[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 17, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5885-S5886]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO JOHN J. DEPIERRO

  Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, this year John J. DePierro, president and 
chief executive officer of the Sisters of Charity Health Care System, 
celebrates a milestone in his career. For 25 years he has served the 
Sisters of Charity health care efforts on Staten Island in New York 
City. In so doing, he has given vision to the health care mission of 
the sisters and has been a pivotal force in insuring the success of the 
many institutions of human service that comprise the Sisters of Charity 
Health Care System.
  Through St. Vincent's Medical Center of Richmond, a broad array of 
acute care services are made available to the community including 
maternal and child care programs, centers of excellence in cardiology 
and oncology, a broad array of psychiatric and addiction services and 
an active emergency medicine program.
  Through Bayley Seton Hospital which was the former Public Health 
Service Hospital which Mr. DePierro played a key role in providing for 
its transition to community service working closely with me, a strong 
range of outpatient services together with inpatient programs with 
specific emphasis on the centers of excellence of dermatology and 
ophthalmology are available to the community. As with St. Vincent's, 
there is an effective emergency medicine program to meet the needs of 
the surrounding community.
  Bayley Seton has also, working closely with me, forged a productive 
relationship with the Department of Defense to provide military health 
care as a uniformed services treatment facility.
  In 1994, St. Elizabeth Ann's Health Care and Rehabilitation Center 
became a reality and through it a range of chronic, subacute and 
rehabilitative services were provided for the community of Staten 
Island. Special populations that are served include persons with AIDS 
as well as ventilator-dependent patients.
  The system also has concerned itself with insuring a continuum of 
community-based services. Pax Christi Hospice, a home-based hospice 
program, has served the needs of Staten Islanders since 1988 and the 
Sisters of Charity Home Health Care Program meets their posthospital 
needs.
  To Mr. DePierro's abiding credit, he has also concerned himself with 
other human needs of the community of Staten Island. Through his 
commitment, three senior housing programs have been developed to 
provide over 225 residential units of housing for seniors. He is also 
seeing to the needs of the employees of the system with the development 
of the Sister Elizabeth Boyle Child Learning Center which provides day 
care services for both the staff of the corporations of the system, let 
alone the community.
  It is rare in the context of health care today to see an individual 
have such long and illustrious tenure in an institution. This is made 
all the more unique by the strength that has been created in the 
vertically integrated health care delivery system that is the Sisters 
of Charity.
  Mr. DePierro's background speaks to his capacity as a hospital 
administrator and health care leader. A graduate of St. Peter's College 
with a master's in business administration majoring in hospital 
administration from George Washington University, he completed a 
residency in hospital administration at Bellevue Hospital Center. He is 
a fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives, a member of 
the American Hospital Association, the American Public Health 
Association and the Public Health Association of New York City.
  He has served as a regent for New York State for the American College 
of Health Care Executives. He has lent his significant leadership to 
the professional associations of the industry including serving as a 
member of the board of governors of the Greater New York Hospital 
Association of which he is also past chairman as well as a member of 
the board of the Healthcare Association of New York State of which he 
is also a past chairman. He has been a delegate to the regional 
advisory board II of the American Hospital Association and currently 
serves as chairperson of the hospital advisory council of the Catholic 
Health Care Network of the Archdiocese of New York.
  Mr. DePierro, despite the heavy demands on his professional 
responsibilities, makes time to serve on the board of the Seton 
Foundation for Learning which provides educational programs in the 
Catholic tradition for special children. He is also a past president of 
the foundation.
  A man committed to his family, he and his wife, Jeanne, are the proud 
parents of four children and delight in their six grandchildren--soon 
to be seven.
  All of this, Mr. President, gives testimony to the capacity of a 
single individual motivated and concerned about the needs of others to 
work effectively over the course of time to insure that those needs are 
provided for effectively and good works are accomplished by harnessing 
the involvement of others and by personal example.
  I am proud of the strong relationship that I have enjoyed with the 
Sisters of Charity Health Care System over the years and the 
opportunities that I have had to work with Mr. DePierro in the 
transition of Bayley Seton Hospital, the provision of military health 
care and the development of housing programs.
  I know of his forthright commitment and his unquestioned integrity in 
his dealings will all. These traits are exemplary of the pattern of 
care of the Sisters of Charity on Staten Island.
  I join with Mr. DePierro's countless friends and associates in 
wishing him professional and personal success in the years ahead. I 
trust too Mr. President that knowing of John's fondness for golf, that 
his handicap will be reduced in inverse ratio to his years of service 
with the Sisters of Charity and his hole-in-one shot in Aruba was only 
the first of many.
  I share the prayer of those who are honoring John at a celebration on 
Staten Island on Tuesday, July 1, that he shall continue to be blessed 
with good health and a steadfast concern for others.

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