Other Health Professions
Sr. Pat Eck
Chair of the Board, Bon Secours Health System
A mother’s kind and giving spirit inspires her daughter
Though she had her hands full with five active children, two boys and three girls, Sr. Pat Eck’s mother still made time to lend a hand to neighbors who needed help. A nurse by training, Sr. Pat’s mother was an inspiration to her children. It was her kind and open heart that started Sr. Pat on the path she still walks today.
She remembers always wanting to be a nurse. In addition, her family’s active participation in the Church and their local parish and her experiences with the sisters who taught her at school awakened in her a desire to become a sister. “I felt an awareness of God calling me and I thought I should give it a go,” she says thinking back almost 40 years.
Her original plan was to become a member of the teaching congregation she knew so well from high school. But that plan never took off. When she made the decision in her senior year, it was too late to enter the community that year. The sister’s encouraged her to reapply in a year, but she decided instead to enter the same nursing school her mother had graduated from. Before her “clinicals,” her mother “capped” her, a moment she still recalls fondly.
She began her career as a nurse, but the thought of religious life still entered her thoughts often. Then she met the Sisters of Bon Secours who had come to Richmond to run St. Mary’s Hospital. “They were very earthy, regular, nice women,” she recalls and she felt very comfortable talking and spending time with them. Later that same year, she became a member of our community, continuing to serve in ministry as a nurse.
A new calling branches off her path
Though she loved caring for people as a nurse and earned both a Bachelor’s of Science and a Masters of Science in Nursing, Sr. Pat felt there was another place in the world of healthcare where she could make a real contribution.
She entered graduate school to study healthcare administration. “I wanted to be where the decisions were made,” she says enthusiastically. “I hoped to be able to influence how care is delivered to those who need it.”
After she earned her Master’s degree in Health Administration, Sr. Pat put her skills, determination, and vision to work first in Bon Secours Michigan and later in the Bon Secours Richmond Health System in Virginia. That led to an exciting new challenge in 1997, when she was appointed Chair of the Board of Bon Secours Health System, Inc., a position she continues to hold today, and moved to Marriottsville, Maryland.
While guiding the large and successful health system which includes 20,000 lay colleagues in 14 communities in nine states is a demanding job, Sr. Pat’s focus and commitment reach beyond the typical concerns of a business leader.
“We’ve learned over time that people in an organization are influenced by its leaders and how the organization is run,” she explains. “To ensure that our mission and dedication to providing compassionate care to all who need it is carried out and lived every day by each of our co-workers, we developed a sponsorship and mission structure that enables us to influence the conversation to ensure that leaders are prepared and discussions and decisions are continually driven by our mission, vision, and values,” she explains. “Because we are a small community, we spent a good deal of time discerning how and where we want to be, knowing it is our role to prepare others to be this guiding influence for the future.”
Being where we are needed before the need arises
Over the course of her career in healthcare, Sr. Pat has seen the system evolve and feels it is now returning to where it started—care based in the home and community. “The first Sisters of Bon Secours went into homes to reach out to those who needed their care and compassion. I see healthcare returning to that model. Home care, hospice, and community-based care are once again moving to the forefront. As I look at the history of the Sisters of Bon Secours, we have always been where healthcare is. Today, we want to be where healthcare is needed before the need arises so we’re poised to provide care to all who need it,” she believes.
She adds, “If you feel a seed within you or wonder if religious life is for you, it’s worth a response. Reach out, come and visit, and explore this life for yourself.”
Sr. Pat Eck has co-authored some articles published in Health Progress. To download the articles in .PDF format, click the links below:
In Richmond, bringing healthcare to the poorest
In the 1970′s, the Sisters of Bon Secours’ first mobile health van hit the road bringing much need care to those in economically hard hit urban and rural communities. That work continues today with the Care-A-Van. Launched in 1994 as a mobile health unit to provide immunizations, the Care-A-Van today provides urgent and primary care, as well as health screenings, school physicals, and immunizations, all at no cost to the uninsured. A mammography van and dental care van are also in development.
Since 2004, the Care-A-Van has provided over 100,000 patient visits and enrolled nearly 1,000 children and mothers in state health insurance programs.
Currently, the Care-A-Van visits neighborhoods in greatest need for medical services throughout the cities of Petersburg and Richmond and the counties of Amelia, Charles City, Chesterfield, Henrico, Hanover, Kings County and Saint George. They are opening a new Care-A-Van site in Hampton Roads in July 2009.
A Bon Secours Virginia nurse practitioner sees patients at a free health clinic in the county of Powhatan.
“As the number of uninsured people continues to grow, we’re seeing ‘the new poor,’ people who are at a loss where to go when they need help,” explains Eletta Hansen, Administrative Director, Community Health Services, Bon Secours Health System Richmond. “The sisters’ commitment to serving this community continues to grow allowing us to go where we are most needed. This is true mission work and it makes your heart feel good.”
