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Reflecting on 'a good run'
Providence Hospital president reassigned to Florida
(Published July 26, 2004)

By ROBERT ARKELL
Staff Writer

The round-the-clock intensity of daily hospital life exists only three floors below, but a soothing calm pervades in the administrative offices where Sister Carol Keenan presides as president of Providence Hospital in Northeast Washington.

One would never guess that "Sister Carol," as she is known to her subordinates, belongs to a 400-year-old order called the Daughters of Charity. Dressed in a dark blue business suit in her spacious office, Keenan looks more like a business executive than a nun. But the zeal that inspired her predecessors still resonates strongly within her.

"I do this job because I feel it is God’s will," Keenan said.

She has been president of Providence Hospital for about 15 years, but her relationship with Providence goes back even further.

"How it all began was that I was born here at Providence," Keenan said. "I did staff nursing at Providence when I was a young sister. From 1979 to 1984 I was vice president for nursing here. Then I went to Cumberland Hospital and came back in 1989. Since September of 1989 I’ve been the president and CEO of Providence. This time, it’s been about 15 years, so it’s been a good run."

Sister Carol will finish her term as president of Providence Hospital July 31 and will move to a health center in Pensacola, Fla., on Aug. 8. She laughs when asked if she’s thinking about retiring.

"A Daughter of Charity never gets to retire," she said.

The provincial superior for the Daughters in the D.C. area has asked Keenan to become the chairman of the board of directors for the Pensacola Health System.

"We tend to go where we’re sent. In some ways, it’s like the military. If the provincial superior orders you to go to Pensacola, then you have to go. We have five provinces for five groups in the United States. The provincial superior asked me to go to Pensacola, even though she knew that it wasn’t my choice," Keenan said.

The Daughters of Charity have served in American hospitals ever since the early 1900s, but there aren’t as many nuns as there were 100 years ago. Today, the Daughters are cutting back on their services, especially in Pensacola.

Daughters usually live and work at the hospital they are assigned 24 hours a day. Twelve nuns live on the Providence Hospital campus. They can be seen tending to the sick, providing food, clothes and shelter for the homeless and working with the hospital staff. But in Pensacola, it’s going to be different.

"It will be the first time when we will sponsor a hospital when we don’t live there," Keenan said.

Under her watchful eye, Keenan guided Providence Hospital to become a greater institution over the years. She smiles as she lists the hospital’s accomplishments under her supervision.

"We’ve gone from a small medical-surgical hospital to [include] a large 240-bed nursing home, a number of outreach clinics, some in substance abuse and some in general family health centers. We’ve gone through a very large occupational health program (and) a large wellness program. We’ve been able to not only renovate the existing building but add the new nursing home, the occupational health center for public safety officers, put the new parking garage up and (build) the new operating room."

Keenan said she has enjoyed working directly with the people at Providence: "I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of wonderful people in this city...It’s been a wonderful opportunity." She mentions that care providers throughout the hospital were involved in building the new branches. "In each of these construction projects, the staff who care for the patients actually worked with the architect to make the design for these projects."

Keenan also bore witness to many hard times at Providence, including problems resulting from the closure of D.C. General Hospital, the bankruptcy of several hospitals including Greater Southeast, the sale of two university hospitals and the migration of professional physicians from the District.

"I’ve seen lots of physicians driven away from here because they cannot afford to pay malpractice premiums in the District, while these premiums are cheaper in Maryland and Virginia," Keenan lamented. "Some of these physicians were great partners with our hospital. They had their own private practices, but they were always willing to accommodate the less fortunate."

Keenan said she faced some of her greatest challenges after the shutdown of D.C. General.

"There was a huge impact, particularly in the emergency room. D.C. General closed when the bulk of the patients were to go to Greater Southeast. ...Greater Southeast was having severe problems and on the verge of bankruptcy, so the patients were not going there," she said.

Since Greater Southeast Community Hospital did not have the resources to provide the needed care to patients who formerly went to D.C. General, these patients began to flock to Providence in droves.

"These patients had been going to D.C. General for years, but we had no access to their records and the continuity of care was a real problem. ...It was not only very challenging on our ER staff, it was very challenging financially and with providing a continuity of care," Keenan said.

The overcrowding of Providence Hospital contributed to the slowdown of ambulance service.

"The ambulance response times slowed down because we couldn’t unload the patient from (EMS paramedics) and get a report as quickly as we could when the ambulances were evenly distributed across the city. ...I know we slowed (the ambulances) down, even though we didn’t want to," she said.

Providence is still coping in the aftermath of D.C. General's closing, but Keenan has a few ideas on how to improve the situation. She believes that many patients with minor medical emergencies can be relocated to health clinics.

"Many health clinics stay open until 4:30 in the afternoon," she said. "If we can keep these clinics open until later, patients with minor medical emergencies can go there, rather than overcrowding emergency rooms. ...The hospital association is working with the city administrator to keep these clinics open until 9 in the evening," she said.

Keenan points to Perry Family Clinic as an example. Many health clinics affiliated with the Daughters of Charity are located in the rougher parts of town.

"The Washington Post said that the metropolitan police were afraid to go near Sursum Corda, where a 14-year-old was killed. We have our family health center right there," she said.

Keenan looks depressed and a little worried when she talks about making the move to Pensacola: "I’ll miss it terribly. I love this city and the people who live here, but the needs are so great here."

But Keenan quickly looks up and smiles.

"The truth of the matter is that every time I’m asked to move someplace else, I loathe to go. But this has been a great job ... and I’ve loved every minute of it," she said with confidence.

The air of sadness quickly fades against Sister Carol’s unshakable conviction and faith.