---

Sister Lucille Theroux, CSJ, started her career teaching science in Catholic high schools. Today, she can be found ministering to people with serious illnesses at St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam - and being honored for her commitment to their care.

While some might find working with seriously ill people and their families depressing, Sister Lucille does not. "Our work is a privilege," she said. "It's a privilege to work with families at this time in their lives."

Sister Lucille is a board-certified chaplain and part of the palliative care team at St. Mary's. She explained that palliative care treats complex pain symptoms and helps keep patients comfortable during all stages of a serious illness.

She said that palliative care is similar to hospice care, but hospice care is provided to people nearing the end of life.

"Palliative care is not end-of-life care," she noted, "but it can be."

Sister Lucille enjoys being a part of the team that delivers palliative care. This team includes a medical director, a manager, nurses, social workers, nutritionists and others.

In her work with the palliative care team, Sister Lucille is available to patients and staff 24 hours a day.

Recently, her dedication to the patients and staff at St. Mary's Hospital led to her receiving the "support associate of the year" award from the Foundation of St. Mary's Hospital. The award was presented at an Excellence in Healthcare awards celebration held in Johnstown.

In nominating her for the award, Sister Lucille's coworkers at the hospital wrote: "She consistently serves our patients, their families and the staff at St. Mary's with an energetic vision of our mission and a loving respect for all those she comes in contact with.

"As a chaplain, she brings a consistent spiritual presence to her work with patients and families, especially as a core member of the palliative care team.

"As a chaplain to our staff here at St. Mary's, she has shown an extraordinary openness and sensitivity to the challenges that they face on a daily basis in both the workplace and in their personal lives."

Being sensitive to the employees of St. Mary's Hospital is important to Sister Lucille. She said the staff often spends significant amounts of time with a patient and their family. The ups and downs of an illness can be challenging for healthcare professionals.

"Here at St. Mary's, we try and be sensitive to staff dealing with sensitive cases," she said. "The staff has to deal with grief, too."

A native of Watervliet, Sister Lucille began her career as a science teacher at Catholic Central High School in Troy. She also taught at the former Cardinal McCloskey High School in Albany and at St. Mary's School in Glens Falls.

She also served as a pastoral care associate in parishes and worked in the infirmary at St. Joseph's Provincial House in Lath-am, her order's motherhouse.

While working in both of these settings, Sister Lucille felt called to pastoral ministry, so she turned to nursing home work, took classes and worked toward gaining board certification as a chaplain.

"I've had a rich and varied background," the honoree remarked.

(02/11/10) [[In-content Ad]]

---