Betsy Aderholdt

Text version of Betsy Aderholdt's keynote remarks

My name is Betsy Aderholdt and I am the President of St. Mary’s Health Center in Jefferson City, Missouri.  Of the 22 presidents St. Mary’s has had, 15 were sisters. Their stories are a reminder that I have a sacred responsibility.
I work from an office in the oldest part of the hospital, with 3-foot walls of soapstone – the original building the sisters constructed purely from optimism, perseverance and pennies they raised by begging door to door.  

I hear stories from long-tenured staff about what it was like to work when the president and every department head was a sister. They speak of a time when ‘You stood a little straighter and made certain your work area was tidy when you heard the sister’s rosary beads clicking down the hall.’”

I hear stories from the community about how the sisters not only healed patients, but housed, taught and employed families, especially in difficult economic times.

One of the stories is about Dr. Harold Kanagawa, a Japanese American physician who was interred in an American concentration camp during World War II. After his release, no hospital would offer him a position . . . because of his race. . . none except St. Mary’s. . . Dr. Kanagawa and his son served on our medical staff for years.

The spirit of Mother Odilia and the sisters surrounds me every day. When making difficult decisions about allocation of scarce resources, I think about how the sisters cared for the whole person and the whole community. It is far easier to use financial performance as the only yardstick for success. Instead, we struggle to balance quality and community need -- especially for the underserved -- with the need to improve financial performance.

Last year, we had to make a difficult decision about Villa Marie – our 30-year-old skilled nursing facility. It was losing over $1M per year and needed a new physical plant.  In a different tradition, the decision to close would have been swift and certain. Instead, we worked to find a different solution, one that had to do with more than simply fixing the bottom line. We found a partner to assume day-to-day management and to build a state-of-the-art facility. As a result, the 100 or so residents, many of whom qualify for Medicaid, did not find themselves “homeless.” 

I wonder about how the sisters communicated with clinicians and other hospital employees. In another life, my words would have been candid and direct. Now, while I set high expectations and provide frank feedback as the sisters did in their habits and clinking rosary beads, I use non-violent and encouraging language.

Our Jefferson City campus has a history of highs and lows. St. Mary’s has weathered nursing shortages, intense competition, DRGs, the Balanced Budget Act, and Missouri Medicaid reform.

Today the pressures can seem overwhelming, but I draw strength from the sisters who sat at the desk that I now use. They were charged with an incredible task: opening the first hospital in Jefferson City. They had to raise thousands of dollars to build and furnish a building and then find nurses and physicians to staff it. It took courage and optimism and perseverance – and I can give no less.

I am part of a long tradition of courageous, passionate, optimistic, persevering, loving servant leaders who have cared for generations of people in central Missouri. I draw on their values and examples every day. In every decision I make, in every conversation I have, I can hear the clicking of their rosary beads calling to me.