The Saint Marys Hospital Sponsorship Board has been in existence for more than 20 years. The 20-member Sponsorship Board is comprised of Franciscan Sisters and lay colleagues who work to promote the mission and purpose of Sponsorship:

• To strengthen the infusion of the spiritual dimension within the Mayo Clinic environment
• To reinforce trust among staff members and the anticipation of trustworthiness by patients and their families
• To nurture those values which are synonymous with Saint Marys Hospital, Rochester Methodist Hospital, and Mayo Clinic:

• Primacy of the patient
• Trust
• Commitment to excellence through teamwork
• Spiritual support
• Compassion and respect for persons served and serving.

These are known as the Mayo/Franciscan values.

The Vision Statement of the Saint Marys Hospital Sponsorship Board guides its work: Every day, every person at Mayo Clinic expresses the Mayo/Franciscan values in attitude and behavior toward all patients, visitors and colleagues.

Through the variety of activities and resources it provides, the Sponsorship Board and its Committees help Mayo Clinic staffs understand and focus on the institution’s heritage and the values that have sustained it. Another key effort of Sponsorship is the Values Review, in which a department performs a self-analysis of its work to assess the integration of the Mayo/Franciscan values within the workplace.

Sister Mary Eliot Crowley, Administrator for Franciscan Sponsorship, has seen her role change and grow since she began serving more than 20 years ago. She notes that until recent years, most new staff members were familiar with Mayo Clinic and grew up with knowledge about Mayo and its purpose. But the Clinic has grown tremendously and its staff now includes people from throughout the world. “We teach that our values aren’t things you put on like a uniform when you go to work,"Sister Mary Eliot says. “And we find that most people share our institutional values. We just need to continue finding ways to help them think about the values and remember that they are really the basis of why we are here, doing what we do."

This ongoing commitment to promoting the institution’s history and values sets it apart from other healthcare institutions."I get four or five calls a year from other institutions seeking to understand our success,” says Sister Mary Eliot. "They ask, ‘How do you keep your identity and values out there? How do you keep the core values focused?'" She explains that, “We have something nobody else has – more than 120 years of a relationship focused on the patient, mutual respect, trust and integrity."

For more information: http://www.mayoclinic.org/saintmaryshospital/sponsorshipboard.html