A CEO seeks benchmarks. Helping operational leaders make good funding decisions requires candid and ongoing communication.

BY WILLIAM VICTOR TROGDON, M.Div., BCC Mr. Trogdon is director, pastoral care, St. Mary's Health System, Evansville, Ind. Outside a winter storm has developed into a state of emergency for the tri-state area, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without electricity in their homes. Around the world an economic crisis has become one of the focal points for the new presidential administration. Meanwhile, inside St. Mary's Medical Center, Timothy Flesch, president and CEO of St. Mary's Health System, agreed to speak to me about a problem seemingly less dramatic but of critical importance to Catholic health care. The topic: pastoral care.