HONOLULU—Sister Miriam Dionise Cabacungan, OSF, a nurse providing care to terminally ill patients and their families at St. Francis Hospice-The Sister Maureen Keleher Center, was honored with the Healthcare Association of Hawaii’s (HAH) “Professional with Heart Award.” The award was presented at the HAH’s 2007 Home Care and Hospice Caring Awards Dinner on July 13.

Sister Miriam has provided the highest quality of nursing care to her patients for nearly 50 years. For the past 20 years, she has been dedicated to improving the quality of life of terminally ill patients and their families at St. Francis Hospice. She currently serves as team leader of the day shift at The Sister Maureen Keleher Center in Nuuanu.

Upon receiving her award, Sister Miriam received a standing ovation. She expressed her gratefulness to serve and said, “With God’s will, I will keep going and going and going.”

Gary Simon, Director of St. Francis Hospice, nominated Sister Miriam for the award, which, among other criteria, recognizes an individual with high performance standards and ideals; a commitment to home care and hospice values; a strong team spirit; loyalty and conviction; outstanding job performance; and who consistently provides high quality service with heart. 

Simon wrote, “She is praised for her courage, understanding, and, most of all, her compassion in dealing with the dying and their loved ones…She has been instrumental in our successful Joint Commission and regulatory agency surveys and in the application of our new wound care program benefiting our dying patients.”

Sister Miriam began her nursing career in 1958 at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica, New York. Her background also includes positions at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse, New York, four years at Kalaupapa General Hospital on Molokai, and seven years as manager of the Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) at the former St. Francis Medical Center.

Sister Miriam also counts her 53 years as a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities as one of her greatest joys. Her complete faith and trust in God has provided her with the energy to minister to the sick, the suffering, and the dying.