Celebrating 60 years of service to Elgin hospital
The Elgin community recently honored Sister June Does at Provena St. Joseph Hospital for her 60-plus years of service with the hospital and the community-at-large. Sister June recently celebrated her 84th birthday on Dec. 1.
“I was always there with an ear to listen to a problem, a shoulder to cry on and a willingness to share a laugh,” she said of her years of service.
Dr. Eugene McMahon, Provena St. Joseph president and CEO agrees, but claims she was even more … much more. She was the driving force behind $17 million in contributions to the hospital, specifically $3 million toward the Heart and Vascular Center, $6.6 million toward the Meadows Cancer Center and $1.9 million toward expansion and modernization projects, according to McMahon.
For the past 60 years, Sister June has worked tirelessly as a Franciscan Sister of the Sacred Heart at hospitals and organizations in Elgin, Chicago, Los Angeles and Brazil, tending to the needs of the sick and needy.
She is renowned in Elgin for her work and volunteerism with a plethora of organizations — Altrusa, the Elgin Community Crisis Center's Clinic Board, the Elgin Chapter of Hadassah, the Elgin Day Care Center board, and Huntley Rotary Club where she was a charter member and awarded the Paul Harris Fellow, along with active service in Elgin Women's Club, Elgin chapter of Hadassah and many more.
In 1998, Sister June was named Ambassador of the Year at Provena St. Joseph and soon after the award was renamed the Sister June Does Ambassador of the Year Award as a model of how a life should be spent.
The Sister June Does Endowment, started five years ago with a $5,000 check and a challenge from a friend, has grown to more than $575,000 today. The first of these funds was awarded to three nurses for leading initiatives to improve health care for our patients — Janet Lenz, Priscilla Torri and Julie Antioho. Additional scholarship funds for hospital employees with a history of service will follow.
Sister June also helped raise funds using “fun” incentives. In 1994, she helped implement a “Casual Friday” at the hospital, where employees could wear jeans or business casual dress in exchange for a $2 donation. To date, more than $126,000 donated $2 at a time has been given to local causes benefiting everything from food pantries to victims of natural disasters.
Over her years at the hospital, it wasn't unusual to find Sister June in the hospital chapel, praying for patients, around the hospital or in the community, according to McMahon. She helped design the stained-glass window and the placement of a Mary and Joseph statue there, too.
Sister June is now living at her order's mother house in Frankfort, but her legacy lives on at Provena St. Joseph Hospital.