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| "Developing an Orthopedic Unit in a Skilled Nursing Facility," Monday, December 19th, 2 - 3:30 p.m.
Webinar available to Covenant partners
Covenant has scheduled a webinar to help Covenant skilled nursing facilities understand the strategic and operational issues of developing a dedicated short-stay orthopedic program. Among the presenters are Covenant members Mary Immaculate (Lawrence, MA) and D'Youville Pavilion (Lewiston, ME). Each has different, yet very successful, programs and the senior staff from these two facilities will present the successful elements of their programs. This program is appropriate for: Administrators, Directors of Nursing, Rehab Managers, MDS Coordinators, Directors of Nutritional Services, Medical Directors, and Directors of Discharge Planning/Social Services. For more information, please email us at info@covenanths.org. |
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St. Joseph Healthcare (Bangor, ME) and St. Joseph Hospital (Nashua, NH) have been named among the nation's top performers on key quality measures by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of health care organizations in America. They are among only 405 hospitals nationwide to earn the distinction of top performers on key measures of quality. The awards were based on data that were reported for 2010.
To be recognized as a top performer on key quality measures, an organization must meet two 95 percent performance thresholds. St. Joseph Healthcare was recognized for achieving these thresholds in three clinical areas: heart attack, pneumonia care and surgical care. St. Joseph Hospital was recognized in the clinical areas of: heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care.
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St. Mary's d'Youville Pavilion, a member of St. Mary's Health System (Lewiston, ME), recently received the 2011 Celebrating Excellence in Innovation Award. They were recognized for their patient/resident-centered staffing model.
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The Sisters of Jesus Crucified, sponsors of St. Joseph Manor (Brockton, MA) and St. Mary's Villa (Elmhurst Township, PA), presented their "Founder's Award" to Linda Kanarr, CEO/Administrator of St. Mary's Villa. In addition, the Congregation's "Founder's Award for Excellence," created to honor their founder, Father Alphonsus Maria, went to the 232 staff members of St. Joseph Manor. Sr. Mary Valliere, provincial superior, told the staff: "During this past year, the Sisters witnessed what 'Love is a Choice' really means because of each of you. Tonight is your night--a night to celebrate you. A night that the Sisters, the Board of Directors and Covenant Health Systems can say thank you for your loving service and commitment to the elderly."
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Covenant affiliate, Notre Dame Long Term Care Center (Worcester, MA) was one of 18 businesses recognized through the "English Works Campaign" for their partnershp with the government and the non-profit sector to offer their immigrant workers the chance  to learn English. Massachusetts' Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray presented a certificate to Notre Dame Health Care Center's Patricia Campbell (left) and Sr. Geraldine Stanton, SND. "This should be on the front page of every paper," said Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray at the award ceremony which was crammed with almost a hundred state officials, business leaders, labor organizers, community workers and immigrants. "This is a good news story: how business working cooperatively with government is creating opportunities to realize the American Dream. It's good for business, it's good for workers, it's good for the Commonwealth, and it's good for us as a community."
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Bethany Health Care (Framingham, MA), a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph and a Covenant affiliate, celebrated their 50th anniversary. The evening's festivities included a tribute to WCB-TV news anchor and member of "Team 5 Investigates" Susan
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Sr. Jacquelyn McCarthy, CSJ, CEO/Administrator, Bethany Health Care Center (right) |
Wornick for the countless community organization she has championed. Bethany has received numerous awards for the care they provide and, in February, 2011, U.S. News reported Bethany to be among the top 18 long-term care facilities in the country. The rating was performed in conjunction with the federal government's measurement of health inspections, nurse staff, and quality measures for individual care. |
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PEOPLE NEWS
Susan McDonough, Covenant's Vice President, Strategy & System Development, has been appointed to the 2012 Board of Directors of LeadingAge, a national association of 5,600 not-for-profit organizations. The Board is responsible for the governance of the organization, providing strategic direction, fiduciary oversight, and development of policies. Those who serve have the opportunity to shape LeadingAge's activities during their terms as well as the opportunity to connect with other leaders in transforming aging services.
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Covenant Health Systems welcomes new Senior Management Group (SMG) members: Anne Berger, Vice President, Quality Improvement and Safety, Covenant Health Systems (Tewksbury, MA); Gerard Foley, President/CEO, Mary Immaculate Health Care (Lawrence, MA); Philip Jean, Vice President of Elder Care Services for St. Mary Health System (Lewiston, ME); Christopher Kenney, CEO/Administrator, St. Joseph Manor (Brockton, MA); and Mary Prybylo, President/CEO, St. Joseph Hospital (Bangor, ME).
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This essay written by BOB SHORT, Director of Mission and Pastoral Care, Youville Place & Youville House Assisted Living Residences, Lexington and Cambridge, Massachusetts, is featured in the December 15 issue of Catholic Health World. We hope you will enjoy reading it. In the mid-1980s, my wife, two young daughters and I lived in a poor urban neighborhood on the outskirts of Quito, Ecuador. While running water and electricity were erratic, trash pickup took place every day, save Sunday. As was customary each day for all of us in the neighborhood, one spring morning I placed our small container of garbage on the sidewalk outside the front door. Just as I was turning to go back inside, I saw an elderly, indigenous woman approaching with a scruffy, malnourished dog a step or two behind her. She was dressed traditionally in many layers of skirts, a colorful, if threadbare, top and brown bowler hat. Before I could say 'good morning' she nodded at me and reached for the garbage pail and began to search through it.
I froze for a second, trying to find the right words: "Seņora, please stop! We have food inside. Do you need money?"
I was quite sure she was Quechua speaking, but Spanish was the best I could do. Before a single word made its way to my lips she slipped part of a chicken carcass --skin, gristle and a tiny bit of meat still attached--into the plastic bag tied to her belt. I still had no words.
She looked up at me with sad eyes and a small smile and said quietly, "Le agradezco, Seņor." (Thank you, sir) She moved on to the next household, and I never saw her again. But, to this day I am struck and humbled by how her sincere expression of gratitude filled that spring morning.
By all appearances, she had almost nothing to her name and her life was a struggle. Why would she thank me who had given her nothing? How did she find it in herself to express thanks for bone and gristle?
Since then, I've come to the conclusion that gratitude is not a function of either abundance or scarcity. Rather, it is an approach to living. People from different cultures and across all economic classes can and do express genuine gratitude. Individuals with a natural disposition toward gratefulness seem happier and more content than people who seldom express, or feel, grateful. The grateful bring light into the world.
While some people seem to have a natural aptitude for gratitude, I believe it can be cultivated too. Individuals can make a conscious effort to see what is right and good about a situation, and they can practice gratitude until gratefulness becomes a reflexive part of who they are.
Gratitude restores a sense of wonder and it has other great benefits too. Studies have shown that gratitude impacts an individual's physical and emotional health. In "Boost Your Health With a Dose of Gratitude," a WebMD article on the health effects of gratitude, health reporter Elizabeth Heubeck cites research that made the case for giving thanks liberally. She quoted Robert Emmons, a gratitude expert and professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, who said his gratitude research suggested "that feelings of thankfulness have tremendous positive value in helping people cope with daily problems, especially stress." Emmons told WebMD that grateful people take better physical care of themselves, they exercise and eat right.
Emmons' work is a part of the emerging positive psychology movement, but a recognition of and appreciation for the power of gratitude is nothing new. Philosophers and religious leaders across many cultural and denominational traditions have acclaimed the individual and collective benefits of gratitude for centuries. Over 700 hundred years ago as Sufi mystic Hafiz of Persia was writing poems about gratitude and happiness like the one above, the Dominican Friar and mystic, Meister Eckhart also reflected with elegance on the subject. "If the only prayer you say in your whole life is 'thank you,' that would suffice," Eckhart wrote.
Contemporary self-help author Melody Beattie sees grace in gratitude: "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life," she wrote. "It turns what we have into enough, and more."
Albert Einstein said that, "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
What are you grateful for today? |
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