Voices of the Uninsured Forum is tomorrow

Who are the uninsured persons in Greater Cleveland? We'll hear firsthand tomorrow at the "Voices of the Uninsured Forum" beginning at 8:30 a.m. at The Intercontinental Hotel on the Cleveland Clinic campus as 250 people gather for a frank discussion.

This important event brings together uninsured persons and medical respresentatives from all four health systems (yes, there are four)--Cleveland Clinic, MetroHealth, Sisters of Charity Health System and University Hospitals. Participants also include staff from Neighborhood Family Practice and The Free Clinic. Planning included particpation of UHCAN Ohio, Community Advocate, NEON, Cleveland Jobs with Justice, Ohio Association for Community Health Center and the May Dugan Center.

Free and open to the public, this forum explores the challenges and opportunities in access to health care in Greater Cleveland, health care reform efforts, facts and myths about Medicaid and the biennial state budget implications on Medicaid and the importance of finding a "medical home."

Keynote speaker is Cincinnati City Councilman John Cranley who lead the efforts on CincyCare, a pilot program to provide low-cost health care to residents who live and work in the city, don't qualify for government health care programs and who lack employer-sponsored health care.

This event is sponsored by We Are the Uninsured, which is funded by the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, and Neighborhood Family Practice.

UB story: Paging Father Art

My latest story in the UB is on Father Art Snedeker, the chaplain at MetroHealth Medical Center. My mom, who works in the Rammelkamp Center for Education and Research, remembers Father Art coming to visit her when she was a cancer patient at Metro. (Photo by Bill Reiter)

Paging Father Art

MetroHealth Chaplain helps critical patients
imagine their way to healing

By Wendy A. Hoke

CLEVELAND-The burn unit on the fifth floor of MetroHealth’s near west side campus is quiet today. As Father Art Snedecker, the Catholic chaplain, enters the unit he walks past the nurse’s station when his pager goes off. He turns to use the phone and check in on a patient. After a brief call, all is well—for now.

Snedecker is the chaplain for all the hospital’s critical care units, including patients and staff, and administers to its many Catholic patients.

Lynne Yurko, nurse manager of the burn unit, is standing nearby and smiles when she sees him coming down the hallway. “He is our priest, friend and colleague,” she says. “We laugh together and cry together and when something awful or evil happens, we pray together,” she says.

His presence fosters a peaceful environment in this critical care unit where stress levels frequently run very high.

“Father Art,” as his ID badge says, has been part of the hospital’s multi-disciplinary team for 10 years, and it’s a position that mixes his love of Christ and the power of prayer in healing with the miracles of modern medicine.

His presence has become so important to the burn unit that he, Yurko and three physicians conducted research on the role his pastoral care plays in reducing pain and anxiety in burn patients.

Using prayer, pastoral counseling, guided imagery (the use of rhythmic breathing and visualization) and breath of God (imagining the spirit of God entering them as they breathe), researchers found a significant decrease in both pain and anxiety for patients regardless of gender or faith community affiliation.

The work of guided imagery grew out of Father Snedecker’s work with a 15-year-old burn patient a number of years ago. “This boy had a high degree of pain and anxiety and was under sedation. He should not have remembered anything. But he ran with the image of being at a lake and fishing. In between expletives he would talk about the weather, the day, the clouds, the sky. What was so incredible was when he came out of sedation he wanted to apologize for his language. He should not have even remembered it,” he says, because of the heavy medications.

The therapy worked as Father Snedecker knew it would.

When he was in seminary in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Father Snedecker would have reflection retreats in which he was asked to picture himself sitting at a table with Jesus. “What’s he wearing? Is he smiling? Can you look into his eyes? What is he saying?”

Daydreaming and the process of sighing or expelling a deep breath is the body’s natural release of stress. That’s what Father Snedecker uses to empower patients in their own healing. “It’s as powerful as a person’s imagination and as intimate as their breath.”

In hindsight his path seems very clear.

Father Snedecker had always wanted to become a doctor. He was an orderly at Parma General Hospital and entered Bowling Green State University as a pre-med major. But after he entered college he received a different calling and chose instead to enter the seminary.

After his ordination, he was given a choice to pursue campus ministry or hospital chaplaincy. One night while sitting outside the chapel at Parma Hospital, he prayed for guidance. “I said no to chaplaincy and as I was driving away I wondered why I did that.

“Looking back I think I was too young and didn’t have enough life experience,” he says.

After years as a campus minister and then a parish priest, he suffered a heart attack and, at age 48, required open-heart surgery.

“I knew I needed to make lifestyle changes and I knew I’d been given a second chance,” he says. Against the advice of friends, he resigned as pastor of Immaculate Conception in Akron, and it wasn’t long after that former Bishop Anthony Pilla asked if he’d consider being a hospital chaplain.

What began as a temporary assignment became much more from the first moment Father Snedecker, now 60, set foot on MetroHealth. “As soon as I walked in the doors, I fell in love with the place. God blesses Metro because it cares for the poor,” he says.

“I learned very early on that I couldn’t do this alone. Every unit of the hospital operates as a team in caring for the patient. The work is not mine alone because Christ is here with me.”

The job remains tough because he faces not only trauma and tragedy, but also acts of evil at times. “My faith has been challenged, but also rewarded and I am a richer person for having this work in my life.”

Hoke is a freelance writer.

PD gets a good story on page 1

Since I'm often disappointed by what I find in The Plain Dealer, I thought I would take a second to report that I was pleasantly surprised by one of today's front-page stories. (I won't even begin to tell you how much time I wasted on cleveland.com searching for the story. I had to Google Brian's name to find the link.)

I first wrote about Brian Mauk and his work with the homeless for the Catholic Universe Bulletin. What struck me was that Brian's name kept coming up in so many others stories I worked on—about missions, corporal acts of mercy and social justice. So I'm delighted to see that his work will continue and with funding from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute of Delaware. Congratulations and good luck, Brian. Let us know how we can help.

The front page of the business section also had a unique feature by Frank Bentayou on Elmer Fridrich, the guy who invented the halogen bulb. This I consider an "almost" story because it skirted around being a great story, but didn't quite dance. It lacked so many details that would have made it more a rich narrative and less a news story.

What do I mean by this? There's no tension in the story. Let's get to know Mr. Fridrich. Describe him (I know there's a photo, but I want to know about his hands or the sharpness of mind), give me a scene (describe his surroundings--number of screwdrivers, lamps hanging from the ceiling, stuff that would give a housing inspector heartburn) and for the love of storytelling, build a scene based on how he came up with his ideas. What does he sound like? How does he talk about his work? Where does he get his inspiration? Let's hear a little less about how the bulb works and little more about the man behind its creation.

Who says narrative doesn't belong on the business pages? Some of the greatest stories told are about inventors and their inventions. If you're going to donate that many column inches, then let's have a good yarn.

Pedaling for peace

"I believe in women taking a role to make peace in the area," Youssef adds. It's a perspective shared by most in the group: that dialogue by people like themselves, and not politicians behind closed doors, is the key to improving relations between countries and laying a foundation for peace.

From "Women on two wheels: A Middle East dialogue tour" in today's Christian Science Monitor.

Word of the day
buoyant: capable of maintaining a satisfactorily high level

UB story: Benedictine seniors helping to end violence against women

Here's my latest feature in Friday's Catholic Universe Bulletin:

Benedictine seniors helping to end violence against women of the world
Senior Honors Theology project transforms beyond a graded effort; it’s now become an educational, social justice and charitable mission for change.
By Wendy A. Hoke

Spring sunshine is seeping into the windows at Benedictine High School where Senior Nathan Szabados is leading a discussion on the senior project. “We’re going to be planting a garden at Transitional Housing on West 25th Street,” he tells his classmates.

“Wednesday we need to make a meal for 50 people for Ronald McDonald House Meals the Heal,” he says. “We’re going to St. Ann’s to talk at the Masses, but I need someone to go to St. Gregory’s to talk about the project,” he says.

Szabados double-checks his list and then the group of about 25 breaks into small groups to tackle their assigned tasks.

What started as a senior project, something required for a grade, has morphed into a mission—to stop the cycle of violence against women. “Men of Benedictine Helping Women of the World” is their third-quarter senior project for Senior Honors Theology class.

“We did research and found that 50 percent of the area’s homeless are women and children affected by domestic violence,” says Jason Petroff. “It takes men to stop the violence.”

That an all-boys school is taking on the issue of domestic violence against women came as something of a surprise to area women’s shelters, says Szabados.

But they are passionate in their cause.

“This is one of those issues that doesn’t come up in society,” says Peter Barrett. “But not only does it affect the person who is abused, it also has a trickle-down affect for family and friends.”

When asked if any of the boys know someone who has been the victim of domestic violence, several nod solemnly. Beyond families, however, they also acknowledge the importance of discussing the issue with teens who may find themselves in abusive relationships.

“We’ve shared a lot of information,” says Barrett. “Nathan and I went to Regina High School and gave our presentation to five different classes. We also sold tickets to our benefit concert,” he says.

The concert, held March 16 at The Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights, featured bands with Benedictine students and benefited the group’s project to the tune of $1,400.

“It was a forum to raise awareness,” says Barrett. Education is one part of the project.

Another is charity. Szabados contacted shelters to find ways to help, and so they are providing food and items needed to help the women.

“That’s the closest we can get to the root of the problem here,” says Barrett. But they are finding ways to use their time, too.

“Nathan has done a good job of identifying where we can go out and help to cook a meal or plant a garden,” says Petroff.

Of the money raised, 40 percent goes toward battered women’s shelters. The remaining 60 percent will be donated to a micro-financing Web site called Kiva www.kiva.org. “The site allows for loans to people in third-world countries that are paid back with low interest,” explains Riley Smith.

On a Mother’s Day Luncheon on May 4th, $1,500 of the $2,500 raised so far will be given to the moms, sisters, grandmothers and girlfriends of the boys to invest in the Kiva entrepreneur of their choosing right from the luncheon via three computers.

“We’re trying to get women who are important to us choose who they want the money to go to,” says Szabados.

There’s a symbolic purpose to this, say the boys. The money was donated to on a local level and will partially be used to support local battered women’s shelters. But it also is being channeled into supporting women of the world to become more financially self-sufficient.

“They can see their money making a difference and hopefully that will inspire them to keep going with this effort, not just in school but also beyond that,” says Stephan Dober.

Indeed, the boys would like to broaden the project to make sure it continues with younger grades and to reach out to parent and alumni groups.

“The project started as something we were doing for a grade,” says Petroff. “But after a while it stopped being about that and now we’re just doing it because we want to.”

“I realized there are different ways to help people,” says Szabados. “It’s not just about putting in time, but also spreading the word,” which he has done through the Catholic Schools for Peace and Justice, news media, masses and parent networks.

“I’m learning more about this issue as I’m forced to write about it to share in our presentations,” he says. “It’s not just a class now, it’s an organization.”

To donate to Benedictine High School Love Fund, call (216) 641-7053. You can drop of nonperishable foods, paper products or gift cards at Benedictine High School, 2900 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Or you can visit www.cbhs.net.

Word of the day
vellum: a fine-grained unsplit lambskin, kidskin, or calfskin prepared especially for writing on or for binding books

Christian Science Monitor carries my story on John Boyd

My profile of Cleveland Ward 6 City Council candidate John Boyd just went live on the Christian Science Monitor Web site. The story is teased on the front page of tomorrow's print edition and will run on page 20 as the Backstory feature.

The Monitor also includes a two-minute audio interview with me, which was nerve-wracking on a Sunday morning when the whole family is home, but ultimately a very cool experience.

Thanks to Bill Rieter, whom I've worked with many times on Catholic Universe Bulletin stories, for being available to shoot photos on short notice.

UPDATE 4/21 / 8 am: I had hoped the article would generate discussion, but that seems to be taking place this morning over at Writes Like She Talks.

Latest UB story: Be not afraid

In today's Catholic Universe Bulletin is the following story about Father Neil Walters, who has a prison ministry at Cuyahoga County Jail. Also, the St. Ignatius pallbearer society story in online here.

Be not afraid
Father Walters brings compassion to prison inmates
By Wendy A. Hoke

“For I was in prison, and you visited me.” Matthew 26: 35-36

Growing up in St. Luke’s Parish in Lakewood Father Neil Walters lived a comfortable life around his siblings and his parents who owned a metal stamping business. He went to John Carroll University as a business major, but remained uncertain of his future.

“Sitting in classes I thought, ‘I don’t want to do this,’ ” he said over lunch at Abby’s Diner across from the Justice Center downtown, where three days a week he serves as chaplain to prisoners in the Cuyahoga County Jail.

God and religion were always a big part of his life. His mother’s uncle was a priest and former rector of the seminary. Gradually and without any earth-shaking epiphany, he began to discern a calling to serve in the priesthood. “I wanted to work with the poorest of the poor,” he said.

“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do short of helping others. A lot of my work is unplanned but, with God’s help, has been satisfying.”

Ordained in 1989, his first assignment was in Wooster, which he describes as “a little oasis in the desert. I think I was on a high those first five years,” he said. Gradually, he found himself moving closer to Cleveland at parishes in Akron, Euclid and now Garfield Heights.

As a seminarian, Father Walters, who today serves as parochial vicar at St. Therese Parish, Garfield Heights, had the opportunity to visit inmates. Throughout his years as a diocesan priest, he would be asked to visit inmates on behalf of parishioners.

When he arrived at St. Felicitas in Euclid in the late 1990s, he saw a television program about prison inmates and was inspired to make a call to the Cuyahoga County Jail. It took about six months for him to hear back, but finally he was invited to visit.

The chaplain who was there left after two weeks and was never replaced. Bit by bit, Father Walters filled his shoes. Today he does a series of religious services and Masses, hears confessions, and shares reading materials (and reading glasses), including Bibles, spiritual texts and addiction and recovery resources with the inmates. Mostly, he provides comfort and compassion for those marginalized by shame, violence, addiction and hopelessness.

“Often you catch them at their worst. But there is always hope,” he said.

“If you have time, I’d like you to hear my confession later,” said a tough-talking female inmate who claims she has 17 felony drug convictions and has never once been offered treatment. She breaks down in tears during the first reading and is unable to finish. Father Walters hands her a package of tissues as another inmate finishes the reading.

Mass here is a little different. “We have a great need for healing,” said Father Walters, who anoints the women following the penitential rite. The homily is followed with a gut-wrenching sharing of emotions, fears and regret by the eight inmates gathered on this afternoon.

While priests have been visiting inmates throughout time, it wasn’t until the Jubilee Year in 2000 that Pope John Paul II recommended a ministry to the incarcerated. While he has been involved prior to then, Father Walters has been a consistent part of that work ever since.

Bishop Richard Lennon made his first visit to the prison for a Mass in mid-December. He also spent some time talking to two of the inmates.

But it’s Father Walter’s regular presence upon which the inmates depend.

“Father Neil doesn’t judge, degrade or demoralize us,” said the female inmate with the many drug convictions. “People here relate to him because he listens.”

“We tried to get to church all day today. Thank you for coming here,” said another female inmate in the medical floor. They missed the afternoon Mass. Father Walters learns that the guards did not come for them. He raises his eyebrows, wrinkling his forward and said it is the same struggle he has every week.

In his trail running shoes, black Levi’s and clerical collar, he pulls out his chrism of anointing oil and his consecrated hosts to share with the women here and those on the mental health floor. Everywhere he goes, more ask to be put on the list to receive Catholic services.

The job is never-ending and after eight years, he’s still energized by the work.

“What keeps me motivated is that I believe we need God and religion now more than ever, especially here. No matter where you live or what parish you call home, there are people who are touched by the prison system. My work here in many ways is an extension of my work with parishioners.”

Hoke is a freelance writer.