National Catholic Health Care Week is Oct. 6-12, 2019.
On a rainy Vancouver day in March 1892, two Sisters of the Catholic Daughters of Charity, Servants of the Poor, looked out onto an empty field at the west end of Burrard Street.
A partially cleared forest, surrounded by miles of sparse meadowland must have felt like a gamble as the footprint for a new hospital. But as the two Sisters peered out through the rain, they envisioned a thriving hospital that – in spite of a lack of money, trained workers, and being new to the city – would one day care for the community’s needs, with a commitment to healing the body, mind and soul.
And for the past 125 years, we, at Providence Health Care, have done an extraordinary job of delivering on that commitment made by these Sisters, who we refer to today as the Sisters of Providence.
We can trace this commitment back to the 1920s when we provided care to the growing community of sick and marginalized Chinese workers ostracized by the attitudes of the day, or in the mid-1950s when the three Sisters of Providence converted a five-bedroom house at East 62nd Avenue and Argyle Street into a nursing home for elderly women.
Or when otherwise healthy young men were inexplicably dying of pneumonia in the early 80s, we didn’t say that we didn’t know how to help or that we were worried about transmission. Instead, we were the only health facility in the province to open our doors, and our hearts, to those with this seemingly highly contagious disease that we now know as HIV/AIDS.
This ability to see the person before the condition, to believe that the right way trumps the easy way, to render judgement and pursue justice has consistently compelled us to take risks, to ask why, and to save lives – not just here but worldwide.
Our commitment to those we serve has looked as grand as fighting the federal government in court for access to a controversial medication, as subtle as providing a patient at risk of falling with a pair of red socks, and as human as a conversation with someone at the end of their life about their most important goals and biggest fears.
Because if not us, who?
Through this work, we have carved out a legacy – one grounded in excellence, stewardship, respect, trust, spirituality and integrity, and brought alive, daily, by the people who work here and our collective commitment to social justice.
And through this legacy and our people, we have evolved to become so much more. No longer just looking to heal the mind, body, and soul, we have sought solutions that have transformed care and research globally.
Our pioneering of an implantation procedure for aortic valve insertion has changed the lives of people globally who would have otherwise been told surgery wasn’t an option. By refusing to accept the traditional institutionalized model of seniors care, we have created a home and community where our residents thrive and want to live.
By connecting youth with unmet mental health needs to the services and resources they need in one judgement-free location, we’re transforming an entire generation.
Our ability to make bold moves and rise to the challenge is woven into our DNA.
Jessica Hainstock works in Providence Health Care Communications.
