Our Lady of Lourdes Names Sister Elizabeth Corry Award Winner

Lourdes Health System employee and Sicklersville, NJ, resident Curtis Caldwell has been selected as the recipient of Lourdes’ prestigious 2016 Sister M. Elizabeth Corry, OSF Award. The annual award is the highest honor bestowed upon a Lourdes Health System employee and is named after the former president of Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, who passed away in February 2015.

Caldwell, enrollment specialist at LIFE at Lourdes—a unique program based in Pennsauken, NJ, that assists elders to live safely at home while providing them with a team of healthcare experts—was among 15 employees from throughout the health system nominated for demonstrating the core value of “Joy.”

Caldwell, who has worked at LIFE for three years, said he was humbled to be in the company of his fellow colleagues and to receive the award.

“It’s an honor to receive the Sr. Corry Award,” said Caldwell. “Joy is an easy thing for me. It’s the only way I know how to be. If I can share that with others, whether coworkers or our participants, then it makes what I do all the more meaningful.”

Caldwell was noted for his work with a LIFE participant named Jimmy. Jimmy lived in a vacant warehouse in Camden. Caldwell would visit and offer him support as he tried to help Jimmy enroll in Medicaid, find housing and enroll at LIFE. Jimmy now seeks out Caldwell each morning and brags to others about his never-ending positive approach to life.

Caldwell also was praised for his efforts with participants, from singing or dancing to celebrate a birthday to dressing up as an historical character for a special event (as seen here as civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMtDfMUjs_c&feature=youtu.be)

“Whether you are passing him in the halls or sitting at a meeting with him, Curtis has the ability to lift your mood and make your day a little brighter,” wrote one of his nominators, Kara Perle. “He is like a beacon of joy, which draws people to him.”

“I want you to know how important you are,” said Sister Helen Owens, to Caldwell and all of the nominees at the awards ceremony. “I want you to continue living out our mission here at Lourdes, loving yourself and loving others in a simple, joyful and hospitable manner.”

The award is named after Sister M. Elizabeth Corry, OSF, who served as president of Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center from 1969 to 1983 and 1987 to 1995. Under her guidance and leadership, Lourdes initiated many of the services which the medical center is known for today, including cardiology, organ transplantation, acute physical rehabilitation and high-risk maternity care. In 1995, Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center became the only hospital in the tri-state area (New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware) ever to have been given the American Hospital Association’s Foster McGaw award for excellence in community service.