May-June 2019 | Volume 100, Number 3
BY: FR. CHARLES BOUCHARD, OP, STD
Almost a quarter of a century ago,
Health Progress published several articles on questions of Catholic identity and Catholic institutions by respected leaders in the ministry. Fr. J. Bryan Hehir wrote the first one in which he raised questions about institutional identity and described its three historical stages of institutional identity. Lawrence Singer and Sr. Helen Amos, RSM, echoed some of his concerns and raised questions of their own. We have learned a great deal since 1995, but we are still struggling with many of the questions Fr. Hehir, Singer and Sr. Amos raised. As
Health Progress marks its 100th volume as a publication, I would like to recall some of their observations and suggest that we are now moving into a fourth stage of thinking about institutional identity and sponsorship.
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BY: PHILIP J. BOYLE, PhD
Trinity Health is pursuing its ongoing desire to understand better the elements of Catholic identity by focusing on the nature of a healing environment and incorporating its findings into the health care setting. Trinity's mission statement calls on us to be a"transforming, healing presence." Our health system has recently gained a deeper knowledge about the qualities of a healing environment, and, in the process, it discovered some surprising connections.
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BY: ZENI FOX, PhD
The use of design to create healing environments draws upon many aspects of human creativity. One source is religious imagination, which is the capacity to envision the transcendent when perceiving a specific, concrete and earthly reality. Two examples — one from the Middle Ages that reflects traditional themes and one recent example focused on the contemporary world — allow for an entry point for the exploration of the relationship between healing and the religious imagination.
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BY: BARBARA SUTTON, DMin
Would you like to see the Word of God dance on a page?" calligrapher Donald Jackson asked the monks of Saint John's Abbey when he solicited their sponsorship for The Saint John's Bible in 1998. With a discerning spirit, they commissioned the first handwritten illuminated edition of the Bible in 500 years.
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BY: KATHY OKLAND, RN, MPH, EDAC
Seeking care, you enter. You are not alone. Others also are scheduled for appointments today. You step back and wait your turn. Now registered as a patient and with papers in hand, you take a seat in a sea of chairs. Television, telephones, texts, and the traffic of staff, couriers and carts create their own noise, each taking a piece of your peace away.
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BY: JIM RICHTER, MA
Stooping down to be on eye level with her patient in the wheelchair, the therapist lightly rested her hand on his knee. The two engaged in conversation and soon both were laughing, enjoying a warm spring morning in the healing garden at Mercy Health - Anderson Hospital in Cincinnati. The physical therapists working in Anderson Hospital's acute rehabilitation unit look forward to bringing some of their patients outside for therapy, or even just some fresh air, when weather permits. On this day, the therapy included exercises working some joints, especially the knee — a replacement knee, I assume.
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BY: JENNIFER COX AND RON CHAMBERS, MD, FAAFP
The victims of human trafficking — which encompasses forced labor and sex trafficking, include men, women and children in all 50 states as well as countries worldwide.1 Trafficking victims experience a range of acute and chronic physical and mental health issues resulting from their traumatic experiences, many of which have lifelong detrimental effects. Nearly every clinic and health care setting likely will see victims of human trafficking at some point,2 but there is an ongoing gap in the field of trauma-informed care, which supports a "safe clinical space" model of care.
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BY: BECKY URBANSKI, EdD
St Benedictine Health Center at Innsbruck in New Brighton, Minn., one of the first things visitors to the long-term care center see is a large, flat maze close to the front entrance. On any given day, it is not unusual to see residents in walkers or wheelchairs, staff and family members or even neighbors quietly and slowly following the contemplative path. Called a labyrinth, it is part of the healing garden at this suburban Minneapolis care center.
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BY: BRIDGET DEEGAN-KRAUSE, MDiv
I am blessed with wonderful friends, friends who laugh at my jokes, who bring me good soup, who hold me accountable, who cry with me when I am sad. When a private heartache hit several months back, these friendships served as safe havens, as their company offered a space to heal, helping me to remember who I am as I began to live into a new reality.
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BY: DAVID J. SHUCH, DDS
When we look with depth and seriousness at the relationship between healing and sacred spaces, the commonalities that emerge show that they are inextricably linked. Healing is a broad term that can cover everything from a cut finger to a damaged planet. Rather than illustrating every point along this particular spectrum, let us explore two points of human healing, remote from each other: from the bruised knee to the broken heart of a girl we'll call Madeline.
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BY: JEAN MONAHAN
"In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace." —Canticle of Zechariah (Luke 1:78-79)
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