FAMVIN: The International Vincentian Family

“In three weeks, we can cure a kid that is looked like they’re half dead. We can cure them just like an antibiotic. It’s just, boom!” “It’s a revolution in nutritional affairs,” says Dr. Milton Tectonidis, the chief nutritionist for Doctors Without Borders.

Internationally known for his innovative approaches to poverty, Vincentian priest Fr. Pedro Opeka, CM, has released a dramatic reminder of the continuing plight one billion children under the age of 18.

“Across America, there are serious gaps between the health care that people should receive and the care they actually receive,” said the president/CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in announcing a $300 million community-focused program to improve health care quality, reduce racial disparities and provide models for national reform.

50 economists examine ten of the world’s biggest challenges and place as Number 1 because of its “immediate and important consequences for improving the wellbeing of poor people around the world,” to combat malnutrition in the 140 million children in the world who are undernourished.

By thorough integration of values and mission, Daughters of Charity organized a successful, multi-disciplinary response to change the future of a young woman with a rare and devastating syndrome.

Carol Keehan, DC, President of the Catholic Health Association, spoke on “Health Care and the 2008 Presidential Elections: Whose Voice is not at the Table?” at the 24th annual week-long workshop for Catholic Healthcare Administrators sponsored by St. John’s University and St. Vincent’s Medical Center.

The reality for those without health insurance is, “You just wait until there’s a crisis that happens and deal with it then.” No dentist until the teeth are rotting, Super Glue instead of stiches, an emergency room visit when pain gets too bad. Utah’s community health centers are offering an alternative.

The Daughters of Charity have opened a Drug Resource Enhancement against Aids and Malnutrition (DREAM) center in Kenya. It offers state of the art services to manage HIV and malnutrition. The Daily Nation’s article features the story of Nduku, a 35 year old mother who has both HIV and cervical cancer. Read the story.

“Global child mortality equates to the 2004 Asian tsunami striking every 40 days and killing only children – nearly all of them among the poorest of our world’s 6.5 billion people,” writes Bill Frist in the forward to Save the Children’s 2008 State of the World’s Mothers Report, released this week.

The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline will give $133,500 to the Daughters of Charity Health Center at St. Cecilia in New Orleans. Funds are to expand community outreach for preventing and managing diabetes. Louisiana’s death rate from diabetes is highest of all states in the US. Read the story.

About 30 people are being served each day at a health clinic operated by the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul in Charlotte County, Florida USA. “We’re seeing the working poor — those not poor enough for Medicaid, but who don’t have insurance.” Read the story.

“They didn’t just participate in the modernization [of health care]; they propelled it,” says Bernadette McCauley, Ph.D., associate professor of history at Hunter College and author of Who Shall Take Care of Our Sick? Her comments note the particular contribution of the Sisters of Charity. Read the article.

That’s the title of a new report by Families USA that gives state-level estimates of the numbers of deaths due to lack of health insurance in the United States. “The conclusions are sadly clear—a lack of health coverage is a matter of life and death for many people.” Read the report.

The Marian Clinic, an affiliate of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health Systems, plays a significant role in the ongoing community and economic development of Topeka, Kansas USA. Estimates are that the clinic put almost $2 million (USD) into the local economy in 2007. Read the story.

The Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend awarded the 2008 Father Tom O’Connor Light of Christ Award to Sister of Charity Janet Gildea, M.D. Read award coverage and r ead an article at the Catholic Health Care site about Sister Gildea.