An Entrepreneurial Spirit Sisters of Providence Are Among The Inductees Into The Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame

Sr. Mary Caritas acknowledged that it might seem unusual for a community of women religious to be included in this year’s class — or any class — of inductees for the Western Mass. Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. But since the day they arrived in Holyoke in 1873 to establish a mission to serve the Irish and Scottish immigrants and mill workers in that emerging industrial city, the Sisters of Providence have been, in a word, entrepreneurial, she explained. “I think that’s a very appropriate term to use,” said Caritas, the former president of Mercy Hospital, who is being inducted into the Hall for her work in hospital administration, along with the Sisters of Providence. She told The Healthcare News that the sisters’ broad range of work in the region embodies all aspects of entrepreneurship — from risk-taking to innovation to giving back to the community. In this case, though, the entrepreneurs happen to represent a non-profit entity. And this will be the first non-profit to be inducted into the Hall, said Gail Carberry, vice president for Grants and Development at Springfield Technical Community College, which created the hall of fame in 1999. It did so, in part, to raise funds for entrepreneurship programs at the college, including the YES (Young Entrepreneurial Scholars) initiative, which encourages area high school students to consider owning their own businesses as a viable career option. But the primary motivation for establishing the facility was to pay homage to the area’s proud history of entrepreneurship and recognize the individuals who shaped it. And the Sisters of Providence definitely fall into that category, said Carberry, citing a track record that includes everything from homes for unwed mothers to a state-of-the-art cancer treatment facility. “Some people might say that the sisters were not entrepreneurs in the true sense of the word, because they weren’t risking their own capital with their ventures,” said Carberry. “They were risking something else, though — their good will, which is just as important.” Caritas and the Sisters of Providence will join a list of pioneers to be inducted into the Hall at ceremonies in October. The other honorees are: Mary Lyon, founder of Mount Holyoke College; Joshua Brooks, who created the Eastern States Exposition; William L. Putnam, who founded Channel 22; Joseph Napolitan, one of the first individuals to call himself a political consultant, and founder of a trade association for those in that profession; and publishers Francis and Teddi Laurin, owners of Lauren Publishing Co. in Pittsfield. The Sisters of Providence are like those other individuals in that they have historically, identified needs and created, ways to meet them, said Caritas, noting that this pattern began when the first members of the community, originally members of the Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul in Kingston, Ontario, came to Holyoke to establish their mission. Over the next 15 years, the sisters, under the leadership of Mother Mary of Providence, established 20 works of charity. By the mid 1900s, the sisters had created several ministries in Western and Central Mass., including two hospitals (Mercy and Providence), nursing schools, an orphanage, nursing homes, and residence for working girls. In 1981, the sisters created the Sisters of Providence Health System, which now includes Mercy Medical Center, Providence Behavioral Health Hospital, Brightside for Families and Children in West Springfield, Farren Care Center, Life Laboratories, and many other facilities. As the needs of the community changed over the years, the sisters responded accordingly, creating new roles for many of their facilities, said Caritas. She cited, as examples, the conversion of St. Luke’s Home in Springfield from a residence for working girls (a pressing need at the time of the industrial revolution) to a long-term care facility for women, and also the conversion of Providence Hospital in Holyoke into a behavioral health center in the mid ’90s. Still another example of adaptation — and thus entrepreneurship — was the conversion of the sisters’ mother house into an independent living facility in 1992. “They changed with the times,” Caritas said of the sisters. “Whenever a new and different need arose, they adopted; they never lost their focus on meeting needs.” That pattern continued in recent years, especially during Caritas’s tenure at Mercy, from 1978 to 1994. During those years, she orchestrated several new initiatives, including the facility’s hospitalist program, then one of the few in the country, and a lengthy battle to gain state approval for a cancer treatment facility. “I applied every two years starting in 1979, and finally got approval in 1991,” she said. “We were persistent — again, because there was a real need for a facility like that in the community.” The induction dinner will be Oct. 6 at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meeting House. For more information on the event or to order tickets, call the foundation office at (413) 755-4477.