SCN Family News
The latest on Tumblr
Catholic Hospital Boosts HIV/AIDS Nursing Care
June 24, 2010
| Patna
A Catholic hospital in India’s Bihar state, which has 90,000 HIV/AIDS patients, has conducted a meeting to address the nursing challenges created by the pandemic.
“The main objective of the meeting was to work together in strengthening the quality of nursing education and services in the hospitals,” said T. Dileep Kumar, president of the Indian Nursing Council and nursing adviser to the Indian government.
The Nazareth Hospital in Mokama, about 60 kilometers from Patna, the state capital, organized the one-day meeting of nursing superintendents on June 21.
The hospital, the only one in the state that carries out training on the nursing of HIV/AIDS patients, has so far trained 548 nurses over 22 sessions.
More nurses need to be trained annually as India will be short of about 685,000 nurses by 2012, said Sandeep Kumar, the state government’s assistant health secretary.
“There are 90,000 HIV/AIDS-inflicted patients in Bihar and it is imperative to reduce the transmission of this disease by following universal precautions,” Kumar said.
“The quality of nursing service is very poor” due to a very low nurse-patient ratio in Bihar, he said.
The meeting was supported by:
- The Indian Nursing Council
- Government of Bihar Health Services
- UNICEF Patna
- The Futures Group under The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
View Comments
Lawrenceville Students Help Preserve Memories in a Jar
June 18, 2010
| VCS
From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
When Veronica Gult's youngest son failed to pass the test to enter Carnegie Mellon University, he gave her a valuable bit of information: "Don't let anyone tell you your answers don't mean anything. They always do."
The residents at Vincentian de Marillac nursing home in Stanton Heights took his advice to heart when they answered questions about their life from students at Career Connections Charter High School in Lawrenceville.
Four students from the school presented eight residents with "memory jars" on Wednesday, which they created after interviewing residents last month. The jars contained questions and answers about the residents' lives: their childhood, family, marriage, even their funeral wishes.
"It's not an everyday thing where you meet new people and at the same time are able to look back at their history," said Alexis Holmes, 16, of Highland Park, a 10th-grader at the school.
The memory jars are part of a "Pay it Forward" initiative, now in its third year at the school. It gives the students a chance to reach out to the school's surrounding communities and interact with residents at places like food banks, shelters and nursing homes.
Nearly a month earlier, eight students traveled to Vincentian de Marillac to eat lunch with residents and talk with them one-on-one. The students asked them more than 100 questions about their past and their lives now, including whether they are afraid to die and who their best friend was as a child. Many of the students found themselves sharing things about their own lives, realizing they had more in common with the residents than they thought.
The students returned yesterday with jars, brightly decorated with ribbons, stickers and pictures to reflect the tastes of the residents. Each jar contained strips of paper that held the answers to every question the students asked.
"It was nice remembering all the things from my past," said Gult, 86. "I never realized I had forgotten so many things until I was asked a question about them."
"It's not about the activity the students are doing with the residents, it's about the connections the students are making," said Aimi Long, activities manager at Vincentian de Marillac. "The residents are getting to experience the young, and the students are getting the experience of working with the residents."
They will keep the jars in their rooms, and every day a staff member will pull a "memory" from the jar so they can talk about it.
"Not only do the residents get to go back and reminisce about things in their past, but family members and staff can learn things about the resident they never knew," Long said.
The residents at Vincentian de Marillac nursing home in Stanton Heights took his advice to heart when they answered questions about their life from students at Career Connections Charter High School in Lawrenceville.
Four students from the school presented eight residents with "memory jars" on Wednesday, which they created after interviewing residents last month. The jars contained questions and answers about the residents' lives: their childhood, family, marriage, even their funeral wishes.
"It's not an everyday thing where you meet new people and at the same time are able to look back at their history," said Alexis Holmes, 16, of Highland Park, a 10th-grader at the school.
The memory jars are part of a "Pay it Forward" initiative, now in its third year at the school. It gives the students a chance to reach out to the school's surrounding communities and interact with residents at places like food banks, shelters and nursing homes.
Nearly a month earlier, eight students traveled to Vincentian de Marillac to eat lunch with residents and talk with them one-on-one. The students asked them more than 100 questions about their past and their lives now, including whether they are afraid to die and who their best friend was as a child. Many of the students found themselves sharing things about their own lives, realizing they had more in common with the residents than they thought.
The students returned yesterday with jars, brightly decorated with ribbons, stickers and pictures to reflect the tastes of the residents. Each jar contained strips of paper that held the answers to every question the students asked.
"It was nice remembering all the things from my past," said Gult, 86. "I never realized I had forgotten so many things until I was asked a question about them."
"It's not about the activity the students are doing with the residents, it's about the connections the students are making," said Aimi Long, activities manager at Vincentian de Marillac. "The residents are getting to experience the young, and the students are getting the experience of working with the residents."
They will keep the jars in their rooms, and every day a staff member will pull a "memory" from the jar so they can talk about it.
"Not only do the residents get to go back and reminisce about things in their past, but family members and staff can learn things about the resident they never knew," Long said.
Vincentian Personal Care Announces New Administrator
June 17, 2010
| Vincentian Personal Care
Vincentian Personal Care announces the appointment of Charlene Reebel, SCN, as administrator for the facility. Sister Charlene, a Sister of Charity of Nazareth (formerly Vincentian Sisters of Charity), has more than 25 years of experience in leadership positions. Most recently she served as general superior for the Vincentian Sisters of Charity.
Sister Charlene entered the Vincentian Sisters of Charity 50 years ago and has ministered as an elementary/secondary educator, formation director, congregational leader and spiritual director. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from LaRoche College and has taken Master’s courses in administration/supervision at Duquesne University for certification in spiritual direction. In April, she completed the personal care home program at Penn State University’s Allegheny Campus and passed the Personal Care Home Administrator state licensure exam. She is a member of the Association of Personal Care Administrators and the Pennsylvania Assisted Living Association.
“I feel privileged to serve in this capacity and am grateful to have the opportunity to further the mission and charism of charity with the wonderful residents and dedicated staff at Vincentian Personal Care,” says Sister Charlene. “There is a warm and welcoming spirit present here and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
Vincentian Personal Care (formerly Vincentian Assisted Living) is a 50-bed personal care facility operated by Vincentian Home and located in Pittsburgh’s North Hills.
SCN Archives Travel to Nazareth
June 16, 2010
| Pittsburgh
The Sisters gathered outside the Garden Entrance of St. Louise Convent in Pittsburgh, Penn., yesterday to say a prayer for a historic journey. The Sisters also prayed for the safe journey of Corrine Giel, SCN, and Michaelette Pavlik, SCN, who are driving to Nazareth, Ky., bringing with them a substantial collection of the SCN archives.
The prayer group was divided into two and the prayer stanzas were alternated. The final verse was recited by all as Colette Baran, SCN, blessed the truck and its contents and drivers with holy water. Then all sang “St. Vincent Dear and St. Louise.”
The following is the prayer that was used:
PRAYER FOR A HISTORIC JOURNEY
Blessed are You Lord our God, for you have created a wide and wonderful world
in which to travel and settle down in one place or another.
We ask your blessing upon these archives as they are about to leave on a journey
from Pittsburgh, PA to Nazareth, KY.
May You, Holy Guide of Travelers,
Be ever-near, spreading the road before them.
Free that road from harm and evil
and send as their escorts the spirits of Mother Emerentiana and the Pioneer Sisters
who journeyed from Europe to America in 1902.
On this journey, may these records take with them
the hearts of the former Vincentian sisters of Charity
wrapped in peace and joy
as they join the hearts of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in the one congregation they now form.
May these historic records have space for a mystic map
to enable all to read invisible meanings
of the many events of the journey of the Pittsburgh sisters from 1902 to 2008 .
Always displaying your Sacred Presence and your Divine compassionate love
may these archives present the events of this journey, the beautiful and the bad
as the mystery of Your holy plan.
May the blessing of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit be upon these historic records throughout this journey; may it shield them from all harm and take them in safety and in peace to their new home in Nazareth, Kentucky.
Amen
The prayer was adapted from Edward Hays', “Prayers for the Domestic Church”
