April 11, 2011 in City

Face Time: Sister Rosalie talks about Sacred Heart’s 125 years

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Sister Rosalie Locati, director of mission and values for Providence Sacred Heart and Providence Holy Family hospitals, stands beside Ken Spiering’s sculpture in Riverfront Park. It commemorates the arrival of the Sisters of Providence, who built Sacred Heart on the banks of the Spokane River in 1886. Locati is the only Sister of Providence still working full time at Sacred Heart Medical Center.
(Full-size photo)

Sister Rosalie Locati, 68, has been part of the Sisters of Providence religious community for 49 years.

In employee orientations, Locati – director of mission and values for Providence Sacred Heart and Providence Holy Family hospitals – tells newcomers the story of Mother Joseph of Vancouver, Wash., who designed and built hospitals throughout the Pacific Northwest.

In 1886, Mother Joseph and other pioneer sisters ventured to Spokane to build Sacred Heart, the town’s first hospital.

Throughout 2011, Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center will celebrate this 125-year milestone. Friday at 1 p.m., at Riverfront Park, the 1986 sculpture honoring the pioneer sisters will be blessed and rededicated.

Q. Where was the first hospital?

A. The site of the first hospital is where this statue is, right on the river. It was a fairly small facility in light of what our hospital is today. Mother Joseph designed it on a cloth napkin. It sufficed for about three years until they had to add on. The first patient was admitted in January 1887.

Q. What would surprise people about Mother Joseph?

A. She was a woman ahead of her time. In the business world, she could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with any man. She worked with physicians and community leaders, all of them men. She didn’t take no for an answer.

She was a woman of fairly good stature. She had a fiery personality. She was not, I would imagine, always an easy person to work with, because she had such passion and a persistent need to serve the poor. It was in her very fiber.

Q. Why is it important to celebrate 125 years?

A. As a congregation of sisters, we mark jubilee years as significant. It’s an opportunity to give thanks to God for providing the opportunities to serve and providing the resources to do that serving.

Q. How would Mother Joseph react to the current situation – competing hospitals, health care reform?

A. She faced the same realities – lack of resources, lack of personnel, the growing needs of the people. Her response now would be: “What needs to be done? How are we going to accomplish it? And how are we going to partner to get it done?”

Q. Of the celebrations planned for this 125th this year, the one you seem most excited about is the July barbecue for the homeless. Talk about that event.

A. In the beginning, we gathered the shelterless, those who had great need, and we were able to provide some food, some housing, some health care. So the picnic in the park is representative of where our roots are. Today, the poor and vulnerable are still with us. We cannot forget that.

Q. Will Sacred Heart last another 125 years?

A. I trust we will. Will we be doing it the same way? No. Will it have any resemblance to what we see today? No.

When Mother Joseph died in 1902, there were about 30 or so ministries she had helped establish. She never would have dreamed it would have been this extensive, complex and competitive.

But she would know that if we listen to the poor, if we collaborate with one another for the greater good of the community, Providence will always provide.

Five comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  deacon46 on April 11 at 11:48 a.m.

  Noble work and no doubt she believes what she says. But the Catholic Church and its charities and hospitals are about money, making lots of money. What they give away is an investment and obligation. They are obliged too to protect their not for profit tax status and they convey obligation to the recipients to use their hospitals. Religion is a big part of society but it should not cloud the reality of Sacred Heart and that is to make money.

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  west on April 11 at 12:02 p.m.

  Bad mouth the Catholic Church all you want to, but they are the largest charity provider in Washington, helping the poor, downtrodden and homeless.

• 

  Diana on April 11 at 2:54 p.m.

  And then pass the cost on to those with insurance.

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  zelda on April 11 at 4:25 p.m.

  This is all fine and good and I accept that many people in religious orders work in the true spirit of vocation. However, Providence is tax-exempt, is it not?

  The operation of Sacred Heart in particular places a huge demand on roads and infrastructure in that area of the lower S. Hill. I could be totally wrong on this, but as a tax-exempt organization, how do they contribute to the burden placed on that part of town as they grow and expand?

  I realize that they do a lot of charitable work, but the costs are shifted onto paying patients and it doesn’t really go into the infrastructure coffers that the city needs to effectively manage the tangle of traffic in that area.

  I recall that several years ago the city of Baltimore put the squeeze on Johns Hopkins, also a tax-exempt institution and JH ended up making an annual contribution to the city to offset the city’s road/traffic/sewer/water costs in the hospital complex area.

  Lastly, it’s apparent that Providence is trying to influence public opinion with the “religious devotion” angle in contrast to Community Health’s profit motive, but really, they’re both in the business to make money. One is private, the other is publicly traded. And things could get extra interesting if Community Health succeeds with its hostile takeover of Tenet. People were opposed to “single payer;” now we may end up with “single provider.”

• 

  greenlibertarian on April 11 at 4:33 p.m.

  I’ve got many problems with the Catholic Church, but, especially with the Sisters of Providence system, they provide top notch care whether you can afford it or not.

  By WA law, major hospitals are required to provide 100% of the cost of care to individuals and families who are at 100% of the poverty rate.

  Sacred Heart provides free care for those earning up to 200% of the poverty rate, and then a sliding scale fee for people up to 400% of the poverty level.

  Their costs for charity care have skyrocketed since even before the recession started.

  http://www.doh.wa.gov/ehsphl/hospdata/CharityCare/CharityPolicies/providence-2010.pdf

  As this report points out, some of the cost of treating the poor is passed along to private insurers and government payors, however, Medicare reimbursements being what they are, there’s not much room there.

  http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CC4QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.humanlinksfoundation.org%2Funinsured%2FSpokane_County_Report.pdf&ei=BYujTaSaF4vEsAPm7Kj5DA&usg=AFQjCNFYXIw6C-rN0GA6XWIPLDshfuzqeA&sig2=ElhYmLRtlROSNefbPyeWow