St. Joseph’s Health Care held one of its premier annual events on March 19, 2019. Four exceptional women received a Sisters of St. Joseph Award for Excellence at Parkwood Auditorium in London. Honoured were:
Dr. Rookaya Mather, ophthalmologist, Ivey Eye Institute, St. Joseph’s Hospital
Martha Scott, occupational therapist, community Stroke Rehabilitation Team, Parkwood Institute
Corrine Wilson, registered practical nurse, Assessment Program, Parkwood Institute Mental Health
Marie Carroll, dietary aide, Food and Nutrition Services, Mount Hope Centre for Long Term Care.
Following a warm welcome by Dr. Gillian Kernaghan, CEO, and congratulations from Margaret Kellow, The Board of Directors, Sister Cecilia Dronzek (pictured far left) brought congratulations from the Sisters of St. Joseph and gave a brief address outlined below:
Today March 19th is a special day for us, the Sisters of St. Joseph, as we celebrate the feast of St. Joseph our patron. Back at our home, it is a day of great celebration. It is a pleasure for me to join in your celebration of those judged by their peers as persons who reflect and embody the values of respect, excellence and compassion in the workplace.
Last month I attended one of King’s University College lecture series. The speaker was Sr. Teresa Maya, a religious sister from San Antonio Texas. Her topic was building a culture of encounter throughout our world. She challenged us to build bridges across all that divides humanity and to cross the bridges others have built.
That same week, I read an article in the Winter Issue of Occasional Papers. The editor wrote that the focus for this issue came from a 2015 book by Daniel Goldman on the Dalai Lama entitled, “A Force for Good”. In it, Goldman details the Dalai Lama’s belief that every compassion-driven human act is integral for a more peaceful, harmonious world. Intentionally combining our collective energy and compassion as a force for good in the world is the only way, the Dali Lama asserts, that we can tackle the intractable problems plaguing our world.
As I read through what your peers said about you, the recipients of the Sisters of St. Joseph Awards for Excellence and as I reflected on what inspired me both from the lecture and the editorial, the words, “creating a culture of encounter”, “building bridges”, and “belief that every compassion-driven human act is a force for good in our world”, I could see similar threads in both their concepts and your qualities as stated by your co-workers who nominated each of you for this special award. It is evident that the values on which St. Joseph’s Health Center was founded are alive and active to this day. - Sr. Cecilia Dronzek
Sr. Jean Moylan