Journal of Sacred Work

  He was in the pew in front of me, hearing aids and extra-magnified glasses in place. Hair as white as mine.

   "Where'd you work?" I asked my him post benediction.

   "Digital company in Colorado," he said. "Got out after 30 years."

   I did not ask if his company had an "alumni" site. No "companies" do.

   One thing I love about our RMH and Baptist Hospital Alum sites? They exist! We do not have PR officers. We ARE the PR.

   We remember because we cared about our calling and each other. Still do.  Remember, for example, Julie Sabo, RMH "Employee of the Month" in 1993, and the caregiving she and her fellow nominees (PARTNERS) did across their careers.

   Attention, hospital leaders. Take care of the people who take care of people. They will work harder now and recall in retirement. 

   Will that still happen amid the corporatization of hospitals by systems including OhioHealth and Baptist's owner, Ascension? When I founded OhioHealth (1984) my goal was embedding our loving culture more widely. That takes more time than I was granted. 

    Riverside does things that help: Nursing scholarships, ER reunions… More is needed to nurture Tradition's Golden Thread. 

    After a recent retreat, a nurse emailed: "I chose caregiving to do what you wrote in Radical Loving Care^®…serve others. But my [Virginia] hospital treats us as "units of expense."   

   When I left courtrooms to lead hospitals I was shocked how many leaders disdained loving care. "No margin, no mission," a Catholic Hospital CEO told me. A convenient excuse to cut "units of expense" and raise the bottom line.

   The charitable status of universities, hospitals and other non profits is under attack. If they violate mission, okay. But Harvard sophomore Miles Chapman, his fellow students, and millions of caregivers want the government to support charities not attack them. Especially as the President slashes university funding and threatens Medicaid.

   Leaders! Don't just talk mission, practice it. Make sure you take care of the people who take care of people so they can help the vulnerable!

-Erie Chapman

*Special congratulations to Liz Wessel, R.N. M.S. who retired after over three decades of caregiving with Providence Health System. More to come…