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A place to call home
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Humility of Mary Health Partners Guest House's 20th anniversary on Caroline Ave, Thursday June 18, 2009 Lisa-Ann Ishihara
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Todd and Linda Bacon at Humility of Mary Health Partners Guest House.
The guest house opened 20 years ago.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — Humility of Mary Guest House “should be called a guest home,” said a Chicago woman living there while her husband recovers from injuries suffered in an auto crash.
“It is full of love and hugs and safety,” said Lindie Bacon.
Lindie and her husband, Dan, were injured June 2 in a car crash on Interstate 80 just over the Pennsylvania border from Ohio while traveling from Cincinnati, where they attended the graduation of their son Todd’s oldest child, to Connecticut, to visit another son.
Lindie was treated at Sharon Regional Health System’s hospital and Dan, more seriously injured, was brought to St. Elizabeth Health Center’s Level I trauma center for treatment. He is still recovering in the hospital’s progressive intermediate care unit, which is a step down from intensive care.
For the last 2 1⁄2 weeks, Lindie and Todd have lived in the HM Guest House to be near their husband and father.
“The art of hospitality is still alive here,” Todd said. “We have been overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity and helpfulness of the staff at the guest house, the hospital and the entire Youngstown community.”
The Bacons are the most recent of 2,901 people from the area and across the United States and around the world to stay at the Humility of Mary Guest House during the past 12 years. The facility opened 20 years ago in 1989.
The first guests were a family from East Liverpool whose mother had been injured. They weren’t uncomfortable because they had each other, said Sister Therese Quinn, first director of the guest house and retired director of media resources at St. Elizabeth. Sister Margaret Burgess, who was Sister Therese’s assistant, is now the house director.
Sister Margaret recalled one guest, an Indian woman who was “clearly not Catholic,” who would bow in front of the tapestry of the Virgin Mary every morning. “I was very touched by her show of respect for the Catholic religion even though her own beliefs were different.”
The idea of a guest house began when doctors, nurses and nuns saw people sleeping in the lobby of the hospital to be near their loved ones.
“We thought we should do something about that. I felt guilty,” Sister Therese said.
When Sister Susan Schorsten, president and chief executive officer of St. Elizabeth Hospital at the time, received a donation, she consulted with the others sisters on how best to use the money, and it was decided to establish a guest house.
It was the right thing for the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, whose calling is hospitality. It is a beautiful ministry, Sister Therese said.
It took about three years for hospital maintenance personnel, working around their regular duties, to remodel a four-apartment building on Caroline Street, where hospital medical residents had lived.
When the conversion was complete, the building could accommodate 15 guests, who are welcome to stay for free for as long as their loved one is hospitalized.
Shortly after the guest house opened, the St. Elizabeth Auxiliary was asked to take it on as a major project for its fundraising activities. Over the years, the auxiliary has financed upgrading the kitchen, living and dining rooms and the six bathrooms, said Sister Margaret.
Patricia Weickenand, auxiliary president, said the organization supplies items such as furniture, carpet, draperies, bedding and appliances to make the guest house seem as much like a home as possible.
“It is so nice to say, when guests come, that it doesn’t cost anything. But of course, we’ll accept donations, Sister Therese said with a smile. “It surprises me how generous people are.”
She recalled a young woman who was at St. Elizabeth to have a baby who was angry with her mother. But, when it came time to deliver, she wanted her mother, who drove here from Connecticut and stayed at the guest house.
“Though she was very poor, she wanted to give us $5, which I think was all the money she had to get back to Connecticut. We talked her into keeping her money, saying she needed it more than we did. And when her car battery died, the maintenance guys fixed her up and got her car going,” she said.
“The mother’s relief at making up with her daughter was one of the most touching things I’ve seen,” Sister Therese added.
The Humility of Mary Guest House is within a block of the hospital, making it possible for guests to get to the hospital within minutes should they be needed. Breakfast is provided, however other meals are up to the guests to supply for themselves, Sister Margaret said.
A stay at the guest house is arranged by hospital staff in social services, spiritual care or nursing. Protective services officers escort guests to and from the house.
Guests are free to come and go as they please, but they must be back to the house by 10 p.m. so the alarm system can be activated, she said.
Sister Margaret said she has worked at the guest house for all these years, beginning in 1990, because she enjoys being with people.
She recalled a situation when the family of a young boy, who was near death, stayed at the house for quite some time. The family was so appreciative that when the boy survived they all came back with him to thank the staff.
“It’s nice to know you’ve helped and been of service to people in their time of need,” Sister Margaret said.
alcorn@vindy.com