St. Mary's
 Campus & Community, Community Health, Health Magazine

Imagining a new system

 June 1, 2022

In February 2022, Rev. Michael Rozier, S.J., the School of Nursing & Health Studies’ first Visiting Jesuit Chair in the Department of Health Systems Administration, spoke at the Values Based Lecture, held via Zoom. He pointed out that people in the U.S. are not entitled to primary health care, but they are guaranteed medical treatment when faced with a life- threatening situation.

“This creates a tragic situation where someone who wants to get preventative care for their diabetes might not have access to regular checkups or insulin, but once their foot is ready to be amputated, we will provide access,” Rozier said. “My hope is that we can imagine a system that reminds everyone who enters it that they are sacred, worthy of dignity, a system that brings us together around a common purpose, a system that widely uses the many gifts we have been entrusted with.”

This creates a tragic situation where someone who wants to get preventative care for their diabetes might not have access to regular checkups or insulin, but once their foot is ready to be amputated, we will provide access.

The Values Based Lecture was sponsored by the School of Nursing & Health Studies Committee on Mission and Values as part of the celebration of the Ignatian Year, commemorating 500 years since the founder of the Jesuits, St. Ignatius of Loyola, had his conversion experience.