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Dr. Jonathan Schreiber and Sister Louis Mary Battle, RSM

Sister Louis Mary Battle, RSM, Of Stella Maris And Mercy Gastroenterologist Dr. Jonathan Schreiber Honored At The 2010 "Health Care Heroes" Awards Ceremonies In March 2010

Sister Louis Mary Battle, RSM, president emerita of Stella Maris, and gastroenterologist Dr. Jonathan Schreiber of Mercy Medical Center were recognized in late March at the 2010 “Health Care Heroes” Awards held annually by The Daily Record newspaper.

Sister Louis Mary was recognized in the “Advancements in Health Care” category, and Dr. Schreiber, in the “Physician Hero” category, both being named “Finalist Winners.”

After joining Stella Maris as director of nursing and resident activities in 1968, Sister Louis Mary served as administrator from 1969 to 1996. Now holding the title of President Emerita at Stella Maris—part of the Mercy Health Services/Mercy Medical Center family since 1997 – Sister Louis Mary works with volunteers and assists in fundraising.

During her tenure at Stella Maris, Sister Louis Mary transformed care for the elderly, sick and dying, creating a ministry that meets a full continuum of needs. Instead of providing general services for all residents, Sister Louis Mary created programs and facilities to meet specific needs, including dementia care, hospice care, long-term care, independent housing, home health care and bereavement services.

Under Sister Louis Mary’s leadership, Stella Maris opened 200 independent living apartments in 1980; created the first integrated home and inpatient hospice program in Maryland in 1983; and opened the Marion Burk Knott Wing, devoted to patients with dementia, in 1992.

In 1995, Sister Louis Mary helped create a relationship with Mercy Medical Center by opening a 19-bed inpatient hospice unit within the hospital. Two years later, Stella Maris was purchased as a formal component of Mercy Health Services.

As a gastroenterologist at Mercy Medical Center, Dr. Jonathan B. Schreiber, M.D., is a hero to hundreds of people who are living without adequate shelter and whose primary medical care comes from Health Care for the Homeless. Schreiber receives about 30 referrals a month from the organization; virtually all of these patients are unable to pay for his services.

Dr. Schreiber is known for his generosity and commitment to vulnerable populations, for his generous spirit, for treating all of his patients exceptionally well, and for never saying “no” to someone in need of his help.

“The difficulty in providing health care to the homeless of Baltimore is painfully evident,” Dr. Schreiber said. “What I do is not very heroic. I see Health Care for the Homeless referrals in my office, often right alongside patients of much higher socio-economic standing. In most case, the other patients have no idea who these Health Care for the Homeless people are, nor do they know of the difficult straights in which (the homeless) find themselves. On occasion, when my (paying) patients do learn about the situation of the homeless, they almost always respond with compassion.”

One particularly important area of gastrointestinal care is dealing with Hepatitis C.

“Baltimore has an extremely high rate of this condition and it is overly represented in urban, poor and homeless populations,” Dr. Schreiber said. “I see these patients on a regular basis and work with Mercy, which is very generous in providing access to its labs, facilities and other forms of support to provide treatment—and sometimes a cure—for this life-threatening illness.”