A group of five Catholic sisters will be joining the staff at St. Joseph General Hospital Elliot Lake (SJGHEL) to provide spiritual and health care while at the same time establishing a convent in the city, it was announced this evening.
The plan was announced by Bishop Thomas Dowd of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie who described the partnership as “innovative.”
The nuns are members of the Congregation of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus, who provide care in several countries in Africa, Europe and North America, and will arrive in Elliot Lake sometime in 2023 to begin ministry within the local hospital. No firm date for their arrival was announced.
Hospital CEO Jeremy Stevenson said the sisters, some of whom already have some degree of healthcare training, will receive whatever subsequent training at the hospital when they arrive next year. They might start out in Personal Support Worker (PSW) training the hospital already has in place at St. Joseph’s Manor.
Bishop Dowd said part of their time will be spent in pastoral work with the remaining time in health care for patients at SJGHEL.
“SJGHEL is thrilled to be a part of this forward-thinking initiative,” said Stevenson following the announcement at Ste-Bernadette Parish.
Bishop Dowd told church members and guests at the announcement that the Diocese will undertake renovations at the former church that was closed when the two churches merged in 2019 into one building as part of the work to establish the convent. The former church is located across from the hospital on Spine Road.
One of the sisters is already working in Canada, while the remaining four still need immigration and work permits and receive training, Bishop Dowd said.
Bishop Dowd and CEO Stevenson, along with hospital board chair Elaine Johnston, signed a working contract between the church and hospital to allow for the partnership to take place following the announcement.
The work of the Congregation, originally beginning in Nigeria in 1923, was first welcomed to Canada in 2005 by the Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Boniface in Manitoba. Since their arrival in Manitoba, the Sisters have done pastoral work, particularly in Indigenous communities, as well as working in schools and in health care as nurses.
“Our invitation to Sisters of the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus to Elliot Lake was to help meet the needs of the local community,” said Bishop Dowd in a news release from the Diocese. “The Church has a role to play in providing care to all peoples, and this is just one way that the Church can contribute our support to hospital patients and staff alike.”