



Sister Su-Hsin enjoys visiting with residents, listening to their stories, praying with them, reading to them and sometimes even doing a little correspondence for them. “I do whatever I can for them. I listen to them, cry with them and laugh with them."

'I enjoy (volunteering) because I felt like I was helping the sisters out and making a difference.'

Catch up on news from the Sisters of Providence, from COVID-19 to Earth Day to a new alumni association.

After my second visit to the Woods, she asked me, “Do you know anything about Providence Associates?” I was not familiar with an associate relationship with the Sisters of Providence. She invited me to consider becoming one. She provided me with information and brochures. Mostly, she provided me with encouragement and this excitement and enthusiasm about her community and its mission.

Imogen Anderson is an exceptional volunteer who is actually a real life exception to the rule. Although the 16-year-old junior at Terre Haute North High School doesn’t yet meet the minimum age requirement to volunteer for the Sisters of Providence,…

"I can't wait to get back to visiting when the current situation improves."

The willingness of the Providence Health Care staff to forgo the efficiency of a set schedule in favor of a more spontaneous model of care speaks volumes for their commitment to recognizing and respecting the dignity and individuality of persons in their care.

The Providence Teen Volunteer Ministry, lead by Sister Joni Luna, SP, wrapped up another successful summer. Teen volunteers played games, performed on musical instruments and enjoyed spending time with sisters and residents of Providence Health Care at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.

Memory books detail and preserve aspects of a person’s life history with photographs, artifacts and narratives. They facilitate life-affirming interaction, encourage deep reflection and celebrate life events through story-telling and reminiscing. And they are effective in stimulating memories, especially for individuals living with dementia.

We usually think of volunteering as weeding a garden or picking up trash (those are important too, of course), but it can be more. It can be making someone’s day just by showing up. It can be learning things you never knew from someone who experienced it first-hand. It can be the satisfied feeling you get when someone laughs at a joke you made. Volunteering isn’t just mundane tasks. It’s knowing and feeling and connecting with people.

Staff members who participated in dementia care training share how it makes a difference in their everyday care giving: Don’t take any behaviors personally.** Build trust by spending time with each person.** Learn to read the cues of a person. A non-verbal person may ordinarily smile as a greeting; but if there’s no smile, she’s having a bad time of it.

It is rare that a Sister of Providence going to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods doesn’t say, “I’m going home.” It is rare that visitors to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods campus don’t remark on the beauty, the peace and comfort they experience on the campus.…