Article by John Pratt Published

John Pratt co-wrote an article with Marianna Grachek that was published last month in the Long-Term Care Living magazine.  The article was titled "The Path to Leadership" and it discussed the importance of continuous education for leaders.  The article identified some common characteristics of long-term care leaders and suggested the type of learning environment they might find most beneficial!  The article is very well done and we're glad that John is our Assistant Program Director!  If you would like to read the entire article it is linked here - you just click on the title of this blog!

Benedictine Health System partners with Saint Joseph's College of Maine!

The Benedictine Health System (BHS) is partnering with Saint Joseph’s College of Maine (SJC) to launch the BHS Leadership Institute, a comprehensive educational project for BHS leaders across the System.

The Minnesota-based long term care system sought to partner with Saint Joseph’s College to create a unique, systematic educational experience for BHS leaders to achieve success. With its commitment to leadership excellence, BHS is choosing to invest in its leaders serving throughout its more than 40 campuses and corporate offices. Focusing on developing values-centered leaders throughout the System, BHS chose to create a custom strategic and challenging educational experience.

This program was developed by Saint Joseph’s Division of Graduate & Professional Studies, in conjunction with BHS, to ensure this customized training would address the goals and objectives of their organization. The BHS Leadership Institute will offer both traditional classroom as well as online courses in the areas of leadership; strategic thinking; planning and marketing; team building and staff motivation; decision making, problem solving and conflict resolution; human resources; performance management; finance; quality processes; ethics; and long term care consumers’ special needs. BHS leaders completing the program will be awarded a jointly-sponsored graduate certificate.

The BHS Leadership Institute is also aligned with the Master of Health Administration degree program at SJC for those desiring to earn a graduate degree.

“BHS is committed to performance excellence in our services, programs and leaders,” said Dale Thompson, BHS president/CEO. “By partnering with Saint Joseph’s College to offer the BHS Leadership Institute, we are ensuring our leaders receive the ongoing education grounded in the BHS Mission and Core Values. This knowledge will help our leaders further enhance the care our facilities provide to their communities and the residents they serve.”


“We are delighted to have this opportunity to work with one of the leading health systems in the country,” said Lynn Olson, dean of the college’s Graduate & Professional Studies division. “ The core values that the Benedictine Health System uses to guide their facilities are consistent with those of Saint Joseph’s College, and it is a natural fit for the two organizations to partner,” she added. The college’s respected health administration program is well-established, as it was the first program developed when Saint Joseph’s began to offer distance education 33 years ago.

The BHS Leadership Institute begins its first session for BHS leaders in May 2009.

The Benedictine Health System is a Catholic, non-profit long term care health system based in Duluth, Minn. Sponsored by the Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery, Duluth, BHS owns and/or operates nursing homes, assisted and independent housing in Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Additional information may be found at http://www.bhshealth.org/.

Saint Joseph’s College is a Catholic college in Standish, Maine, founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1912. The college, a member of the Catholic Health Association, is accredited by New England Association of Schools & Colleges. The long term care administration programs are also accredited by the National Association of Long Term Care Administrator Boards. The college offers both traditional, on-campus degrees for young adults and online degree and certificate programs for working professionals. Additional information may be found at www.sjcme.edu/gps.

Changes in Health Administration at SJC

As you may know, there have been a number of changes here at Saint Joseph's College of Maine recently.

Dr. Joseph Lee has accepted the position of President of the college and will be inaugurated later this month. We look forward to working with Dr. Lee!

In the Health Administration programs we continue to work to ensure the quality of our programs. We are particularly excited about some new developments with our Master of Health Administration program. We are planning to develop a specialization in Catholic healthcare leadership, recognizing that many Catholic health organizations are working to strengthen their Catholic foundation. We have also applied for membership to the US Catholic Health Association. We're very excited about the opportunities this affords us to combine our expertise in equipping and supporting healthcare leaders with our Catholic heritage, to meet the needs of the profession.

We are already making plans for summer 2009 and intend to offer a greater variety of hybrid courses, as well as hosting another symposium. The symposium was very popular this past summer and we anticipate it will be even better next year! If you have ideas for topics for this event, please comment to this post. We would love to hear from you!

We will let you know as we progress!