Advancing Catholic Health Ministry

From smart scales that help doctors detect heart failure, to errand-running robots that drop off lab specimens and pick up medication, technology is increasingly finding a role in health care.

When Alma Valencia, a mother of two in Pasadena, California, left her job in fashion to care full time for her mom living with dementia, she didn't receive formal training or much guidance.

To allow for a hydrotherapy session for a 12-year-old resident of Elizabeth Seton Children's Center in Yonkers, New York, staffers act in concert with one another. Before Abigail Gonzalez even reached the pool, administrators and employees here raised money to cover a battery-operated, portable ventilator for her.

As Americans and their health care systems struggle with both escalating costs and the growing complexity of a fragmented payer-provider landscape, a sobering truth looms over this essential social function: Despite operating the most technologically advanced and expensive health care system in the developed world, the U.S. produces health outcomes that lag behind every other industrialized nation — and even some developing ones.

In 2024, the American Medical Association updated its Code of Medical Ethics to establish that physicians have an ethical responsibility "to address the pain and suffering occasioned by illness and injury and to respect their patients as whole persons. These duties require physicians to assure the provision of effective palliative care whenever a patient is experiencing serious, chronic, complex or critical illness, regardless of prognosis."

While age is not synonymous with dementia, dementia is more common in those 75 and older. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports there are more than 6 million Americans living with dementia, and it affects more women largely due to their longer lifespan.

I needed a toothbrush. One simple, preferably soft-bristled toothbrush. And I could not find one anywhere in my apartment.

Fr. Nelson Baker was an ordinary man who did extraordinary things. His 60 years in the priesthood were spent sheltering the homeless, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick and giving hope to the destitute.

Menopause has entered the chat. The subject of a recent Oprah Winfrey special, outspoken celebrity confessions, and the focus of institutional and startup investors clamoring for a piece of this more than $15 billion market, menopause is finally being noticed for the hidden phenomenon it is.

Lifespan is broadly understood as the number of years a person lives, while healthspan generally reflects the number of years a person lives free from chronic disease or significant disability.

Like many of you, the events of the recent season have left me feeling powerless. Angst over recent policies persists, as some legislators attempt to oppress health care coverage for those most in need. We find ourselves asking, "How might I be an effective agent for change?" The divisiveness feels hopeless, where societal fear of the "other" looms as acceptable. As we look for God's unity amid the animosity, we ask, "How am I to be a bringer of peace?" But beneath powerlessness and hopelessness, soul questions lie dormant until their proper time.

Senior leadership formation programs have become fixed features of Catholic health ministries in the United States. They have such importance that every ministry has a means of providing them for their senior leadership, and the data indicate the establishment of a shared vision for content, process and programmatic experience.