Continuing Misericordia Transitions

May 11, 2022

Dear Misericordia Families,

This seems to be a year of changes. Early in December was the inception of the Misericordia Foundation. This was an exceptional move in that it ensures the Misericordia Foundation will focus on fundraising for the future in order that we continue to provide quality care to those we serve. This also has driven changes in our leadership given Misericordia Home is a separate entity from the Misericordia Foundation.  With Denise Tigges recent announcement regarding her retirement and given her longevity, it seems to be a catalyst for some changes to keep Misericordia Home moving forward. As I noted at the MFA meeting, our overall strategic plan includes development of new leaders to ensure continuity in the services we provide. As with any organization we have done our due diligence in succession planning. We have also sought counsel from a professional consulting firm regarding succession planning and change management. They have guided us through the process and continue to do so. The addition of Misericordia Foundation and Denise’s recent news has prompted us to look at the structure of our current leadership to ensure we are effective in the critical areas of Residential Services, Clinical Services and Program Services as well as HR and Staff Development.

As we move forward, we will have a dedicated leader for each of these four areas and each of those areas would report to Mary Pat O’Brien. Changes will begin gradually but we hope we will have the new organizational structure in place over the next several months.

There will be four Vice Presidents who will be accountable for the overall leadership, care and development of their area of responsibility:

• Residential Services
• Clinical Services (medical, dental, nursing, therapy, behavioral services and Social Services)
• Program Delivery (Developmental Training, Community Day Services, McAuley School, recreation, fitness, and pool)
• Human Resources and Staff Development

The Administrator or Assistant Vice Presidents will report directly to their Vice Presidents and the Directors will continue to report to Assistant Vice Presidents.

I am also pleased to announce as part of this process Mary Pat O’Brien and Kevin Connelly will remain as the Executive Team, but will now have their titles changed to Executive Vice President (instead of Assistant Executive Director). I personally thank them for all of their work for Misericordia and their guidance and support.

In addition to the Foundation bringing about changes, we have looked at two other important factors that are necessary to support Misericordia in terms of moving forward in the field and ensuring best practices.  As all are aware Covid and many other factors contributed to our staffing shortage. We have continually been looking at recruitment and retaining employees and what can we do better/differently to retain the individuals we hire. We studied our current leaderships capacity and it is clearly evident that we need to reduce the scope of responsibility. Another important factor is to have opportunities for our staff to be able to develop professionally and become leaders. It is important that we prepare for the future with new leaders. 

As with any change, processes are being developed and specifics need to be worked out. We will continue to communicate changes to our families and staff regarding this. We believe this will impact the clarity, direction and dedicated leadership in each of these areas that will allow us to continue to keep residents at the forefront of what we do while we connect with and develop our staff.

Our continued efforts to provide resident care and programs that challenge and support our residents in addition to our focus on development and growth for all employees is how we see our mission and values being lived by all of us. We are confident that the changes listed above will allow us to move into our next 100 years with a highly skilled and professional workforce providing innovative and exemplary care and programs for our residents.

We are so grateful for the support we receive from you, our families, and for being on this journey with us. God has blessed us in so many ways.  

Fr. Jack Clair, President & Executive Director