Amy Stewart-Wilmarth, the Province’s director of health and wellness, with Claude Lenehan at St. Anthony Friary in Butler, N.J. (Photo courtesy of Octavio Duran)
NEW YORK — Holy Name Province has hired a director of health and wellness to serve as a support to the Provincial Administration and to local guardians, determining medical needs of its members.
“We recognize the need to have on our Provincial staff a person with clinical experience in medicine who is able to listen and respond to the various health and wellness issues that are faced by our brothers,” said Provincial Minister Kevin Mullen, OFM. “The director of health and wellness will serve as a support and resource person for the local guardians, individual friars, and the Provincial Administration. Several other provinces in the English-speaking Conference already have a specialist like this on their staffs and we believe it will be a great help to us.”
The new staff member, whose office is at St. Anthony Friary in Butler, N.J., has a background in varied health specialties and settings that make her well suited to the role. Amy Stewart-Wilmarth, a registered nurse, has worked at hospitals, nursing homes, pharmaceutical companies, a mental health association, and assisted living facilities.
Amy is based at St. Anthony Friary in Butler, but will travel around the Province as needed. (Photo courtesy of Octavio Duran)
“My goal is to be supportive to guardians and to the Province,” she said. “I have always been interested in the holistic approach to treating people. My background includes work as a visiting nurse, as well as in geriatric and mental health and also in hospice.
“I’ve noticed that we – the Franciscans and I – have shared interests and values,” she added. “We care about the whole person. The feeling of family throughout Holy Name Province is strong. My role will be to address concerns about individual friars’ health and also complement the work of nurses who are at the friaries.”
Since starting with the Province in March, Stewart-Wilmarth has met with the guardians and has visited friaries with large numbers of senior friars, including those in Boston, Loudonville, N.Y., and St. Petersburg, Fla. She has also met with the Province’s Sick, Aged and Retired Directorate.
“The friars have all been very welcoming,” she said. “I look forward to working with them.”
— Jocelyn Thomas is director of communication for Holy Name Province.
Related Links
- “Ringwood Residents Grateful for Home, Family” – March 4, 2009, HNP Today