Catholic Health and Catholic Charities Leaders Renew Commitment to Cross-Ministry Collaboration

Catholic Charities USA
Monday, 5 August 2002

Catholic health and Catholic Charities leaders will celebrate 275 years of ministry in the United States and pledge commitment to even greater collaboration in the future during their joint meeting August 3-5 at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers in Chicago.

Guided by the theme Celebration 275: United in Faith, Committed to Justice, hundreds of members of Charities USA and the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA) will commemorate their shared heritage that began in 1727 when 12 Ursuline Sisters started the first U.S. Catholic health and human services in New Orleans. Building from those humble beginnings, Catholic Charities and Catholic health care now serve more than 95 million people each year.

"Our two groups share a common heritage and a common goal of providing help to those in need, regardless of faith. We already have many examples of shared ministry, and we hope to sow the seeds for even greater collaboration during Celebration 275," said Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, president of Catholic Charities USA, and Rev. Michael D. Place, STD, president and chief executive officer of CHA. "This meeting will showcase collaboration for participants to take home and put into practice in their local communities. For these reasons, workshops will highlight issues that are equally important to health care organizations and to social service agencies, and each session includes speakers representing the point of view of both health care and human service agencies."

Successful examples of Catholic health care and Catholic Charities agencies working together in three communities will be highlighted in a video shown on Monday, Aug. 5.

Successful local collaboration efforts

St. Petersburg/Tampa Bay, FL

In the St. Petersburg-Tampa Bay, FL, region, Catholic Charities, BayCare Health System, and other partners are working together to meet needs throughout diocese. To help migrant farm workers, a community center is offering Head Start and Adult education, medical care, a food pantry and clothing closet, financial and family counseling, and soon, housing. The partnership is providing refugees with emergency and specialty care and training for health care jobs. The Christopher Center combines housing and medical care for AIDS patients in one facility. Housing is available in two stories of efficiency apartments, with and medical care and observation available in the ground floor clinic.

The partners also have come up with creative solutions that address each other's needs. For instance, BayCare rents the space for its AIDS clinic in a Catholic Charities property, so federal money for AIDS treatment and funds from pharmaceutical company drug trials help support AIDS services and programs of Catholic Charities. In addition, Catholic Charities housing experts help BayCare attract and retain professional staff through a program that provides assistance with down payments and low-interest mortgages.

South Orange, CA

In Orange County, CA, Mission Hospital, Catholic Charities, and 12 other agencies formed Community Health Enrichment Collaborative (CHEC) to build a healthier community among Mexican immigrants. Challenged to earn the trust of an immigrant community that has been alienated by language, culture, and economic status, Mission Hospital and Catholic Charities turned to the community's focal institution—the Parish of Mission Basilica—to be the third principle partner.

The first project, done at the request of the community, restored an abandoned sports field where children and teenagers could play. Other CHEC efforts started small, with health fairs and immunization drives, and the group then moved on to provide an adult literacy program, called "Leer es Poder/Reading is Power." The program has developed Diabetes Collaborative, a program of screenings, education and treatment referrals and established a Family Resource Center with parenting classes, family counseling, health and safety education, and many other programs promoting healthy families.

Cleveland, OH

Over the past six years Catholic Charities of Cleveland and the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine Health System (CSA) have launched several far-reaching initiatives in Cleveland. Refugees and immigrants, long served by Catholic Charities, are now receiving medical care from CSA hospitals. Their children also are enrolled in CSA daycare programs. The joint program also enables CSA's partner physicians to build valuable relationships with immigrant patients. The elderly have ready access to an entire continuum of health and social services through Catholic Community Care, a consortium of 17 different Catholic providers.

As a result of the partnership, groups who once had difficulty access health care, now find health providers coming to them at the Hispanic Senior Center, at long-term care facilities, and in parishes where the partners are providing services for the disabled. The uninsured, the excluded, and the marginalized are getting the help they need, and health officials are seeing a decline in visits to the emergency room.

For more information, or to contact Catholic Charities USA, see their website at: www.catholiccharitiesusa.org