EDITOR’S NOTE

aybe we should call 2021 the Year of the Multitasker? Issues that have always been important all clamor for our immediate attention in the present moment: the loss and anxiety brought about from the pandemic; the divides in our M nation and culture; the real sense that long-discussed concerns about climate change have very much arrived. With spreading disease and health inequities, with wildfire, earthquake and flooding, our current moment can seem not only overwhelming, but paralyzing. What can I do when there is so much that needs to be done?

That is when my time working alongside so many of you in Catholic health care helps me find an answer. To use the language of CHA’s recent meditations: Pause. Breathe. Reflect. But also then, Get Moving. We know from our traditions that those who shaped health care in the United States took on remarkably daunting obstacles. This Health Progress issue on “Health Care and the Environment” reflects how many health care systems continue to take on today’s environmental challenges with new goals and approaches.

Not every one of us can simultaneously tackle every issue in health care today. If I were involved in the day-in, day-out frontline care of people critically ill from the pandemic, I can’t imagine I’d appreciate the suggestion that somehow I’m also supposed to tackle our environmental woes. But there is strength in our numbers, and in bringing our individual skills and talents to the specific work we can each do best for systemic improvements.

Environmentalism, in a Catholic context, encompasses far more than conservation or

recycling or renewable energy. Though those are important! It involves caring for God’s creation and, as Pope Francis has asked us, to be “generous stewards” of our resources and the earth. This issue explores the healing strength of nature; the importance of advocating for enBETSY vironmental justice; and a myriad of strategic and smart ways that health care systems are TAYLOR working to reverse actions that harm the planet to better protect patients and their environments. The work is complex and daunting in its scope. Good thing we have so many others to help us. In Philippians, Paul writes, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7) With faith that prayer and petition can bolster us through times of challenge, we can accomplish more together than we can as individuals. And thanksgiving keeps our hearts open to remind us of all the good in our lives. What helps us in anxious times, when the work may seem overwhelming, is the remembrance that we are not alone in it.

HEALTH PROGRESS®

VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING BRIAN P. REARDON

EDITOR BETSY TAYLOR btaylor@chausa.org

MANAGING EDITOR CHARLOTTE KELLEY ckelley@chausa.org

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2021 AWARDS FOR 2020 COVERAGE

Catholic Press Awards: Best National Magazine, First Place; Best Special Issue, First Place; Best Layout – Scholarly Magazine, Second and Third Place; Best Color Cover, First Place; Best Column – General Commentary, Second Place; Best Pandemic Coverage, Third Place; Best Essay – Professional and Special Interest Magazine, First and Third Place, Two Honorable Mentions; Best Feature Article, First, Second and Third Place; Best Feature Article on the Election, Second Place; Best Feature Article on Racial Inequities, First and Second Place; Best Writing Analysis, Second Place and Honorable Mention; Best Reporting on Social Justice Issues on Option for the Poor and Vulnerable, First Place and Honorable Mention; Best Reporting on Rights of Workers, First Place and Honorable Mention; Best Title and Lead-In, Third Place. Association Media and Publications EXCEL: Feature Article, Gold; Feature Article Design, Silver.

Produced in USA. Health Progress ISSN 0882-1577. Fall 2021 (Vol. 102, No. 4).

Copyright © by The Catholic Health Association of the United States. Published quarterly by The Catholic Health Association of the United States, 4455 Woodson Road, St. Louis, MO 63134-3797. Periodicals postage paid at St. Louis, MO, and additional mailing offices. Subscription prices per year: CHA members, free; nonmembers, $29; foreign, $29; single copies, $10. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Health Progress, The Catholic Health Association of the United States, 4455 Woodson Road, St. Louis, MO 63134-3797.

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chausa.org/social EDITORIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL

Kathleen Benton, DrPH, president and CEO, Hospice Savannah, Inc., Savannah, Georgia Sr. Rosemary Donley, SC, PhD, professor of nursing, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh Fr. Joseph J. Driscoll, DMin, director of ministry formation and organizational spirituality, Holy Redeemer Health System, Meadowbrook, Pennsylvania Marian Jennings, MBA, president, M. Jennings Consulting, Inc., Malvern, Pennsylvania Tracy Neary, regional vice president, mission integration, St. Vincent Healthcare, Billings, Montana Sr. Kathleen M. Popko, SP, PhD, president, Sisters of Providence, Holyoke, Massachusetts Laura Richter, MDiv, system senior director, mission integration, SSM Health, St. Louis Gabriela Robles, MBA, MAHCM, vice president, community partnerships, Providence St. Joseph Health, Irvine, California Michael Romano, national director, media relations, CommonSpirit Health, Englewood, Colorado Linda Root, RN, MAHCM, chief mission integration officer, Ascension Michigan, Warren, Michigan Fred Rottnek, MD, MAHCM, director of community medicine, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis Becky Urbanski, EdD, senior vice president, mission integration and marketing, Benedictine Health System, Duluth, Minnesota

CHA EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS

ADVOCACY AND PUBLIC POLICY: Lisa Smith, MPA COMMUNITY BENEFIT: Julie Trocchio, BSN, MS CONTINUUM OF CARE AND AGING SERVICES:

Julie Trocchio, BSN, MS

ETHICS: Nathaniel Blanton Hibner, PhD;

Brian Kane, PhD

FINANCE: Loren Chandler, CPA, MBA, FACHE INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH: Bruce Compton LEADERSHIP AND MINISTRY DEVELOPMENT:

Brian P. Smith, MS, MA, MDiv

LEGAL: Catherine A. Hurley, JD MINISTRY FORMATION: Diarmuid Rooney, MSPsych,

MTS, DSocAdmin

MISSION INTEGRATION: Dennis Gonzales, PhD THEOLOGY AND SPONSORSHIP: Fr. Charles Bouchard,

OP, STD