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Contact: Rod Gardner

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501.622.4513 office 501.276.3838 cell

 

Barb Meyer, Vice President, Communications                     

Sisters of Mercy Health System                                            

314-628-3633                                                                         

barb.meyer@mercy.

 

 

Today’s Date: February 12, 2010 

 

Mercy Donates and Transports Medical Supplies to Haiti Hospital

     

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – On February 6, a plane loaded with $55,000 worth of medical supplies departed from the Spirit of St. Louis Airport for Hôpital Sacré Coeur, a hospital in Milot, Haiti. The supplies were donated by hospitals operated by the Sisters of Mercy Health System (Mercy), including St. Joseph’s Mercy Health System. The flight was arranged by David Pratt, a member of Mercy’s Board of Directors.     Last weekend’s shipment is in addition to nearly $200,000 in medical supplies, equipment and pharmaceuticals – more than five tons worth – that have been collected from Mercy hospitals and shipped to Haiti through other relief organizations.     Hôpital Sacré Coeur, located about 100 miles north of Port-Au-Prince, was built and is operated by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart of the Montreal Province. It is the largest medical facility in northern Haiti. Before the recent earthquake, it was a 73-bed facility. In the wake of the disaster, this small hospital has swelled to include as many as 400 beds.     “Like many others around the world, Mercy and its co-workers have eagerly supported relief efforts in Haiti, and we are particularly gratified that we could respond with specific supplies requested by the Hôpital Sacré Coeur,” said Lynn Britton, Mercy president and CEO. “Mercy will continue to look for ways to help the people of Haiti with money, supplies and medical services.”     This recent shipment of medical supplies is only one example of the ways Mercy is responding to Haiti relief efforts. Mercy co-workers and physicians have contributed more than $42,000 in cash donations, and several Mercy physicians have traveled to Haiti to aid victims of January’s earthquake.     Following are some examples of how St. Joseph’s Mercy co-workers contributed to Mercy’s Haiti relief efforts, or acted outside of work through their local churches or other organizations: 

• Marlena Dodd, Director of Safety, Central Services and Voice Services, and 15 of her Central Services co-workers sorted through all the supplies, including some stored at a Central Supply Center, that St. Joseph’s Mercy donated to the more than five tons worth that were collectively given by all of the Mercy health systems. Sister Teresa Kelone, R.S.M., a multi-department chaplain with the St. Joseph’s Mercy Pastoral Services Department, spearheaded a collection effort among her fellow Mercy Associates of Hot Springs members. The money was then forwarded to the Mercy Health Foundation, which in turn sent it to St. Louis for inclusion in Mercy’s total donation of money and supplies.
  
•  Kay McHughs, RN, Operations Manager for the St. Joseph’s Mercy Cancer Center, along with the youth group of fourth, fifth and sixth graders she teaches weekly, annually participates in an effort where they save all of their change (coins) for an entire year and then donate it to their mission of choice. This year, McHughs said her group of fourth, fifth and sixth graders has decided to send the money they raise to Haiti.

     The Sisters of Mercy Health System – the eighth largest Catholic healthcare system in the U.S. – includes 26 hospitals and more than 1,300 physician practices in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

 

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