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November 8, 2023“It is a privilege to be able to journey with the older sisters at this time,” shares Sister Linda LeBlanc. Sister Eileen Carmody echoes this, saying, “It’s a real privilege to be with them on their life journey.”
Seeing themselves as both advocates and companions, Sister Eileen Carmody, health care coordinator for the sisters in New York and New Jersey; Sister Linda LeBlanc, health care coordinator for the sisters in Massachusetts; Sister Barbara King, nursing home outreach for New York; and Marty Maillet, outreach for Massachusetts, serve the health care needs of our sisters throughout the region.
Eileen accompanies sisters to doctor appointments to ensure that they understand the information given and that they have an advocate in their care. She helps sisters to process their health information so they can make the best choice for their well-being. She also accompanies anyone admitted to the hospital and tries to visit the nursing homes once a week.
A trained nurse, Eileen tells the sisters, “if you want to talk or want more information about what the doctors have talked about, give me a call and I’ll come over.” She adds, “I am here to help them understand what is going on with their own bodies and psyches. I see my role as someone who accompanies the sisters and advocates as best I can for them and with them.”
Eileen credits her previous ministry of spiritual direction for developing more fully in her this gift of compassion for the other. “I need to be able to listen rather than tell a sister what I think she should do. I don’t have the answers; the sister herself has the answers.”
Though she is responsible mainly for the health care needs of those living outside of house 64, the house where sisters who need extra care at Mt. St. Joseph in New York reside, she does work closely with both the nurse manager and Sister Kathryn Geisel, who serves as the local community coordinator of house 64. When there are needs at house 64 that can’t be met, Eileen and/or Barbara help to fill this gap.
According to Barbara, a very important piece of Eileen’s work is “walking the journey with those who are very sick and preparing to die.” She shares that Eileen is very present to that person and that is an importance piece of caring for the needs of the sisters at all stages.
“We are followers of Nano Nagle and I like to think of Nano as a person for whom community was very important,” explains Eileen. “She was a person of compassion, dignity and respect for the other and I would hope that I can emulate that.” She adds, “I know Barbara also practices that compassion and respect for the other and dignity for each sister.”
Working collaboratively, Eileen and Barbara ensure that sisters have someone to accompany them to appointments, someone who is there to advocate for them and assure them they are being cared for as members of the Presentation community.
A critical part of Barbara’s focus is keeping sisters who aren’t living with the community connected. “We want them to feel connected and know that they are still a part of the community,” shares Barbara. “That is the most important piece of our ministry. I want each sister to realize that she is still a vital part of Presentation.”
After 12 years in leadership, during which Barbara had been visiting sisters in nursing homes regularly, she was asked by the current leadership team to continue this important role for the congregation in a more full-time capacity. Barbara visits sisters in a facility in Dobbs Ferry, New York, four times a week and those in a facility in the Newburgh area weekly. She has learned the varying needs of each sister, knowing who needs more support and encouragement, who needs advocacy and who just needs a quick hello and chat. She also adapts as these needs change over the course of time.
She knows it can be difficult for people to respond to those whose memory is failing or who have dementia. “I tell them that whenever a person says something over and over or asks something 20 times, it is always the first time for her. It is an education for all of us to respond compassionately.”
Barbara stresses that it is very important to “put eyes on the sisters with whom she is ministering.” “Once I can put eyes on them,” she says, “I can better assess their needs and their health.” She also knows that it is important that the staff at the nursing homes put eyes on her so they know who to contact when needed and that the sister has an active advocate in her corner.
“Even as sisters age and in some cases their health declines, I see a resilience and a sense of joy that comes through when they know they are loved and supported,” shares Eileen. “That gives me hope.”
Barbara agrees that the love and support of community are critical. “We try to provide as much independence as we can through partnership and community as people age. We are a family.”
In Massachusetts, where the sisters have recently undergone the transition of moving from the convent in Leominster to Notre Dame du Lac in Worcester, the needs are different and have changed over the past few months.
As sisters adapt to the changes of a new environment and a larger community beyond Presentation, they need someone to accompany them. For many years the sisters called the convent in Leominster, Massachusetts, home. They lived together and associates and partners visited their home often. As the congregation realized the needs of the sisters no longer suited the building in which they were living, there were fortunate to find a living situation with the Notre Dame Sisters at Notre Dame du Lac that would not only meet their needs but also allow them to live in community.
Linda explains, “I just try to be present to the sisters right now. I want to be with them on this journey. It is an extension of our mission of being there for those in need.”
Marty, a lay woman who has worked with the sisters for nearly 36 years, made the transition from Leominster to Worcester with the sisters, providing a sense of continuity and stability. She explains, “I’ve never thought of this as a job. We are a family.”
Marty assists Linda in providing for the needs of the sisters. In her role she helps the sisters by bringing them supplies, taking them to appointments and even shopping. She also visits the sisters who live in nursing homes in Massachusetts.
“Moving to Worcester, the community is still key, but it is much bigger,” she shares. The sisters are living among Sisters of Notre Dame and lay men and women in a larger facility. There is other staff taking care of the needs of those living in the facility, but Marty and Linda are dedicated to the needs of the Presentation sisters there and in surrounding nursing homes.
“I’m not a babysitter,” Marty explains. “I’m here to help them be as independent as they can be.”
Linda echoes this, “Marty and I are a team and we are advocates for the sisters, for their spiritual, psychological and physical needs.”
As health care coordinator in New England, Linda brings vast experience to her ministry. Early in her vowed life she helped in the convent infirmary during her summers and loved it so much she went on to get her LPN training. For nearly 50 years she has served as a nurse, first for the congregation and later in a hospital setting. She returned as health care coordinator about seven years ago.
While there are positive aspects to the move to Notre Dame, “this is a difficult time for the sisters,” explains Linda. “It is a time of transition.”
In New York and Massachusetts, these women provide a valuable service to our aging sisters, offering advocacy, companionship, dignity and a link to the community they hold so dear.
Eileen knows that sometimes when people get older we can begin to treat them “more as children than as the mature, well-educated adults that they are.” She reminds us, “Even though they may be ill or in a vulnerable situation, I try to not treat each sister as a child because they are mature women. I strive to afford the respect for each sister that they need and of which they are worthy.”
Linda concludes, “It is really a privilege to be able to journey with the sisters and to help them be as independent as they can be.”
