effect on the patient; spiritual care of the patient; human dignity; emerging medical technologies; discernment for appropriate care decisions; strategies to build resilience; and therapeutic communication. Visit TheDivineMercy.org/healthcare/conference for more details. 20th Healthcare Conference on deck! Marie Romagnano, MSN, RN, CCM-R, addressed the third North American Apostolic Congress on Mercy in November via video. She shared the essential importance of well-formed, faithful healthcare professionals in order to fully serve patients in spiritual distress and even at the end of life. If healthcare professionals are not spiritually prepared, Nurse Marie points out, essential spiritual needs of patients will go unserved. Calling all healthcare professionals! The 20th annual Divine Mercy Medicine, Bioethics and Spirituality Conference will be held June 4-6, 2025, at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. “I would like to invite and welcome everyone to our 20th conference, which to my knowledge is the longest running bioethics conference in the United States,” says organizer Marie Romagnano, MSN, RN, CCM-R, founder of Healthcare Professionals for Divine Mercy, an official apostolate of the Marian Fathers. “We are especially excited because this is our third year at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy. “Many of our participants have told us over the years that this is an academic program, yet it’s also a retreat. We combine two days of academic study with daily Mass, Confession, and a half-day optional retreat on day three, so this is such a comprehensive program. We invite healthcare professionals, first responders, and pastoral care workers to attend.” Continuing Education Credits are available to conference participants. Unique program “The conference offers nurses, physicians, and other allied health professionals a unique program of professional formation that integrates the spirituality and devotional elements of the Divine Mercy message in patient care,” says Dr. Kathleen Brooks Scoble, Dean Emeritus of the College of Our Lady of the Elms School of Nursing and professor of nursing. “Presentations are designed to give the health professional unique opportunities to enhance their faith, professional lives, and practice to enhance care outcomes.” Dr. Scoble will serve as emcee for this year’s conference. Among the many topics are spirituality and its role in the well-being of the healthcare professional and the healing 28 Marian Helper • Spring 2025 • Marian.org
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