Franciscans and Healthcare: What is the Future?

EXPERIENCE OF THE SYLVANIA, OHIO, FRANCISCANS: RESPONSE TO ANDERSON

87 EXPERIENCE OF THE SYLVANIA, OHIO, FRANCISCANS RESPONSE TO ANDERSON Patricia Simpson, O.S.F. I have worn many hats that have brought me to my present ministry as Vice-President of Mission Integration for Franciscan Services Corporation in Sylvania, Ohio. I was a teacher by profession. Then I became trained for and engaged in formation ministry. I wore a leadership governance hat for twelve (not consecutive) years. In that time I served for over ten years as a board member of our Detroit hospital, so learned much about health care by “osmosis." I was also privileged to work with the formulation of the Roots and Wings program of the Franciscan Federation. It gave me a wonderful opportunity to deepen and expand my understanding and appreciation of our Franciscan heritage. Roots and Wings provided programs in various geographic areas to explain the newly-approved Third Order Regular Rule of 1982. So through the melting pot of experiences I have come to my current ministry. During the Roots and Wings Seminars in the 1980s, I presented the history of Franciscan women’s foundations in the United States. As a response and reflection to Sister Esther Anderson's paper, I'd like to tell our story. This will provide an interesting contrast to her presentation. My congregation, the Sylvania Franciscans, is eighty-three years old, founded in 1916. We are the daughters of the Rochester Minnesota Franciscans. Our foundress and her first group were professed sisters of that congregation. We are granddaughters of the Joliet Illinois Franciscans; their foundress began both congregations. The Sylvania Franciscans became autonomous in 1930 and a papal congregation in 1954. Presently we have 285 professed members. Thus we are younger and smaller than Sister Esther's Congregation. Almost as soon as we came to the Toledo area to care for the education of children, we were called upon to care for the sick. Within a few years, we were ministering to people in Kentucky and Ohio. Later, our foundress, who lived to a lively ninety years, 88 PATRICIA SIMPSON, O.S.F. responded to calls from healthcare providers in several states: Texas, Nebraska, and Louisiana to name a few. Our foundress also wanted us to serve in small hospitals. One of our early sisters, who had served as a CEO and who now resides at our Motherhouse, shared that she had refrained from telling our foundress that she was in the process of building a two story hospital! The watchword throughout our endeavors and even today is “meet the needs wherever we are.” As healthcare became more sophisticated, our congregational superior, Sister Patrice Kerin (president of the Franciscan Federation during the time of the Rule Project), had the foresight to create Franciscan Services Corporation (FSC) to oversee the health and human services of the Congregation. That foundation began just fifteen years ago. It is a holding company model. A separate Board of Trustees provides governance direction for FSC. Leadership and consultative services in the areas of mission integration, planning and management information, finance, education, quality assurance/risk management are provided by a corporate staff. We provide oversight but do not micromanage at a local level. The goal is to promote locally-shared stewardship as the most appropriate framework for effective decision-making. The local organizations are accountable to the Sponsors and the System. They are asked to adhere to professional and institutional standards and ethical and moral principles, exercise prudently all resources of the system, and have a genuine concern for the indigent, neglected, and rejected members of the community. Early in the foundation of Franciscan Services, two rules of thumb were formulated. We will not enter a market where we will be in competition with another Catholic partner, and we will not duplicate services. The Congregation itself in 1995 formulated a stance regarding withdrawing from or remaining in a corporate or non-corporate ministry. Using a philosophy based on Franciscan values of proclamation, we ask if this ministry gives us an opportunity to witness and proclaim the Gospel. Based on the value of public witness, we ask if this ministry gives us an opportunity to witness to the value of relationships through collaborating and networking. And based on the value of being pilgrim people, we ask if we can empower and enable God's people through our presence. Specific reflection questions that lead us to making a EXPERIENCE OF SYLVANIA FRANCISCANS 89 decision include...