In last year's health reform act, the federal government called upon tax-exempt hospitals to ensure they're identifying and responding to the public health needs of their communities.

Chief Nurse Executive Jackie Medland of Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Ill., has learned something about the character of new nurses during her 30-year career. They're courageous, but easily cowed; eager, but sometimes embarrassed. But, most of all, new graduates are nimble.

Kathleen Dowler, a nurse at Chandler Regional Medical Center near Phoenix, saw many children with serious dental needs as she visited schools, Women, Infants and Children (WIC) centers and other stops on the hospital's traveling health clinic's circuit.

While safety and quality initiatives are evolving and becoming more sophisticated in the U.S., progress has been slow. That was the thrust of an April 7 briefing by Health Affairs, a leading journal of health policy, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

At busy times and amid critical national debates, "nothing beats Scripture and the reminder of the eternal" for keeping things in perspective, President Barack Obama told about 130 religious leaders at the White House Easter prayer breakfast last month.

Every year, some 500,000 children turn 18 with serious chronic illnesses including congenital heart disease, cystic fibrosis, renal disease, spina bifida and sickle-cell anemia.

Sisters of Mercy Health System of Chesterfield, Mo., has broken ground on an $88 million outpatient care facility that administrators said will be a prototype for similar projects throughout the four states in which the system operates.

Diminished appetite, irregular sleep habits and poor personal hygiene are all clues that an elderly person may be depressed.

Community benefit experts now can be more precise and judicious in how they assess and address community needs, with a free online tool that San Francisco's Catholic Healthcare West launched recently.

St. Elizabeth Health Center of Youngstown, Ohio, is marking its centennial with a year of celebration that will conclude in December.

High school students eager to learn whether a career in medical science suits them dive into medicine, ethics and ministry as part of the Medical Focus Program at Providence High School in Burbank, Calif.