St. Francis CEO
off to new venture

After 15 years as chief executive officer of St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii, Sister Beatrice Tom has a new challenge as head of a St. Francis retreat and outreach center at Keaau.

Sister Beatrice Tom: She will head a retreat and outreach center being established at Keeau

Sister Agnelle Ching of New York, former vice president of the St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii, is returning to succeed Sister Tom as CEO.

Although the appointments are effective Thursday, Sister Tom will continue as acting chief executive officer "for signing purposes" during a transition to new ownership of the system's two hospitals, spokesman Eugene Tiwanak said.

She also will remain as president of the system.

Sister Ching was vice president from 1991 to 1999, when she left to take her present position as Franciscan Sisters regional minister in Syracuse, N.Y.

Before becoming CEO of the health-care system, Sister Tom was first administrator in St. Francis Medical Center-West in 1989. She was assistant administrator of St. Francis Hospital-Liliha from 1977 to 1981.

Sale of the system's renal dialysis service and hospitals -- St. Francis-Liliha and St. Francis-West -- is pending to a physicians group led by St. Francis cardiologist Danelo Canete and Wichita, Kan.-based Cardiovascular Hospitals of America.

Tiwanak said the sale should be completed by early next year.

It has been delayed because it is unusual, he said. It is the first purchase of a not-for-profit organization in Hawaii by a for-profit hospital, and it involves no stock, he said.

That means it has to clear many regulatory agencies, especially the state attorney general's office, which wants to make sure the sale is in the state's best interest, he said.

He said the goal is for St. Francis-West to become a cardiovascular facility because it is a high-demand specialty and will provide a link with mainland cardiovascular hospitals.

Mother Marianne Cope led nuns here from the Third Franciscan Order of Syracuse 78 years ago at King Kalakaua's request to care for leprosy patients.

While selling the hospitals, the Sisters will continue their mission to help poor and sick people with these programs:

Tiwanak said a benefactor bought the 58-acre site from the Liliuokalani Trust and is leasing it to the health-care system for $1 a year.

St. Francis will use about 24 acres for the spiritual retreat, conferences and outreach to the homeless and alternative healing, Tiwanak said.

A brochure calls Our Lady of Kea'au a community comprising "religious sisters, brothers, priests and dedicated lay people rooted in contemplation and action, calming together for prayer, meals and work."

Tiwanak said: "What the Sisters want to do is really make it like a contemplative center, to grow food and have the homeless participate in it. It is not a free ride. They will participate in programs for self-improvement."

The Sisters also will work with other agencies to retrain homeless people and get them back into society, he said.