How the nuns at my Catholic hospital informed compassionate culture

Roe v Wade became law three years before I graduated from nursing school. I moved from the east coast I worked in the ED at Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City for over twenty years (I am not Catholic).

Coming from a secular hospital system I noted one difference in patient care in the ED at Holy Cross. If a girl or woman came in pregnant with vaginal bleeding, abdominal pain or other life-threatening complications of pregnancy we were required to have them sign a form saying staff at the hospital did not cause these events to begin. I do not recall the actual wording.

Sometimes family members signed for the patient as we rushed to save her life. In the setting of sad and dangerous situations our focus was on the already-born.

When there was no happily-ever-after-outcome possible, the life of the mother — the one who had a heartbeat first — was paramount. She was the one we worked to save.

No judgement, no nosiness about how she came to be in our hospital.

Now the nursing forums are posting about delays in care for girls and women whose lives are put at risk because pregnancy complications are not life-threatening “enough”. I am sickened for the nursing staff who are forced to witness this.

The AIDS Crisis

When AIDS began raging, medical care was scarce and the sisters again stepped up with compassion and understanding. They made room at the inn when no one else would.

Dr Kristin Reis became the primary care provider for people with AIDS in a multi-state region and Holy Cross was the epicenter. In the ED people with AIDS comprised a large number of our patients and Dr Reis taught us with every visit. This was new territory.

Flu vaccines were now widely available and we were encouraged to be vaccinated so we didn’t inadvertently infect these severely immunocompromised people. To my knowledge, the entire ED staff was on board with this. (I have thought of this frequently during the Covid vaccine and mask debacle.)

I am proud to say I was part of the team able to care for many people with AIDS. That period of time remains one of the shining memories of my nursing career.

We used all our medical and nursing skills and my heart was touched forever by the people I came to know.

And again, there was no judgment, no nosiness about how they came to be in our hospital.

Code R Exams

Several years later we became the hospital that performed rape exams for people sexually assaulted in SLC. We were able to care for them completely. For the girls and women that included addressing the possibility of pregnancy resulting from the assault.

The relief they felt was palpable as society in general still laid blame on the girl or woman for “not fighting enough” or “asking for it” and the court system was more brutal than it is now. The boys and men also faced discrimination. Going to court felt like a second assault.

But at Holy Cross there was no judgement, no nosiness about how they came to be in our hospital.

The last couple of weeks I have often thought of my time at Holy Cross. The sisters were able to cultivate the culture of compassionate care in devastating situations by choosing to save the already-born; those who had heartbeats first.

Suspending judgement and nosiness about peoples’ situations goes a long way to informing a compassionate life.

If you want to know more about Dr Reis’ work and the AIDS crisis I suggest you watch “Quiet Heroes” on Amazon Prime. (I do not receive any benefit for mentioning Prime).