Andy Thibault

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Cool Justice
In Praise of a Catholic Hospital
By ANDY THIBAULT, Columnist
Law Tribune Newspapers
March 6, 2006

As a lapsed Catholic of sorts, when I think of the church, I do not always think of good or holy things. I sometimes think of diddling priests and the bishops and cardinals who covered up sexual abuse.

I think of a bishop who was confronted by a lay person about this and asked to do the right thing by admitting wrongdoing and helping to make victims whole. The bishop responded, “The church has been through much worse than this. We’ll get through this.” Another church leader asked the lay person, who resigned from a key committee: “You’re not going to tell those donors, are you?”

Bishops are among the biggest politicians in the world. Like some school superintendents and police chiefs, those who protest they are not politicians are big phoneys. The lasting testament to their power is the failure of prosecutors to go after the criminals among their flock. Of course, many bishops are good people. I have observed and met a couple good ones.

I began thinking seriously about the church recently when I met the staff of St. Vincent Medical Center of Bridgeport. My perspective on the church changed – radically.

Those who follow this column might recall that I wrote of undergoing surgery to remove a tumor late last year. I also had a slight spread of cancer to the lymphs, with a good prognosis. The piece, The Joy Of Chemotherapy, ran last December. I concocted a battle in which I fought 12 rounds – of chemo and boxing – as Muhammad Ali against the Grim Reaper, Joe Frazier. My opponent did not answer the bell for the final round. I’m still betting on myself to win, despite a little complication that landed me in St. Vincent’s. The good part is that I have a break before going the final five rounds and I can taste food. Chemo works better than Slimfast and I have gone from heavyweight to junior middleweight – about 200 pounds to about 155.

Here I met people who are the real church, in my view anyhow. They are regular people who are living lives of genuine service. They are kind, compassionate and highly competent. I have been astounded by the excellent quality of care manifested especially in the nurses. Many people have worked here for decades. The nursing students from various colleges say this is their favorite place. Management must be doing something right, too.

Among my favorite people here is Anita, a native of Italy who cleans my room. She left Rome around age 16 and has been working at St. Vincent’s for about 30 years. Anita gave me the word on the best Italian restaurants around Bridgeport, and we avidly discuss various veal dishes. Anita goes way beyond her job description, as do the rest of her colleagues. She is constantly offering patients and guests various services, such as getting them tea or coffee.

I have also had the pleasure of becoming a pal of Sister Joann, the staff chaplain, whose insights have given me great pleasure and peace.

Happy to say I am no longer a junior middleweight, though it was cool to be skinny. Bulking me up has been a highly-regarded and most humble surgeon, Vincent Manjone, with his intravenous concoctions of protein, fat, electrolytes and lots of other good stuff I don’t know anything about.

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