May 25, 2012

Kelly Blecha, RN, Clinical Manager, General, Vascular and Cardiac Surgery, (left) and Carol Dean, RN, Vascular Specialty Charge Nurse.

JULY 6, 1889SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH ARRIVE TO BEGIN BORGESS AND MORE

On July 6, 1889, eleven Sisters of St. Joseph arrived in Kalamazoo at the invitation of the Right Reverend Francis O’Brien, pastor of St. Augustine Parish, to help

start a hospital.

Led by Mother Margaret Mary Lacy, the Sisters arrived with few personal possessions and a profound commitment to a philosophy of caring and giving that remains unchanged today, 125 years later.

Prior to the creation of the hos-pital people who were homeless and ill were sometimes placed in the local jail for care because there were no other options. Msgr. O’Brien first appealed to the city aldermen for a hospital, but the request was unheeded. Bishop Borgess of Detroit pro-vided $5,000 from his mother’s estate to begin this new enterprise.

Getting Kalamazoo’s first hospital ready to open

Before they could offer nursing care, the Sisters set to work, scrubbing and cleaning, moving furniture and getting rooms ready for the December 8, 1889, offi-cial opening of Kalamazoo’s first hospital.

Eight doctors who had private practices joined the staff.

Continued on page 4

July 4, 2014

The original eleven Sisters of St. Joseph came to Kalamazoo by train on July 6, 1889.

The Sisters helped prepare and then staffed Borgess, Kalamazoo’s first hospital.

Borgess Medical Centerrated among the nation’stop heart surgery hospitalsLEARN MORE:www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2014/08/top-scoring-hospitals-for-heart- surgery/index.htm

They are described as transformative managerial and executive leaders

within the Borgess Health Ministry who are committed to service of human dignity and the common good.

A select group of Borgess associates are recent and future graduates of the Ascension Health Formation program. Ascension Health created the Executive Formation and Management Formation programs for Health Ministry leaders to equip them, personally and professionally, to sustain, steward and advance the Ministry to faithfully serve the Mission into the future. The participants attend retreats that include readings and presentations, and develop collegial relationships with associates from other Ascension Health Ministries. The programs conclude with graduation and commissioning ceremonies.

Participants in the Management Formation program attend a series of quarterly retreats over nine months. The 2015 participants from Borgess have been selected and are beginning their nine-month program this month. They are: Mary Harvey, Director, Managed Care Contracting; Anita Heyman, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, Administrative Director, Med/Surg/Cardiology, Borgess Medical Center; Mia Willhite, Director, Community Clinics, Borgess Lee Medical Group;

and John Znavor, Lab Director, Borgess Medical Center.

Borgess cohorts who have completed the Management Formation program are: Kathy Allen-Stouffer, Practice Administrator, Borgess Women’s Health; Agnes Haring, Administrative Director, Behavioral Health; Debra Jorae, MSN, RN, NE-BC, Director, 8 Northwest, Borgess Medical Center; Kim Loftus, Development Officer, Borgess Foundation; Tom Mushett, Administrative Director, Borgess Health Park; Tim Radabaugh, Practice Director, Borgess ProMed Physicians; Jeff Way, Technology Director, Ascension Health Information Services; and Sandra Williams, Director of Quality, Borgess-Pipp Hospital.

Participants in the Executive Formation program attend quarterly retreats over two years. Cohorts from Borgess are: Mark Anthony, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Borgess Health; Cindy Gaines, MSN, RN, Vice President, Borgess Systems of Care; Mary Heintzkill, Director, Borgess Spiritual Care; Tony McDonnell, Chief Development Officer, Borgess Foundation; Linda Root, Vice President, Mission Integration, Borgess Health; and Lois Van Donselaar, Vice President, Chief Nursing Officer, Borgess Medical Center.

With just over two months to go to full deployment, training on Symphony throughout Borgess Health is now in full gear.

More than 170 Symphony “Super Users” are now taking on the role of providing peer support for Borgess associates. They are serving as “go-to specialists” and first point of contact in their departments and divisions on issues involving Human Resources, Supply Chain or Finance. The Super Users attended Super User Kickoff events on June 25 and June 26 in the LEC Auditorium to prepare for training on Symphony that will last through September and after the September 1 deployment.

Formation for Health Ministry LeadershipSymphony Super Users Pictured left to

right: Kim Loftus, Development Officer, Borgess Foundation; Agnes Haring, Administrative Director, Behavioral Health; Linda Root, Vice President, Mission Integration, Borgess Health; Sandra Williams, Director of Quality, Borgess-Pipp Hospital; and Tim Radabaugh, Practice Director, Borgess ProMed Physicians.

Patrick Dyson, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Services, Borgess Health, discusses the Symphony Super User role at a kickoff session on June 25.

In 1985, the Junior League of Kalamazoo, working with Borgess Medical Center and Bronson Methodist Hospital, opened the doors of Hospital Hospitality House (HHH or “the House”) in a lovely old home at 527 W. South Street, Kalamazoo. The purpose was to provide no-cost, home-like lodging for loved ones of hospitalized patients for whom home was too far away to afford-ably or safely travel back and forth.

Since then HHH has welcomed almost 11,000 “Borgess” guests; family and close friends of patients have spent more than 32,800 nights with Hospital Hospitality House. Most found them-selves attending to a patient in a critical care situation, often very unexpectedly. Their presence at the hospital bedside enhances medical care, decision-making and outcomes. It helps relieve stress for both the patient and the family.

Hospital Hospitality House staff regularly responds to familiar visitor appeals such as:

“I can’t possibly afford a hotel.”

“Where will I stay?”

“How will I get there?”

“I can’t afford to eat out.”

“I really need a shower and clean clothes.”

“I don’t even have a toothbrush!”

“I don’t want to be too far away.”

Guests are provided a warm welcome, a safe and comfortable place to stay, food, kitchen and laundry facilities, basic toiletries and clothing, if needed. The House is staffed 24/7 by compassionate individuals who care how the guests’ day at the hospital went, how their loved one is progressing and how THEY are holding up.

“The House has been able to ease this burden and the patients, family members, and staff are very grateful for this incredible community service,” said Mary Heintzkill, Director of Spiritual Care, Borgess Medical Center.

Thanks to the generous and caring

Kalamazoo community, Hospital Hospitality House welcomes Borgess vis-itors every day. HHH encourage Borgess Medical Center professionals to continue sending visitors. The need is even more crucial today than it was nearly 30 years ago when Hospital Hospitality House services first became available.

More information on HHH is available by calling (269) 341.7811 or by visiting www.hhhkz.org. Members of the Borgess Medical Center Spiritual Care or Physical Therapy staff can also provide additional details.

In observation of Independence Day, Friday July 4th, Borgess CorpFit occupational clinics will have the following business hours available:

The following locations will be CLOSED on Friday, July 4th:

• Borgess Occupational Health Clinic

• Woodbridge Occupational Health Clinic

The following location will have LIMITED HOURS on Friday, July 4th:

• Woodbridge Immediate Medical Care: Open 9 am – 5 pm

The following emergency locations will have REGULAR HOURS on July 4th:

• Borgess Emergency & Trauma Center: 24 Hour Access

• Borgess-Pipp Hospital Emergency Room: 24 Hour Access

All Borgess CorpFit clinics will return to their regular hours of operation on Monday, July 7th.

Changes will be taking place on the Borgess Health Board of Trustees, effective July 1, 2014.

Kevin Holleman, MD, will retire after serving since 2007. Sanjay Dalal, MD, Gary Druskovich, MD, and Tim Derrington, have been reappointed to additional three-year terms. The Board has also appointed new members Jerry Love and Mary Slater, MD, to three-year terms.

Larry Lueth has been appointed Treasurer for a one-year term. He replaces Susan Pozo, PhD, who is retiring from the position.

Hospital Hospitality House helps Borgess guests, family members and close friends

Independence Day closures Changing of the guard

Hospital Hospitality House, 527 W. South Street, Kalamazoo

The Sisters made up in zeal what they lacked in experience, according to an unpublished manu-script by Dr. Robert Warnke. They cleaned and painted, prepared meals, did laundry and sat up nights with patients when needed–everything but stoke coal in the furnace.

They raised a garden and managed cows and chickens to supplement the food supply, and over time the hospital grew to 20 beds. In 1917 a new Borgess was opened on Gull Road at the present location. The old hospital was closed and with a large expansion at the Gull Road site all services were consolidated as a 250-bed health ministry.

The zeal exhibited by the Sisters spread through the community and within a month of their arrival sev-eral young girls entered the congregation. “Their parents prepared them and groomed them for this new vocation,” said Sister Irene Waldmann. “The Sisters were looked upon as the kind people who got things done for the community.”

Their community spirit can be traced back to the founding of the Congregation of the Sisters of Joseph in LePuy, France, by the Rev. Jean Pierre Medaille and Bishop Henry de Maupas. By the late 1600’s the Sisters were engaged in Christian Ministry in dioceses in France, in schools, hospi-tals, orphanages and institutes for the deaf.

The local congregation traces in origins to Watertown, N.Y., where Mother Margaret Lacy established a foundation. Nine years later Mother Margaret and the Watertown Sisters arrived in Kalamazoo. The Sisters had not been in Kalamazoo for long before some were called to Monroe, Michigan, to assume the responsibility for Francis Home for Orphan Boys.

Four days after they arrived, more than 80 orphaned boys were brought to the home and the Sisters’ work began. The orphanage has provided

care and love to more than 10,000 children since.

Back in Kalamazoo, Msgr. O’Brien asked the Sisters to take charge of the LeFevre Institute, a parochial school established in 1891.

When the need arose for reasonably priced hous-ing for women who worked in local factories and shops, the Sisters converted a cottage on the hospital grounds from a novitiate into the St. Ann Home for Working Women.

In 1897 the large brick building on the former Humphrey Farm was converted into the site for the Motherhouse and a new school for girls, Nazareth Academy.

They opened Barbour Hall for Boys in 1902. And in 1924 Nazareth College was established offering a four-year liberal arts curriculum. Msgr. O’Brien also enlisted the Sisters to help in the Anthony Home for mentally disadvantaged children, the first residence by Catholic Sisters in the United States to serve that population. The home was closed in 1937.

Over the years the Sisters grew to more than 800 members. And while the number of members has declined since, in 2007 the local Congregation merged with six other communities of St. Joseph to form the new Congregation of St. Joseph.

The Sisters still sponsor what is now Borgess Health, and the Sisters continue to create new ministries. Among the new endeavors is the Transformations Spirituality Center on the Nazareth Campus, which offers opportunities for spiritual reflection and growth.

“Our philosophy remains the same as it always has,” said Sister Irene. “Father Medaille, our founder, called us to care for the dear neighbor.”

“The Sisters have a long history of looking for what is needed in the community and providing that need,” said Sister Judy Schroeder. “We still look for those needs and increasingly partner with others in the community to meet them. We now call it Neighboring Anew.

“What brought us here 125 years ago keeps us here.”

YOU are invitedto Founders’ DaySunday, July 6

You are invited to celebrate the Sisters of the Congregation of St. Joseph at Nazareth Founders’ Day, Sunday, July 6, at 3427 Gull Road. It is an opportunity to see old friends and make new ones. Founders Day includes:

n1 pm Mass of Thanksgiving

n2:30-4:30 pm History Sharing

nGuided tours of:

Holy Family Chapel

History Room

nSelf-guided tours of:

Garden Level Art Gallery

Transformations Spirituality Center

“Bow in the Clouds” nature trail

Reconciliation Labyrinth

For more information, please call (269) 381.6290, ext. 267.

Sisters arrived on July 6, 1889Continued from page 1

Holy Chapel

Nazareth Campus

History Room

Four of the original eleven Sisters of St. Joseph circa 1910.

Appreciation & historyCongregation of St. Joseph Sisters recently shared their thoughts on videotape about the

timeless Mission of Borgess Health while also thanking current Borgess associates. Current

taped interviews include Srs. Betty Veenhuis, Ginny Jones, Irene Waldmann, Janet Chadderdon, Joan McCabe, Mary Ellen Gondeck, Pat Foley, and Rita Ann Teichman. Eight more interviews will be posted later this summer. The videos can be seen by visiting CSJinterviews.Borgess.com.

Sr. Christine Parks