Sr. Geraldine Ching, OSF, left, checks on an aquaponics system that St. Francis Hospice-West employees use to grow fish and vegetables. Sr. Ching, chief sponsorship officer of St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii, contributed the $1000 stipend she received as the 2012 recipient of CHA's Concilia Moran Award toward the purchase of the growing bed and fish tank. Her gift to the St. Francis' Healthy Lifestyles Program was matched by the St. Francis Healthcare Foundation of Hawaii. The lifestyles program supports several aquaponics systems in Oahu, providing a hands-on, environmentally sound way to promote good nutrition among poor families, at-risk students and the system's own employees. With Sr. Ching are the lifestyle program's Amelia Jose, center, and Emma Cabanas, a St. Francis Hospice-West nurse.
Copyright © 2013 by the Catholic Health Association of the United States
For reprint permission, contact Betty Crosby or call (314) 253-3477.