Sacred Heart hospital’s chaplaincy staff cut

The 174 layoffs announced in August at Sacred Heart Medical Center include six chaplains, who ministered to the spiritual needs of employees, patients and families. In addition, Susan Keyes, the head of the Providence Center for Faith and Healing, lost her job.

The health-care crisis has touched the spiritual side of the Catholic hospital, a sign of how serious the problems are, hospital managers said. More uninsured people in the region and less state financial support threaten the health of Spokane’s hospitals.

Sacred Heart’s chaplaincy program lost almost one-fourth of its staff time in the layoffs. The program, which had the equivalent of 17 full-time employees, was cut by 4.5 full-time equivalent positions. The 20-member department lost seven people, including its secretary.

There still will be at least one chaplain at the hospital 24 hours a day.

The chaplains offer help regardless of a patient’s faith. They listen or pray or connect patients with resources outside the hospital. They often work with grieving families and play a key role in helping survivors as they decide whether to approve organ donations.

Chaplaincy director Hugh Polensky will continue to lead the department while also replacing Keyes as director of the Providence Center.

“We just have to do things better and smarter,” Polensky said. “We can do that.”

The Providence Center for Faith and Healing began in 1999 after the Sisters of Providence, a Catholic order, gave their convent and grounds to the hospital.

The center, housed in the former convent, now puts on classes and conferences on faith, ethics, prayer and healing. The garden behind the center, a hidden oasis of calm on the busy hospital campus, is open to the public.

Keyes has been the center’s only director. Dr. Jim Shaw will continue as its part-time medical director.

Keyes also coordinated Spokane’s parish nurse program, which trains volunteer registered nurses to work with members of their churches. The program has trained more than 100 parish nurses; about one-third of those live and work in Spokane.

Keyes’ position is among 10 management posts eliminated in the staff reduction.

“With difficult times come difficult decisions. Susan is a true loss for Sacred Heart, as the work she’s accomplished and the commitment she has shown have been extraordinary,” said Sacred Heart President Mike Wilson.

Last week, Keyes sat at her desk, which once belonged to longtime hospital President Sister Peter Claver, and talked about her work. The programs she helped start will continue, Keyes said. Music in the hospital, workshops on finding meaning in the health-care profession, training for parish nurses – all will go on without her, she believes.

“There’s no program that is one person,” she said. She hopes a local college or university will take on the parish nurse program.

Keyes, a registered nurse who began her career in 1965 at Sacred Heart, will work her last day Friday.

“I totally understand it,” she said of her layoff. “Had I had to make the decision, I could realistically see me make the same choice.” The layoffs, including her own, will help the medical center survive, she said.

She said she has not yet decided what to do next.