Sr. Rose Marie Jasinski, Vice President

Celebrating her 40th year as a Sister of Bon Secours, Sr. Rose Marie Jasinski is Vice President of the Sisters of Bon Secours, USA, an elected position. The team meets monthly and its agenda focuses on the life of sisters and our ministries. Sr. Rose Marie also fills in for our President, Sr. Alice Talone, if she is unavailable.

Our annual Province General Assembly offers the chance for all the sisters to gather, hear reports from the leadership team, share thoughts on the process of implementing direction statements, discuss the life of the Province and give input on pertinent issues, and, quite deservedly, to socialize and have fun.

There are anniversaries to celebrate as well as heartfelt reunions with former sisters, some of whom bring spouses. In fact, this meeting is so appreciated, a second Assembly in the fall is becoming customary.

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity to serve in leadership where I can be creative, enjoy the contact with many sisters and use my long experience in health care to be objective yet sensitive in decision-making. It’s allowed me to learn ways of working with very different people as a team. That’s a challenge, but even on days when we don’t work together perfectly I’m reminded we are a very human organization yet still can accomplish a lot.”

For Sr. Rose Marie, her selfless parents and her godmother-aunt, who was a nurse, inspired her to care for people. After graduating from the Bon Secours School of Nursing, she entered the order at age 23. “At that time, I was considered a ‘delayed’ vocation,” she laughs. But that gave her mother time to adjust to the idea that her youngest of four children was leaving the nest, and Sr. Rose Marie valued going to nursing school first and getting two years’ practical experience. “The Sisters of Bon Secours were very approachable and their particular ministry appealed to me, so I was drawn to them.”

Over the years, she has served as staff nurse, head nurse, as well as a home care and hospice nurse. One patient she particularly recalls was a mother dying in a hospice who had four adult daughters. The woman was troubled that one of her daughters wasn’t willing to let her go. Sr. Rose Marie spoke tenderly to the family and not long afterward they were all able to gather for their mother’s peaceful passing.

Currently Sr. Rose Marie is Senior Vice President of Sponsorship, ensuring faithfulness to Bon Secours’ mission and the Catholic identity of the facilities, for Bon Secours St. Francis in South Carolina and Bon Secours Kentucky Health System in Ashland, KY.

She sees the size of the Sisters of Bon Secours as both a challenge and a blessing. “Our size allows us to be creative and collaborative, but it is such a gift to really come to know and love each other.”

For 15 years, Sr. Rose Marie guided women in initial formation, as well as lay people drawn to the mission of the sisters who make a commitment as associate members but do not take vows in the same way as the sisters. She also earned a certificate in massage therapy.

When not on the road, Sr. Rose Marie lives in a house in Fair Lawn, NJ with Sr. Fran Gorsuch and Sr. Carol Frawley, where she enjoys gardening, baking, reading, music and movies.

Over four decades, Sr. Rose Marie’s gentle touch has eloquently expressed the Bon Secours’ charism to offer good help to those in need.