Father John Rausch: Providing compassionate Pastoral Care
Ask the other members of the Pastoral Care department at SLU Hospital about one of the strongest members of their chaplain team and they will direct you to Father John Rausch, OFM. Ask Fr. John about his success as a chaplain and he will credit his Pastoral Care colleagues.

“Serving in Pastoral Care can be a difficult job. But I find a wonderful source of energy from our chaplain team,” Fr. John says. “We support, encourage, pray with, pray for, laugh with, be silly with and overall encourage each other.”

Regardless of where he finds his inspiration, Fr. John has been a counselor, spiritual adviser and friend to patients at SLU Hospital since May 1996. He works primarily with patients in the Acute Care for the Elderly (ACE) unit on 9 North and neurosurgery patients throughout the hospital. He also is on-call once or twice a week to offer pastoral care wherever needed.

“His presence on the ACE unit is important in meeting the special needs of geriatric patients and their families,” said Elisabeth Price, chaplain. “He is well-trained in ethics and is able to uphold the Catholic Ethical and Religious Directives in a constructive and loving way.”

Fr. John also shares his gifts with the other chaplains and staff in the Pastoral Care department. As Rev. Beth A. Meirath, chaplain resident, noted, “John is a major contributor to the well-being of all in our department. He is interested in how his colleagues are doing both in their ministry and personal lives.”

Fr. John shares something else with the hospital, too: his love of music and his compact disc collection. Tune into Channel 6 on the hospital television circuit and you will often hear selections from his collection.

Jamie Lewis: Putting his heart into social work
To illustrate how Jamie Lewis, a senior social worker in the Care Coordination department, has earned a reputation as a “patient advocate,” his supervisor, Geri Weis, tells the story of a recent psychiatric patient from Indiana and his wife, who was blind.

“His wife was staying at the Auxiliary House. She had no money for food and was unable to get around the house,” Weis says. “Jamie took it upon himself to go to the cafeteria and take her meals to her. He also went grocery shopping for her and kept her updated on her husband’s progress until his transfer to another service.”

Jamie, who is assigned to work in the adult psychiatric unit, views this story and the many others like it as a basic approach to the practice of social work.

“My approach has always been to start where the patient is,” he says. “I like to think that if I were in a difficult situation, someone would be here to help me. It took only 15-20 minutes out of my day to help out the patient’s wife from Indiana.”

Jamie enjoys being a psychiatric social worker at Saint Louis University Hospital because his service takes a team approach. Each team brings together a physician, pharmacist, nursing, recreational therapist and social worker to care for a patient.

“I like the staff, in particular the physicians I work with. I also really enjoy working with psychiatric patients,” he says. “It’ very, very challenging and it’s very hard because there are not a lot of available community resources.”

Jamie is not afraid to seek ways to improve himself and his department. He schedules and arranges all department inservices and co-chairs the competency committee. He also has been working with Chris Mote, nurse manager for psychiatry, to develop a multidisciplinary psychiatric assessment to reduce duplication and increase thoroughness.

“I was always taught in social work that I am responsible for making sure that each patient is receiving what he or she needs. That’s my approach and that is why I enjoy the challenge of psychiatric social work,” Jamie says.

Nicole Haubrich: Making a lasting impression
You know you’ve made a lasting impression on your supervisor when you leave the department and your supervisor still nominates you for employee of the month. That’s what happened to Nicollette “Nicole” Haubrich.

Nicole currently works as a department technician for orthopedic surgery. Before changing positions she worked for more that a year in the Emergency Department. During her time in the ED, she stood out as an employee who was committed and self-motivated. Denise Osias, RN, ED nurse manager, was impressed by Nicole’s dedication.

“Every morning when I came in, she was busy stocking from a hectic night, pulling dirty linen, changing sharps boxes, or cleaning dried blood off stretchers or backboards. She never complained about other shifts leaving work unfinished,” Denise says.

Nicole began her career at SLU Hospital in 1993 working in Health Information Management Services (medical records). Then she worked as a patient coordinator. In July 1999, she began working as a technician in the Emergency Department. Even though she is now in orthopedic surgery, she sometimes still works in the ED.

“It’s nice to go back now and then,” she says. “It’s a home atmosphere. I get along with everyone really well and the physicians are always good to me, too.”

Denise regards Nicole as a caring and compassionate part of the Emergency Department team. “She is very courteous to patients and their families. She exemplifies what it takes to reach our Target 100 goals,” she says.

Nicole is dedicated to self-improvement – especially when it comes to her work. She wants to be able to do more for the patients with whom she works. That’s why this summer she will be applying to study to become a physician assistant.