Hospital Fires Nun

Posted 4/21/07
Covenant Health System of Lubbock recently fired Sister Meg Kopish for having “a difference in management style”.

Sister Meg is a honest, devoted and brilliant individual, who brought integrity, religious guidance and medical management experience to a hospital system that often stumbles in most all of those categories. She was devoted to quality health care to ALL, not just the rich or those with medical insurance. Isn’t that what we all want? To have access to quality health care from health care professionals that care about the well being of each of us.

Sister Meg Kopish was vice president of mission services with Covenant Health System. Sister Meg, who came to Lubbock from St. Louis, Mo., is the first member of an order other than The Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange to hold this position at Covenant. She is a member of the Adorer of the Blood of Christ sisters, which is headquartered in Rome and thus a papal people community. Since arriving to Lubbock she has actively opened her arms to all in need, and strived to insure that Covenants Mission statement wasn’t just something that a paper pusher wrote out of necessity to maintain accreditation.

Sister Meg is also on the board of Hospice of Lubbock.

I have not been able to uncover all those involved in her “Firing”, but I have to wonder if the recent resignation by the President and CEO Steve Hunter is linked somehow. Itis clear that Sister Meg brought accountability to the table. It appears that other Vice Presidents of Covenant were intimidated and threatened by her demands for integrity, accountability, and open arms to our communities. Too bad, because of a few greedy and/or corrupt individuals within Covenant Health Systems organization, our communities will suffer.
I suppose certain management at Covenant do not really believe nor practice the organizations Mission and Vision. Below is Covenant’s Mission and Vision statement, taken directly from their publicized material given at each facility.

“Good Luck Sister Meg, we will ALL miss you dearly.”

History, Mission, Vision, Facts and Statistics
History
Covenant Health System is a member of St. Joseph Health System, one of the most successful not-for-profit health systems in the United States. It was founded in 1998 through the merger of two of Lubbock's most venerable heath care facilities, St. Mary of the Plains Hospital and Lubbock Methodist Hospital System.
St. Mary Hospital was founded in 1937 as the 10-bed Plains Hospital and Clinic, becoming St. Mary of the Plains Hospital in 1939, when the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, California, purchased the facility. Today, St. Mary of the Plains Hospital is known as Covenant Medical Center–Lakeside.

The facility now known as Covenant Medical Center began as the 25-bed Lubbock Sanitarium in 1918. The facility became known as Lubbock General Hospital in 1941, then Lubbock Memorial Hospital in 1945. In 1954, it became Methodist Hospital.
Mission
To extend Christian ministry by caring for the whole person—body, mind and spirit—and by working with others to improve health and quality of life in our communities.

Vision

We believe that to put our mission into practice we must provide the best possible care to all our patients. That means following proven, standardized practices throughout the system, focusing on evidence-based medicine and tracking and reporting outcomes. We work to nurture a culture of safety and expect to rank at the top of our class in providing an exceptional patient experience and successful treatment.
We believe that every interaction—whether it involves Covenant staff, our patients or their families—is a sacred encounter. We come together to provide compassionate care and contribute to the overall good health of the people we serve. We believe that each of the communities we serve should be among the healthiest in the United States, and we are committed to improving access to care.

Our core values are: Dignity, Service, Excellence and Justice.

Facts and Statistics

Covenant Health System is the largest health care institution in the West Texas and Eastern New Mexico region.
Geographic information: Serves a 62-county area with a population of more than 1.2 million people.
Facilities: Three cornerstone facilities, plus a network of 10 leased and managed community hospitals, including Covenant Hospital Levelland and Covenant Hospital Plainview, 20 Covenant Healthcare Centers and Family Healthcare Centers, four mobile coaches and two ECHO/PV vans go out in the community to bring services to the medically underserved.
Our three cornerstone facilities combined—Covenant Medical Center, Covenant Medical Center–Lakeside and Covenant Children’s Hospital—have:
· 1,352 licensed beds
· More than 4,000 employees
· More than 400 admitting physicians
· 497-patient average daily census in FY 2006
· 31,000 discharges in FY 2006
· Over 61,000 Emergency Room visits in two ERs in FY 2006
Community Benefit: Provided $70.24 million in community health and education services in 2006 (includes care for the underinsured).