By unanimous decision, the Coalition board approved Bon Secours Health System into membership at the November 2 board meeting in Bellevue, Washington.  Representing Bon Secours on the Coalition board will be Maria Gatto, MA, APRN, along with current director Pat Franco, who has served as the Bon Secours, Richmond representative since the facility joined the coalition in 2005.  "I believe that our decision to join the Supportive Care Coalition is a system - wide message of commitment and dedication with this established strong network of Palliative Care Catholic Health Care Leaders. It will facilitate established high quality standards with ongoing involvement toward the improvement and growth toward of a truly comprehensive integrative holistic palliative and end-of-life care approach, while also communicating a universal message transcending all cultures and religions for the greater good of mankind. We want to support this universal message of God's love and compassionate caring which supports healing on all levels when there is no cure. We are confident that our work with the Coalition will support our clinical quality initiative to provide optimal quality of life, relief of suffering, and the healing of the mind-body-spirit that supports palliative and end-of-life care across the continuum".
Bon Secours includes 20 acute-care hospitals, one psychiatric hospital, six nursing care facilities, numerous ambulatory sites, six assisted living facilities, and home health and hospice services.  System offices are located in Marriottsville, Maryland.
A warm welcome to the entire Bon Secours system!