Catholic Health East: Latest News

(from left) Kirk Wilson, CEO, Saint Joseph’s Health System; Jacquelyn Kinder, CHE board chair; Sr. Jane Gerety, Saint Joseph’s board of directors; and Donald Brooks.

(from left) Sr. Mary Caritas Geary, Hope Ministries member; Jacquelyn Kinder, CHE board chair; Nora Baratto, and Steve Boyle, CEO, St. Peter’s.

(from left) Jacquelyn Kinder, CHE board chair; Sr. Mary Persico, CHE Sponsors Council coordinator; Andrea Divers-Murph, administrative assistant, GHM; Sr. Mary Jo McGinley, executive director, GHM; Ginny Marchetti, manager, program enhancement, GHM; Sr. Kathleen Keenan, GHM board chair; and Dan Russell, president emeritus, CHE.

Newtown Square, Pa., Wednesday, July 22, 2009 -- At its recent Governance-Management conference, Catholic Health East (CHE) announced the award winners for three of its most esteemed honors: the Richard A. Stebbins Award, the Daniel F. Russell Innovative Care of the Poor Award, and the Governance Award.

The Richard A. Stebbins Award recognizes an individual who represents the Core Values of CHE and who has particularly demonstrated the capacity to build community and foster harmonious and supportive relationships between and among organizations and people. Each year a particular Core Value is highlighted and stressed for recognition in this award. This year’s Core Valued was justice, advocating for a society in which all can realize their full potential and achieve the common good.

The winner of this year’s Richard A, Stebbins award was Nora Baratto, LCSW-R, CCM, ACM, manager, case management at St. Peter’s Health Care Services in Albany, N.Y. Baratto was selected for her "service to and advocacy for those people whose social condition puts them at the margins of our society and makes them vulnerable to discrimination," according to a proclamation from the CHE Board of Directors.

Baratto developed and implemented the CHOICES program, a community-based, case management service providing comprehensive in-home assessments, care planning, referral and ongoing management of high-risk older adults. The program was designed to meet the needs of vulnerable older persons in the Albany area, who often found themselves unnecessarily hospitalized because there were no comprehensive support services to allow them to return home safely.

"I am very honored to receive this award and be recognized for my advocacy work,” Baratto said. “I am lucky to have leaders within the organization that support and recognize the importance of the CHOICES Program in meeting a critical unmet community need.”

The Daniel F. Russell Innovative Service to Those Who Are Poor award recognizes a program within CHE that clearly demonstrates innovative and creative service to those who are poor and shares such learnings across the System and with other values-compatible organizations. The program must be innovative, respond to the needs of the community, demonstrate creative and effective use of resources, be collaborative in nature, serve as a model to others, and have been in existence for a minimum of two years. This year’s winner was the Madre y Niño program, [Mother and Child Project] Chulucanas, Peru, part of Global Health Ministry, a supportive health corporation of Catholic Health East. The program is a collaborative effort between the Chulucanas Department of Health, the Health Ministry of the Diocese of Chulucanas and Global Health Ministry working closely together and directly with local communities in remote regions where the known maternal deaths far exceeded the norm in Peru.

The goal of the program was to reduce maternal mortality by fifty percent in five years. Outcomes have included the creation of a “First-Responders” alert system to use short wave radio communication to bring birth mothers in distress to medical care and increased the training of the midwife staff. As a result, the goal of reducing maternal mortality by fifty percent was reached in just three years. Sr. Mary Jo McGinley, RSM, executive director, Global Health Ministry, accepted the award on behalf of all program participants.

“Everyone involved in the Madre y Nino program is grateful for this award. The $10,000 will help us continue this program through this year and next year and hopefully expand it to more communities in the Chulucanas-Morropon region,” said McGinley.

The Excellence in Governance Award honors one individual who serves on the board of a CHE regional health corporation or joint operating agreement. The recipient must distinguish himself/herself as a visionary leader, collaborator and strategic thinker. The winner of this year’s Excellence in Governance award was Donald B. Brooks, a board member of Saint Joseph’s Health System, Atlanta, Ga. Brooks was instrumental in Saint Joseph’s becoming part of the Eastern Mercy Health System, one of the three systems that came together in 1998 to form Catholic Health East. He serves on the Saint Joseph’s Health System board, the executive and strategic planning committees, and is chair of the finance committee. He is also chair of the CHE investment committee. He has used his business expertise to help Saint Joseph’s grow to meet the needs of its community by assisting in the acquisition of land and acting as a development consultant on several medical office building projects.

“I congratulate our colleagues who were recognized at this year’s conference,” said Jacquelyn Kinder, Ed.D., CHE’s board chairperson. “CHE is fortunate to have such compassionate, dedicated professionals who help us to achieve our mission of being a transforming healing presence in the communities we serve.”

Catholic Health East (CHE), a Catholic health system co-sponsored by nine religious congregations and Hope Ministries, is based in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. CHE provides the means to ensure the continuation of the Catholic identity and operational strength of the sponsors’ health ministries, which are located in 11 eastern states from Maine to Florida. The CHE system includes 34 acute-care hospitals, four long-term acute-care hospitals, 25 free-standing and hospital-based long-term care facilities, 14 assisted-living facilities, four continuing-care retirement communities, eight behavioral-health and rehabilitation facilities, 32 home health/hospice agencies, and numerous ambulatory and community-based health services. CHE facilities employ approximately 54,000 full-time employees as partners in ministry.