To obtain a complete copy of Covenant's 2006 Report to the Community, please e-mail your request to info@covenanths.org or view it here.

Dear Covenant Friends,

This was an extraordinary year for us as we marked our 10th anniversary of carrying forth the Catholic healing ministry as lay leaders. It was on October 24, 1996 that we became a Public Juridic Person of Pontifical Right (PJPP) as the Grey Nuns transferred sponsorship of their U.S. health care ministries to Covenant.

As you can well imagine, this awe-inspiring honor and responsibility mandates to us that the values and mission of our partnering congregations be woven into our very fabric. An extraordinary event took place this year that helped us realize that we are indeed achieving our goal.

On May 16, Mary Immaculate Health/Care was forced to evacuate 244 nursing home residents during the worst flooding to hit New England since the 1930s. The MI staff put the needs of their frail and elderly residents before their own, often at great sacrifice as their own homes and families were being affected by the same flooding. Staff worked courageously and selflessly to make certain that all residents were safely evacuated – within eight hours and without incident. The staff prepared each resident by bathing them, ensuring their medical records and medication were with them as well as a change of clothes and “snacks” for their journey. Staff members accompanied residents being transferred to allay their fears and continued to visit them during the 18 weeks it took to complete the more than $7 million refurbishment of their skilled nursing facility. The full story of this event can be seen on Covenant’s website; it is truly a heroic story of a staff carrying forth their mission. The MI staff received many awards, including the St. Marguerite d’Youville Humanitarian Award from the Grey Nuns “for the extraordinary job they did in carrying forth the healing ministry as Marguerite d’Youville would have.”

What is truly remarkable about the MI story to us is we know that the response of the MI staff is representative of the mission that is at the heart of all who are a part of Covenant. We see this mission at the Sisters of Charity Health System as one of four national finalists for the Foster McGaw award, a prestigious national honor for excellence in community service in health care. We see this at St. Andre Health Care whose staff took 18 of their residents camping to Camp Waban in Maine. We have included their stories and others in this report. We are grateful for the many “stories” that come from our 10-year history and to the more than 6,000 staff members who work daily to make these stories a reality.

We are also grateful to the Grey Nuns and to our partnering congregations whose founders, like St. Marguerite d’Youville, provide us with a rich legacy of bringing God’s healing love to all as we reach out to those in need. We are honored to continue and further the role begun by these courageous women and men who founded health care in this country.

As Sr. Aurore Larkin, SGM, said at our Leadership Forum this year, “We not only have a glorious history to remember and to recount, but also a great history still to be accomplished. Let us turn to the future, where the Spirit is sending us, in order to do even greater things as we ‘dare to journey together in hope.’ ”

We thank you for your continued support of our healing ministry and hope that you will enjoy reading our 2006 Report to the Community.

Sincerely,

David R. Lincoln
President/CEO

James P. Hamill
Chairman, Covenant Board