Winter 2013

In This Issue

St. Mary's Villa/St. Joseph Manor

AROUND THE SYSTEM

Dennis Shubert, MD, PhD

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COVENANT NEWS

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POOR SISTERS OF JESUS CRUCIFIED TRANSFER ST. MARY'S VILLA AND ST. JOSEPH MANOR TO COVENANT

Covenant officially welcomed St. Mary's Villa (Elmhurst, PA) and St. Joseph Manor (Brockton, MA) as sponsored organizations on Friday, September 27. Although both facilities have been members of Covenant for many years (St. Joseph Manor since 1966 and St. Mary's Villa since 2003), this transfer indicates that the Sisters have relinquished sponsorship to Covenant. Both will celebrate the transfer of sponsorship at a ceremony to take place in 2014. In assuming sponsorship from the Sisters, Covenant, as a Public Juridic Person becomes responsible for maintaining and strengthening the Catholic health ministry (just as a religious congregation would have). Sponsorship transfers the canonical stewardship for the health care ministries of the Poor Sisterrs of Jesus Crucified to Covenant. Accordingly, Covenant will actively engage in efforts to preserve the commitments it has to the Sisters and it's pledge to carry forth the mission of the Sisters.

The Sisters were founded in 1923 by Reverend Alphonsus Maria, CP, a Passionist priest. He was born in Lithuania in 1884. As a teenager, he risked his life Lithuania smuggling Lithuanian prayer books and newspapers across the Prussian border at a time when Latin letters were suppressed by the Russian Czar. Later he immigrated to the United States and joined the Passionist Congregation at St. Ann's Monastery in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he continued to work among the Lithuanian people in his adopted country.

While conducting missions in Pennsylvania, Father Alphonsus Maria saw the urgent need for a religious congregation of women in the impoverished coal regions of the state to shelter orphans and widows of deceased miners and so the Sisters of Jesus Crucified had their beginning. Five of the first six sisters were born in Lithuania. Four of the women were working in Boston and the other two were living in Pennsylvania. Under the guidance of Father Alphonsus the future sisters were sent to established religious communities: the Sisters of the Cross and Passion in England; Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Scranton, Pennsylvania; and the Dominican Sisters in Amityville, New York for formation.

In October, 1923, Father Alphonsus called this small group of women to their new home on the Wehrum estate in Elmhurst, Pennsylvania, which they named St. Mary's Villa Convent. There, the fledgling community cared for orphans and provided a home for widows. In November, 1923, a petition for approval was sent to Rome, and on January 21, 1924, Rome formally approved the new congregation as the Poor Sisters of Jesus Crucified and the Sorrowful Mother.

In 1943 the orphanage in Elmhurst burned down and since it was not possible to rebuild, the children then made their home with other religious communities in the area. At that time the sisters were asked by the Bishop of Scranton to specialize in the care of the aged. The sisters also expanded their ministry to include education, teaching in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Kansas.

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AROUND THE SYSTEM

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TOP PERFORMER

For the third year in a row, St. Joseph Hospital (Nashua) was named a Top Performer on Key Quality MeasuresŽ by The Joint Commission, the leading accreditor of healthcare organizations in America. St. Joseph Hospital was recognized based on data reported about evidence-based clinical processes that are shown to improve care for certain conditions, including heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care.

St. Joseph Hospital is one of 1,099 hospitals in the U.S. earning the distinction of Top Performer on Key Quality Measures for attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability measures performance. Only 182 hospitals in the United States and one other hospital in New Hampshire have achieved this honor three years in a row.

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ST. MARY'S REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER RECEIVES ANOTHER TOP HONOR

St. Mary's Regional Medical Center (Lewiston) earned an "A" in the Spring 2013 Hospital Safety Score^SM. The Hospital Safety Score was created with the advice of a Blue Ribbon Expert Panel of prominent patient safety experts from Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, and other leading academic centers, and is the only peer-reviewed hospital grading system in the United States... St. Mary's also received a silver level award for meeting best practice standards around creating a tobacco free environment and supporting tobacco free lifestyles. The Maine Tobacco Free Hospital Network recognized St. Mary's and 30 other Maine hospitals through the annual Gold Star Standards of Excellence program during an event at the Maine Hospital Association.

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QUALITY NURSING CARE IN MAINE

St. Mary's d'Youville Pavilion (Lewiston) was recently recognized as pioneering the journey to better quality nursing care of Maine's aging population through Maine Health Care Association's (MHCA's) Celebrating Excellence in Quality Award. This recognition, which is awarded annually, showcases long term care facilities that are striving to provide the highest quality nursing care to its residents. St. Mary's d'Youville Pavilion was recognized for its pressure ulcer prevention program.

"Pressure ulcers continue to be a challenge in today's health care environment," said Phil Jean, Vice President for Elder Care Services at St. Mary's d'Youville Pavilion which is part of St. Mary's Health System. "We established a multidisciplinary work team, which consisted of staff from Nursing, Nutrition, Rehab Services, Therapeutic Activities, and Social Services departments. Their primary goal was to focus on the evaluation of risk, prevention strategies, and education of staff and residents. By following best practices, we were able to reduce the number of pressure ulcers by 50 percent in a two year period."

In order to have been considered, St. Mary's d'Youville Pavilion demonstrated a commitment to improving quality of life and care to residents. This was evident by the commitment to professional development of the multidisciplinary team, commitment to leadership, and the measuring and improvement of resident/staff/family satisfaction surveys. Nominations for the award were submitted by long term care facilities statewide and winners were selected by an independent panel of judges with long term care expertise.

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FIVE STARS

Mary Immaculate Nursing/Restorative Center (Lawrence) received top designation as a Five Star facility by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS has established the Five Star Quality Rating System to help consumers, their families and caregivers compare nursing homes more easily. The designation is based on health inspections, staff levels and quality measures.

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DAY OF SERVICE GIVEN AT CAMBRIDGE SHELTER

Eighteen staff members from Youville House (Cambridge) and

Youville Place (Lexington) Assisted Living Residences gathered at St. Patrick Women's Shelter in Somerville, Massachusetts for a day of community service. Staff, who represented almost all departments from both residences, painted walls and door frames, cleaned rooms, affixed new blinds, replaced base moldings, rebuilt an outside patio space, and cut back an aggressive battalion of weeds. During lunch break, the Director of the shelter, Nancy Kavanagh, spoke to the group about the mission, daily routine and, most poignantly, the women who live there - some for just a night and others for several months at a time as they look for work and a more permanent situation. The Youville team made a genuine contribution to the aesthetics of the building and came together as a community among themselves.

L - R: Artie Welch, Stan Steber, Beverly Groppi, Christine Mayock, Debra Ouellette, Ron Sicotte, Paula Desmond-Wallace, Tom Landry, Beth Sears, Rich Smith, and Bob Salamanca

Not pictured: Maria Benoit, Katie Blanchard, Jean Geffrard, El Heussein, Bruce Jordan, Brian King, and Yanira Motto

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A SERVICE TO THE PEOPLE OF GREATER SCRANTON

Covenant member, St. Mary's Villa (Elmhurst, PA) is pleased to announce a new complimentary service to the community. They now offer informational short seminars staffed by employees who have expertise in a wide variety of topics which appeal to seniors, their caregivers, children, and the general public.

The staff goes to a facility or organizations' place of meetings, events, or health fairs and will do a presentation regarding any one of the topics listed below.

Paying for Long Term Care
Spirituality and History of St. Mary's Villa
Nutrition, Hydration and Your Health
"Memory Lane" A Guide to Preventing Memory Loss
Heart Health and Recognizing Signs and Symptoms of CHF
Understanding MRSA
Making Your Home Safe
How to Choose Between a Nursing Home and Personal Care and the Difference Between Them
Managing Type II Diabetes
Tell us what you would like to learn about!

This is a wonderful public relations initiative with the neighbors of St. Mary's Villa who can benefit immensely from the staff's expertise.

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PEOPLE NEWS

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John Isaacson was recently elected chairperson of the Covenant Health Systems, Inc. Board of Directors. John has served on the Covenant board since 2004 and most recently as the Vice Chair.

He chaired the Finance Committee from 2005 to 2013. He has also been an active board member and chair at St. Mary's Health System (Lewiston), which includes St. Mary's Regional Hospital and St. Mary's d'Youville Pavilion.

John is replacing Joyce M. Arel as Board Chairperson.

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Dennis Shubert MD, PhD, Covenant Health Systems' Chief Medical Officer and formerly the Vice President of Medical Affairs at St. Joseph Healthcare (Bangor) (a Covenant Health Systems' member) was named as one of the "20 in 20" contest winners by The Maine Health Management Coalition.

Dennis Shubert A panel of national health care improvement specialists including John Santa MD, Medical Director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center; Harold Miller, President and CEO of the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform (CHQPR); and Anne Weiss, a Senior Program Officer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, selected the winners from the pool of applicants from across the state. They recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to the Coalition's goals of honoring 20 individuals from around the state that have made significant contributions to the health care experience and costs for healthcare in Maine.

The motivation for the Coalition's award ceremony is three-fold: 1) To recognize individuals from around the state that have worked to improve the value of health care in Maine, 2) To teach others about successful efforts that have been/are being carried out, and 3) To inspire others around the state to work collaboratively to improve the quality and lower the cost of health care. Nominees must have made a significant contribution to at least one part of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Triple Aim; improving the patient experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing the cost of health care

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