, prayerfully and communally. chausa.org/renewyear

Moodie

Stock

Lesley Ashley rests while Valerie Mentzer, a volunteer with Saint Alphonsus Health System’s faith community nursing program, examines one of her feet. Ashley was among 23 people who came to a foot clinic in November at a homeless shelter in Boise, Idaho. The clinic’s team cleans, massages and examines participants’ feet and trims their toenails.

Saints project

From page 1

accompanied by prayers and reflections on how the featured saints’ lives and works exemplify a central commitment of the health ministry. Wood says the commitments are tied to social justice themes that are a priority for her. The saints who CHA planned to feature intrigued Wood — she loved the diversity of their backgrounds.

Divine seeing

In painting the portraits for the association’s “Inspired by the Saints: Contemplations for the Catholic Health Ministry” project, Wood says she was able to act on her desire to promote the well-being of vulnerable patients and of healers, especially those depleted by the demands of the pandemic.

Knowing this feeling of brokenness, Wood says she “really felt connected to these saints who were going through some tough stuff — it wasn’t sugar coated.”

CHA Mission Project Coordinator Karla Keppel was part of the team shaping the saints project. Keppel says she and her CHA colleagues wanted to create resources that could be used for a form of prayer called “visio divina,” or divine seeing. In this practice, people contemplate art as they pray, reflect or meditate.

Keppel explains that the centering achieved in contemplative reflection can reconnect individuals to the sanctity of healing.

Artistic lineage

Wood’s paternal grandmother was an artist, as was Wood's father, who made a living as an architect. When Wood was a child in the 1990s, she’d sit side by side with her father at her grandmother’s easel. He’d draw a line down the center of a paper then

demonstrate how to draw on one side of the line while his daughter followed his lead on the other.

Wood put her early love of art aside when she went to work as an English instructor in Thailand and later attended nursing school in St. Louis. Her first nursing job was in the emergency room at Mercy Hospital St. Louis in 2011. She specialized in pediatric emergency care. In 2017, she took a job in the emergency room at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, then transferred a year and a half into the pandemic to the pediatric specialty hospital’s heart center. She’s a case manager there.

Wood says she turned to art in 2017 after her father died by suicide. She writes in her online biography, “I used paint to give voice to what I could not yet vocalize.”

The night she learned of her father’s death, she found a measure of solace using watercolor paints to make a picture of a house being carried aloft by balloons. Her

father had conjured this scene often in bedtime stories when she was a child.

She also has used her art in her social justice activism, she says. In early 2020 she won a grant to create a series of watercolor portraits of survivors of violence in St. Louis. Her goal in that project, titled “A Shot at Survival,” was to show the impact of violence and its ripple affects on the psyche and what it takes to survive, endure and move forward.

Her first piece in that collection was a self-portrait that she used to explore the secondary trauma she experienced as a pediatric ER nurse. She continues to use art to work through the suffering she witnessed of sick children and their parents.

Wood adds that she uses painting to challenge herself and others to look inward and outside of themselves and consider new ideas and ways of processing their lives and world.

The lives of saints

Wood allows she was not very familiar with saints when she took on the CHA project. She thought all saints embodied sanctity, a trait which made them difficult for her to relate to.

She discovered as she researched each of her subjects that they were imperfect heroes — and she connected with their human frailty and missteps. She found several visual depictions of each saint and imagery from the time period in which they lived before making her sketches. Those references informed her approach to the portrait and the choice of symbols she sprinkled in the backgrounds of her 11-by14-inch watercolor and relief prints on Aquaboard. The textured hardboard panel is similar to cold press paper in the way it absorbs and distributes watercolors.

Visit chausa.org/chworld to view more of Wood's art.

jminda@chausa.org

CHA offers reflection resources based on the lives of seven saints

As part of the “Inspired by the Saints: Contemplations for the Catholic Health Ministry” project, CHA has created a set of “huddle cards” for use by individuals or prayer groups in Catholic health care facilities.

Watch a video and listen to a podcast with details of how the project came about.

Seven of the 10 cards in each set feature prints of the original portraits of saints by St. Louis artist Lydia Wood. Each deck also includes a title card, an introduction card with a description of how to use the deck and a card with CHA’s shared statement of identity. The cards are 8.5 inches by 11 inches.

Each of the saint cards contain a scripture passage; a biography of the saint and commentary on how their lives can inspire physical, emotional and spiritual healing; discussion questions and a prayer. Ministry staff and others can use the cards to facilitate a brief formative experience in a huddle, department meeting or for personal reflection.

The saints featured on the huddle cards and the core commitment of Catholic health care each represents are: St. Elizabeth of Hungary, promote the common good St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, serve as a ministry of the church St. Josephine Bakhita, promote and defend human dignity St. Katharine Drexel, steward resources St. Martin de Porres, act on behalf of justice St. Peregrine Laziosi, care for the poor and vulnerable St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, attend to the whole person

As an example of the content of the prayer deck, the profile of St. Mark Ji Tianxiang introduces him as a 19th century physician in China who tended to all regardless of their ability to pay. He developed an opium addiction as he treated his own ailments. Though his community ostracized him because of his addiction, he remained devoted to God and is now the patron saint of people with substance dependency.

A reflection on his huddle card says in part that St. Mark Ji Tianxiang recognized that people are “more than a collection of symptoms to be treated … (we are) called to work together with God to achieve wholeness.”

The cards can be ordered online in print or electronic format at chausa.org/saints.

In a self-portrait St. Louis artist Lydia Wood explores her experience of secondary trauma as a pediatric emergency room nurse.

MAKING SPIRITS BRIGHT

Catholic health ministries across the nation celebrate the holiday season with lighthearted events for patients, residents and staff and communal acts of kindness.

Safe Haven boxes

From page 1

The Safe Haven box at St. Rita’s is the 125th one installed nationwide and the first at a Bon Secours Mercy Health hospital. The nonprofit behind the boxes, Safe Haven Baby Boxes, says that since the first box was mounted in 2016, 21 infants have been surrendered in them.

One of the champions of the box at St. Rita’s is Sarah Bassitt, a registered nurse in the hospital’s special care nursery. As part of her studies to earn a doctorate in nursing from Northern Kentucky University, Bassitt did a research project on infant abandonment.

She found that there are demographic markers, such as low income and low educational achievement, among populations in which infants are more likely to be abandoned. She also found that, based on those markers, Lima and Allen County, where the city is located, had red flags. Lima, with a population of about 36,000, has a poverty rate of 24%, twice the national rate of 11.6%. In Allen County, about 9% of adults haven’t finished high school or earned an equivalency diploma.

Before the Safe Haven box was installed at St. Rita’s, the closest one to Lima was more than 40 miles away. “Having that patient population at risk in Lima and having that box available to them an hour away was a disservice to the community around where St. Rita’s is,” Bassitt says.

She also studied safe haven laws as part of her doctoral research. Every state has a version of the law in place to protect those who surrender unharmed infants. The laws have variations, such as whether those who surrender babies can remain anonymous and how old the baby can be, but they all say that any hospital can be a safe surrender site.

Bassitt’s findings not only convinced Lehman and the other administrators in charge of St. Rita’s of the need for the baby

Above: Rolando Gonzalez, business

The animated film about an enchanted village was the theme. Floats created by departments and staffers dressed as movie characters weaved their way through a lobby entertaining onlookers. Top right: Singers from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church perform during the lighting ceremony at the Tree of Life Spectacular at Benedictine Living Community-Regina in Hastings, Minnesota. Trees on the grounds of the senior living community are illuminated through Jan. 1. Bottom right: PeaceHealth staffer Ben Greenfield adds potatoes to a Thanksgiving food bag at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield, Oregon. A drive organized by caregivers brought in enough money to feed 800 families facing financial, medical or other challenges. Recipients were referred by caregivers, charitable organizations and community members. Greenfield designs programs to train staff on the use of electronic medical records.

took three years to come up with a workable design and to get the first box installed at the firehouse in Woodburn, Indiana, where she is stationed as a firefighter and paramedic.

“The hardest part, honestly, was getting people to understand that placing a baby in a box is a good thing, if a dumpster is the alternative,” she says.

Every Safe Haven box has the organization’s hotline number, 1-866-99BABY1, on the side. The number also is featured on billboards that the organization posts in various parts of the nation. The hotline gets calls from expectant and new mothers in need of support, Kelsey says. The hotline is answered by a licensed psychologist who counsels callers on how to deal with their situation, including providing resources on where they could get guidance on parenting, find medical care and hand their infant over to someone in-person.

“When somebody calls us, we’re not directing them to boxes,” Kelsey says. “We’re giving them their options. Our organization believes that a mother should be able to choose what she wants. We’re not going to tell her what’s best for her.”

Taking the handoff

mother who changed her mind, she says.

In every state’s Safe Haven law, Kelsey says, there is a provision for a parent or relative to be able to reclaim the child. The specifics of that provision, such as how long parents have to claim the infant as their own, varies by state.

Protecting the most vulnerable

All of Safe Haven’s baby boxes are at hospitals or firehouses. Kelsey says that before one is installed, the recipient signs a contract with stipulations that include following state law on the handling of surrendered infants and regularly testing the box’s safety systems.

Another stipulation is that they won’t train a camera on the box to monitor dropoffs. “I do not ever want to see a woman placing a child in one of our boxes on the 5 o’clock news,” Kelsey says.

When someone opens the box, a laser inside triggers a silent alarm that alerts someone. The alarm in the baby box at St. Rita’s alerts campus police. The box also gets checked twice per shift by the charge nurse in the emergency room.

The cost of St. Rita’s box, $10,000, was covered by the hospital’s foundation.

box, they led to Bon Secours Mercy Health updating and standardizing its policies for the handling of surrendered infants systemwide. The new policies establish guidelines for what hospital staff should do — with separate tracks for hospitals with an obstetrics department and those without one — to ensure that the infants get proper care and that appropriate community agencies are alerted to the surrender.

Options, not judgment

Monica Kelsey founded Safe Haven Baby Boxes, which promotes awareness of Safe Haven laws and installation of the boxes. She says she was inspired after learning that she had been abandoned by her own biological mother.

On a visit to Cape Town, South Africa, in 2013 Kelsey saw a baby box at church. It

While 21 infants have been surrendered in Safe Haven boxes, Kelsey says her organization has facilitated the surrender of at least 125 more to workers at hospitals or firehouses. She herself took the handoff of a newborn in February 2019. The infant was wrapped in a wet blanket and a section of umbilical cord that Kelsey says appeared to have been ripped rather than cut was still attached.

Kelsey asked the young woman who handed off her newborn if she wanted any medical care for herself. “She said no and she walked away and I respected her enough to let her go,” Kelsey recalls.

That neonate was whisked to a hospital, turned over to state custody and later placed up for adoption. Kelsey says she follows the stories of surrendered infants as best she can and most of them go on to be adopted. Of the 21 babies surrendered at Safe Haven boxes, only one went back to a

With St. Rita’s as an example, Bassitt hopes to see more Safe Haven boxes installed in Ohio — there are now seven — and at other Bon Secours Mercy Health hospitals.

Lehman says giving someone in distress an option to put their baby in good hands aligns with St. Rita’s mission, and that of Catholic health care more broadly, to respect the dignity of the individual and the sacredness of life.

“We want to make sure that we are not standing in judgment of people but rather walking alongside people during extremely difficult circumstances,” she says. “While (the baby box) is certainly not something that we would promote or want to be used often, it’s an outward representation of our commitment to the most vulnerable in our world, a newborn infant.”

Bassitt

A clear panel offers staff at Mercy Health — St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, a view into the Safe Haven Baby Box. When the box is opened from the building’s exterior portal, a silent alarm alerts campus police to check whether an infant has been dropped off. The box is also checked twice each shift by an emergency room nurse. The first Safe Haven box in the U.S. dates to 2016; since then, 21 infants have been surrendered in baby boxes.

development specialist with The Children's Hospital of San Antonio Foundation, strums a guitar while dressed as Bruno from the Disney movie Encanto during the hospital’s Thanksgiving parade.