Creating healthy work environments. The ministry today is providing more care for its caregivers.

BY MARK DICKSON Mr. Dickson, who holds a master's degree in pastoral ministry and a certificate from the National Association of Catholic Chaplains, is director of mission, Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital, Roper St. Francis Healthcare, Charleston, SC. m atholic health care leaders today M are more focused on taking care ^ ^ f of the people who take care of patients. They realize that, especially as medicine becomes increasingly "high tech," patients will have an ever greater need for care that is "high touch." If patients are to get that personal touch, hospital staff members must receive it as well. Those of us who serve Catholic health care are grateful to the religious communities that founded our ministry. We have been given a holy challenge and joyful obligation to carry forward the deep sense of caring and compassion that our religious sisters and brothers have passed on to us. As a result, most Catholic hospitals possess a numinous attribute that, although sometimes difficult to describe, can be characterized by the phrase "See how they love each other." Staff members in Catholic facilities often express the care they feel about each other, rejoice with each other in life's joys (such as the birth of babies and teenagers' graduations), and also grieve with each other on the occasion of a divorce or the death of a loved one. These coworkers gladly cover for each other's shifts, when necessary, and "go the extra mile" for others in their personal time. They often say that they are in health care for reasons that far transcend a paycheck, that they see their work as much more a ministry than a mere job, and that they feel they are fulfilling a lifelong vocational calling. How are such healthy work environments created? I believe they are a continuation of the modeling of our religious leaders and sponsors, nurtured by a style that is at once planned and structured, both transpersonal and a sign of our mystical communion.