To the editor: Chaplain urges ProMedica to reassess culture, values

2/18/2018
Protesters gathered near ProMedica Toledo Hospital to call on ProMedica and St. Luke’s Hospital to sign a transfer agreement with Capital Care Network.
Protesters gathered near ProMedica Toledo Hospital to call on ProMedica and St. Luke’s Hospital to sign a transfer agreement with Capital Care Network.

It is with mixed emotions that my tenure as a hospice chaplain for ProMedica draws to a close this week.

For the last three years, I have served with an incredible staff of doctors, nurses, aides, and volunteers who provide extraordinary care to people in our community so that they can live their final days in dignity, comfort, and peace. It has been an honor for me to hold the hearts and hands of those engaged in that sacred moment of life between here and there as they gracefully slip into eternity. It has truly been a privilege to share these intimate encounters with so many friends and family members of our community.

Perhaps one of the most significant moments was the day when I officiated a wedding for a family member in the presence of their loved one just hours before the Lord took her hand and led her to the Promised Land. I couldn’t think of a more significant way to punctuate the end of a wonderful experience with ProMedica Hospice.

Yet, this final week was also punctuated by ProMedica’s corporate choice to facilitate the continued assault on young women and their unborn babies by enabling Toledo’s last remaining abortion clinic to remain open through a transfer agreement. This reveals an inconsistent bias that suggests that life is less sacred at conception than at its natural termination. Furthermore, it continues to leave open the door for bullying and male domination that threatens so many young women.

Statistics reveal that 64 percent of women who opt to terminate the life of their unborn child felt pressured into making this “choice.” The majority of these girls are young and obviously distraught by the sudden realization of an unplanned pregnancy. Boyfriends, parents, assailants, and so-called counselors often paint a grim future for these confused girls, pressuring them to take the life of their innocent child. Abortionists and their staff fail to fully educate these precious young ladies in the legitimate alternatives to this dangerous procedure, laden with health risks.

While technology is rapidly debunking the myth that an unborn child is merely a mass of tissue, the pro-life movement is saving more and more lives every day. Ultrasound technology, in-utero surgical procedures, and abortion survivors are daily proclaiming the value of unborn life.

I was saddened to read ProMedica’s official statement, which excluded a harmless and defenseless class of people when they announced that, “being a health system dedicated to the well-being of northwest Ohio … our belief that no one is beyond the reach of life-saving health care.” As a valued member of the ProMedica staff for the last three years, I urge corporate to reassess their mission and values, and to lean into to a culture of hope and life at both ends of the spectrum.

GARY CLICK
Clyde, Ohio

Editor’s note: Mr. Click was the chaplain for ProMedica Hospice.

ProMedica makes a brave stand

Abortion is a safe, legal medical procedure, and will continue to be available to women with private physicians and health insurance. The state of Ohio’s unrelenting assault against women’s reproductive healthcare creates an unequal, two-tier system of healthcare delivery and will only hurt poor, young, and uninsured women.

ProMedica has seized an opportunity to protect this vulnerable population, proving itself to be a true community leader that stands strong with Ohio’s women by entering into a transfer agreement with Capital Care Network. The transfer agreement now will prevent emergency care in the future.

SALLY J. KELLER
Sabra Road

NARAL leader ignores others

My response to Kellie Copeland, the Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, and her recent op-ed in The Blade (Feb. 13, “ProMedica, St. Luke’s should support women’s right to choose”) is this: Women do have a right to choose — to not have sex. What about the baby’s right to choose?

Abortion is murder. It’s that simple.

JUDY HEBAN
Rossford

Doing the right thing

Bravo to the board of ProMedica Toledo Hospital for — finally — publicly supporting the rights of women everywhere to make choices about their bodies and health. Women make up more than half of the population and are entitled to make the medical decisions that are right for them.

And thank you for bucking the tide of the revoltingly anti-choice Ohio legislature and Gov. John Kasich.

This required more than a bit of courage during these contentious times. Thank you.

NANCY RAVIN
Sylvania