Journey Brings Blessings to Patient Care Areas

CLEVELAND, OH – March 5, 2007 – The health and comfort of its patients has prompted St. Vincent Charity Hospital to make patient-friendly changes recently. In keeping with its faith-based tradition, the hospital will hold a special “Journey of Blessings” on Wednesday, March 21, to dedicate several renovated patient areas and departments under construction.

Beginning at 2 p.m., staff members and guests will walk through the hospital, stopping at designated departments for a brief blessing ceremony. The journey will begin on 6A where The Spine and Orthopedic Institute’s state-of-the art inpatient private rooms are being built. A stop at Rosary Hall, on 6B, recognizes a program that has helped over 53,000 people overcome alcohol and chemical addictions. To better serve heart patients, a new Cardiac Medical Unit (CMU) opened recently on the second floor to provide observation for chest pain patients and those undergoing interventional procedures.

The journey includes the dedication of a new name for the Lipid Research Center, which is becoming the Center for Vascular Health to better reflect the positive, preventive work done for patients with cardiovascular risks. The adjacent Joslin Diabetes Center, an affiliate of the world-famous Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, will be blessed as its staff continues to help patients to best manage their diabetes.

During a stop on the first floor, a blessing will be given to the Wound Center, a department that evaluates and treats patients suffering from chronic wounds. The final blessing will take place at the Outpatient Oncology Department in its new home in St. Vincent Charity Hospital’s Medical Office Building. The department’s new location should help patients come and go more easily for their cancer treatments.

The “Journey of Blessings” will end with a reception on the Pedestrian Bridge between the hospital and medical office building where attendees can enjoy refreshments and a look at architectural renderings of the new construction.

The staff looks forward to the blessings of these departments where patients receive their care. “I think it helps the staff to have a mission and a focus, to see the mission and to help everyone centralize their focus on what we are really all about,” said Linda Owen, RN, the clinical nurse manager of the CMU.