Cleveland, Ohio, February 22, 2010, Mark Wiedt will be joining the business development team of Sisters of Charity Health System in Cleveland, Ohio, on March 1 as vice president for Physician Services and CEO of Cuyahoga Physician Network...

Cleveland, Ohio (Aug. 10, 2009)­­ – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – The Boards of the Sisters of Charity Health System and the Cuyahoga Joint Venture today announce a change in the leadership structure at St. Vincent Charity Hospital....

Cleveland, Ohio (May 28, 2009)­­ – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – As the Sisters of Charity Health System continues its strategic growth, it has made a significant investment in its commitment to growing its physician collaboration strategies....

Cleveland, Ohio (April 3, 2009)­­ – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Katherine Widness has been named director of grants and foundation relations for the Sisters of Charity Health System (SCHS). In this new position, Widness will oversee...

The political will to reform health care

While...

Jan. 20, 2009: Canton, Ohio--For the second year in row, Mercy Medical Center Homecare has been named among the best-performing home health care agencies in the U.S., placing it in the nation's top 25...

Jan. 8, 2009: Canton, Ohio: Mercy Medical Center is the first hospital in Ohio and the second in the nation to be named an accredited Heart Failure Institute by the Healthcare Accreditation Colloquium....

December 26, 2008 Cleveland, Ohio – Patrick J. McMahon, CPA, was named the Senior Vice President/Chief Financial Officer of the Sisters of Charity Health System. In his new position, McMahon will be part of the leadership team charting...

December 26, 2008:  Cleveland, Ohio - Regina Health Center (RHC) in Richfield, Ohio, has earned excellent marks in two recently released surveys of nursing home quality.

Last week, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued...

December 24, 2008: Cleveland, Ohio – The Sisters of Charity Health System(SCHS) is in the process of being named an accredited system center by the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), allowing it to expand its Clinical Pastoral...

December 5, 2008: Columbia, SC - The State newspaper credits Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina and Center for Fathers & Families as a leader in helping fathers become vital parts of their children's lives and in fighting poverty....

November 20, 2008: Canton, Ohio - Chris Watson, one of Mercy's certified athletic trainers and the head athletic trainer at Malone University, was recently appointed to the USA Track & Field (USTAF) medical staff for the upcoming International...

November 12, 2008: Canton, Ohio - Mercy Medical Center is the first hospital in a five-county area to offer total ankle replacement surgery, an innovative procedure that can help qualified patients with advanced ankle arthritis regain more natural...

November, 11, 2008: Cleveland, Ohio – Award-winning journalist Wendy A. Hoke has joined the Sisters of Charity Health System as Communications Officer, where she will implement  strategic communications efforts for the Cleveland-based...

Cleveland, Ohio -- Apirl 9, 2008 

Leonard M. Calabrese to lead as President of Caritas Connection and Executive Director of Ministering Together.  The announcement was made by Mr. Bill Plato, Chair of the Caritas Connection Board of...

CLEVELAND – Ohio/October 2007 — Sr. Rosemarie Carfagna, OSU joins the Sisters of Charity Health System as Senior Vice President, Mission and Ministry. The announcement was made by Sisters of Charity Health System President & CEO Sr....

December 24, 2008: Cleveland, Ohio – The Sisters of Charity Health System(SCHS) is in the process of being named an accredited system center by the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), allowing it to expand its Clinical Pastoral Education program across the SCHS system. 

“All hospitals have student interns, but we now have the potential to have pastoral care residents in all our hospitals,” said Rev. Robert McGeeney, D. Min., ACPE System Supervisor for SCHS. “In order to do that we had to redefine the curriculum and build some standards,” which were part of the accreditation process. 

Accreditation is granted by ACPE for 10 years. During their site visit in 1998, ACPE recommended that UHHS/CSAHS, which jointly owns St. John West Shore, St. Vincent Charity and Mercy Medical Center, move from a hospital-accredited center in which each hospital’s program operated independently to an accredited System Center. In November 2008, SCHS was granted 10-year accreditation as a System Center that includes St. Vincent Charity Hospital and St. John West Shore Hospital in Cleveland, Mercy Medical Center in Canton, and Providence Hospital in Columbia, SC. 

System Center status allows for a wider student base; additional training and placement sites; simplified administration and accountability; greater financial stability; and positioning of the program as a system-wide asset. It also opens CPE students to minister at sites within SCHS other than hospitals that provide care to patients. As a result, this creates increased pastoral care at the 20 sponsored ministries of the Sisters of Charity Health System. 

“Pastoral care is part of the healing mission of the Sisters of Charity Health System,” said Sr. Rosemarie Carfagna, OSU, senior vice president for mission and ministry at SCHS. “This designation allows us not only to improve the educational experience of our residents but also to expand that healing mission to the patients, families and staff in all of our ministries.”  

SCHS has been educating chaplains since 1984 when the Clinical Pastoral Education program began at the now-closed St. Luke’s Hospital. Over the past eight years, 171 — 100 percent — of the Clinical Pastoral Education students have successfully completed the program. Those students have gone on to become chaplains in hospitals, elder care facilities and churches throughout Ohio, Wisconsin and Portland, Ore., as well as Seoul, South Korea and Kenya.  

With an average of about 29 students per class, the typical pastoral care student is strong in faith with an educational background that ranges from bachelor’s degree to doctorate. This post-graduate education often attracts people as a second career with more life experience from which to draw. Students choose from a one-year full-time intensive residency, beginning in September, or a two-year part-time program. About 80 percent of the CPE residents already are working in a ministry setting.

SCHS ACPE program provides professional pastoral education for lay, vowed and clergy across the religious spectrum in both the hospital and community setting. Pastoral care integrates the spiritual component of an individual’s life to focus on their emotional needs while trying to find meaning out of whatever crises, both positive and negative, have brought them to that point.  

About the Sisters of Charity Health System

Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, the Sisters of Charity Health System was established in 1982 as the parent corporation for the sponsored ministries of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine in Ohio and South Carolina. In 1999, Sisters of Charity Health System formed two Ohio not-for-profit corporations with University Hospitals to equally own and operate St. John West Shore Hospital, St. Vincent Charity Hospital, Mercy Medical Center, Cuyahoga Physician Network and West Shore Primary Care. Through this equal ownership, the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine continue their legacy of high quality, compassionate care that began at the time of the founding of these organizations. 

The Sisters of Charity Health System is the sole sponsor of Sisters of Charity Providence Hospitals, a leading cardiovascular center in South Carolina, which includes Providence Hospital/Providence Heart Institute and Providence Hospital Northeast in Columbia, South Carolina. The organization also oversees three grant making foundations located in Cleveland and Canton, Ohio, and Columbia, SC. Each foundation sponsors significant community initiatives and collaborations that address causes and consequences of poverty. 

Other health and human services and education-related organizations within the Sisters of Charity Health System include Cleveland’s Joseph’s Home, a unique residential care center for homeless men, Canton’s Early Childhood Resource Center for people working in childcare in all settings; and Healthy Learners, a South Carolina health care resource for children from low-income families. The Sisters of Charity Health System also provides residential eldercare services at Regina Health Center in Richfield, Ohio, and Light of Hearts Villa in Bedford, Ohio. Light of Hearts Villa is jointly sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati.