Two experienced St. Joe's physicians are also Sisters of Charity

Dr. Eileen Clifford, left, with her patient Mary Ferraro at the St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson.

Eileen M. Clifford was twice denied admission to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey -- so she started medical school in Mexico. Now at 67, she is director of care management for St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson and Wayne, and an internist in private practice in Fair Lawn. Clifford, who lives in Clifton, is also a Sister of Charity who started her career wearing a habit and performing nursing duties at St. Joseph's Hospital. Much has changed over the years. The habit is gone, as are the nursing duties. But Clifford still participates in the on-call schedule during the week and on some weekends. St. Joe's has also changed since its founding by the Sisters of Charity in 1867. The hospital opened with 12 beds, a far cry from today's 1,000-plus beds.

The mission of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, however, has remained the same. Nuns who take their vows at Convent Station dedicate their lives to poverty, chastity, obedience and service to the sick and poor -- the reason the order established the hospital. Because St. Joe's serves an ethnically diverse population, no staff members wear religious robes or display religious symbols. Clifford's family moved to Englewood from Long Island when she was 18 months old, and she attended St. Anastasia's and St. Celia's schools, both run by the Sisters of Charity. It was during those formative years that she began thinking about joining the church. She confided in no one.

"But some suspected," she says. "In the marriage course, I sat in the back. A classmate said, 'She's going to the convent.' I wouldn't deny it." After graduation, Clifford was hired by Holy Name Hospital and was in central supply, where she sterilized instruments. "That's when I first became interested in nursing," she says. Her nursing education began in 1961 at St. Joseph's Hospital; she graduated three years later. Clifford took her final vows in 1965. She returned to the hospital and soon decided to attend medical school. Although she was granted permission, Clifford couldn't get into med school and spent a year in Mexico before applying to the UMDNJ for a third time. She finally was accepted and started classes at the Newark-based school in 1973. Her specialty became internal medicine.

A few nights a week, Clifford worked at St. Joseph's Clinic on Market Street. In 1987, her life took a new and interesting turn. Dr. Gordon Howe was practicing internal medicine in Paterson and Fair Lawn; his partner, Dr. Gerard Peters, was retiring. "They were looking for someone, and I decided to join the practice," she says. She left the practice last year to assume her current position at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center. Her team of professionals handles Medicare, Medicaid claims and deals with insurance companies. "I'm the back up," she says. "The nurses and the social workers do all the work." Clifford's contributions to health care will be acknowledged this fall at the fundraising charity ball commemorating the medical center's 140th anniversary. "The award is really an honor for the Sisters of Charity who have stayed the course for 140 years," she says, "and are still carrying out the mission of caring for the sick and poor."

Because St. Joe's serves an ethnically diverse population, no staff members wear religious robes or display religious symbols. >>

yea, so what? and the hospital should forget and be ashamed they are Catholic? Next they'll be telling priests not to wear their blacks and collar. Paterson has one of the largest Muslim populations in the entire state. It's also home to 15 Catholic churches, home of the diocese of Paterson and its cathedral, catholic charities, Eva's village homeless shelter and food kitchen, Stratght and Narrow, all catholic. It's also home to one of the state's largest Hispanic populations too. The mayor of Paterson is Hispanic. The hospital refuses to put a K of C, "One Nation Under God" pennant on their flagpole. The Senator who wrote the cloning, clone and kill and embryonic stem cell research bills for NJ has a sister on the hospital's board. She is also a sister.

On a more positive note, the sisters have done a tremendous job in helping the poor and needy in NJ and in about 15 other states and abroad in 4 other countries. It's one of the largest orders in the country, founded by bishop James Roosevelt Bayley, a nephew of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, where they run a college, many grammar and high schools and hospitals. The world is much better because of them doing our Lord's work.

so as not to offend and lose business?! >>>

to be politically correct of course.

it’s a very-large catholic hospital with a free clinic, AIDS treatment center, trauma center with a heliport, neo-natal unit, etc. They won’t lose a dime if they would wear a habit and crucifix.

societal pressure succeeds in getting to the church? >>

the pressure succeeds in their religious order which consists of a lot of Irish democrats, they do not represent the official church, so long as the religious order and hospital adhere to the faith (no abortions or tubal ligations, etc. in the hospital), the diocese does not get involved.

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