Ascension St. John is celebrating the opening of a newly renovated infusion center. The center, located in Sapulpa, will serve patients in the community with blood disorders and those who need frequent injections.  Thanks to our generous donors, the Ascension St. John Foundation was able to provide over $760,000 in support to complete this project! 

New Infusion Center at Ascension St. John Sapulpa

On November 23, 2022, the American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA) announced that it would be increasing its suggested maximum annuity rates, effective January 1, 2023. The new rates replace the rates that became effective July 1, 2022. The ACGA’s decision to increase its suggested maximum gift annuity rates was triggered by the sharp rise in interest rates that started in March 2022 and has continued since July 2022. 

For most gift annuities, the new rates are 0.6% - 0.7% higher than the rates they replace. If you defer the start of payments for a year or more, the increase is even greater.

Ordinarily, you would expect a higher annuity rate to result in a lower charitable deduction. However, the new deductions available in January 2023 will be about the same as they were in July 2022, despite the higher ACGA rates. This is because in the second half of 2022 there has been a spike in the interest rate used to compute gift annuity deductions. The recent spike in this interest rate does have a negative effect; it has reduced the tax-free portion of annuity payments.

The combination of higher annuity rates and substantial deductions makes gift annuities even more attractive to donors seeking to make a gift and receive fixed payments for life.

Higher Annuity Rates as of January 1, 2023

One positive impact that came from the COVID-19 pandemic was the creation of the Associate Hardship Program. In 2020 The Ascension St. John Foundation provided $118,349.00 to local Oklahoma associates experiencing financial hardship in need of emergency assistance resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2020, the Ascension St. John Foundation has seen the need to continue to provide support to our associates in all times of hardship. Through its generous donors, the foundation has been able to provide $2,146,266.00 in emergency assistance to associates experiencing various types of financial hardship. 

The Associate Hardship Program’s purpose is to help associates meet unexpected and uncontrollable emergencies such as a spouse or partner’s lay off from work, additional child care expenses while associates served during the pandemic, financial assistance with rent, mortgages, utilities, groceries, medications, funerals, auto repairs, and other emergent needs. Only services considered essential qualify for the Program.  

Every dollar donated to The Ascension St. John Foundation goes to our local associates. The average award amount for Ascension St. John associates is only $466.00. A committee of local leaders at Ascension St. John Medical Center meets monthly to personally review each funding request from associates throughout Tulsa, Bartlesville, Broken Arrow, Sapulpa, Nowata, Owasso, and all AMG clinic sites.   

The Associate Hardship Assistance Program will continue to provide assistance to our associates in need and to date Ascension St. John had 36 requests, 20 of which were approved, totaling over $12,000 in assistance to Ascension St. John associates.

Donate to the Associate Hardship Program at Ascension St. John today!

A Friend In Need Is A Friend Indeed

Throughout the years the Ascension St. John Auxiliary presents the Foundation with a check from donations they have collected from proceeds from gift shop sales and various fundraisers they have put on throughout the year. Recently, Ascension St. John Auxiliary donated $1,739,025 towards a $2 Million dollar pledge made in 2015 benefitting Telemedicine at The Heyman Stroke Center. The Heyman Stroke Center fund goes to help our 24-7 emergency stroke care center by helping to provide experienced medical team members, advanced technology, and acute intervention therapy education needed to help decrease serious brain injury.

This group of selfless volunteers was founded in 1951 by a group of 12 women, since then the Auxiliary has contributed more than 2.5 million hours of volunteer service and raised more than $7 million for hospital equipment and furnishings.

Today, Auxiliary members include women and men from diverse backgrounds with one thing in common – a willingness to unselfishly give of their time.

Pictured: Diane Hayes, Ascension St. John Auxiliary President, presenting the 2022 check to Jeff Nowlin, Ascension St. John CEO & Oklahoma Ministry Market Executive.

We Love Our Volunteers!

For people with kidney failure, three options are available: hemodialysis, which requires patients to use a machine to clean their blood, usually three times a week; peritoneal dialysis, which can be performed by the patient but must be done every day; or kidney transplantation. 

There are two types of kidney transplants: transplants from living donors and transplants from deceased donors. Donors are screened for compatibility with the patient to prevent rejection, which can occur when the recipient's immune system attacks what it perceives as foreign. 

Often, living donors are relatives of the recipient, but sometimes the donor and recipient are unrelated. For the first year ever, more than 25,000 kidney transplants were performed in the United States with only A total of 6,466 people becoming living organ donors. While most living donors provide a kidney for transplant, an increasing number of people donate a segment of their liver. In 2022, there were 603 liver transplants involving living donors, an annual record and an increase of nearly 6 percent above the total in 2021.

To highlight such a courageous act of selfless generosity, the Ascension St. John Foundation helps to fundraise for an Annual Living Donor Gala to bring awareness to the need for more live kidney donors, as 13 people die a day waiting for a kidney, but also to recognize and thank the live kidney donor heroes as they generously give the gift of life.

"We thank all the living and deceased organ donors, as well as the loved ones of deceased donors, who have provided a lifesaving gift.” said Irfan Kundi, MD, medical director of the Ascension St. John Transplant Center, “We also honor all the clinicians and professionals involved in organ donation and transplantation, who work tirelessly to make as many transplants happen as possible every day as they continue to rededicate themselves to meet the continuing need. Many people still wait anxiously for a life-giving transplant and we must continue to improve our capabilities to give them this vital opportunity.”

Learn more about kidney transplants at Ascension St. John Medical Center by going to https://healthcare.ascension.org/locations/oklahoma/oktul/tulsa-ascension-st-john-transplant-center

A Different Kind of Donor…

St. John’s Hospital (renamed St. John Medical Center in 1976) officially opened on February 22, 1926, but its story began nine years before, in 1917. 

The Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother (SSM), looking to establish a new medical ministry as they had in Wisconsin, Kansas and New Jersey, purchased an 8 ¾ acre farm at the dusty corner of 21st Street and Utica Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Groundbreaking for the hospital did not take place until 1920, and as finances languished, the uncompleted hospital stood empty for three years until renewed interest by members of the Catholic Church and city officials finished the facility.

Hundreds of Tulsans donated funds in 1925 to complete the original St. John building, which opened the following year. So great was the need for a true stand-alone hospital (throughout its brief history, Tulsa’s early medical facilities tended to be converted houses) that patients flooded St. John’s days before the hospital was officially opened – the first birth occurred there more than a week before the opening, on Valentine’s Day. Ever since, this community has supported St. John Health System, and St. John has worked to return the favor by providing the best care to our patients and their families.

In the beginning, the Sisters of SSM were evident in every aspect of St. John’s operations – administration and kitchen duty, dispensers of medications from the pharmacy and as tillers of the soil (where an eight-story parking garage now stands, the Sisters once had a good-size garden). Opening the same year as the hospital was St. John’s School of Nursing. Before it closed in 1976, the school graduated more than 1,400 nurses, including many of the Sisters who chose that profession as their mission.  

St. John faced many of the same problems as other medical facilities, including the polio epidemic – by 1949, the hospital had 10 operational iron lungs – but its biggest challenge was often space. In 1948, a new hospital wing added 125 new beds; by the mid-1950s, another wing added another 202 beds to serve the rapidly growing community. 

By then, St. John was becoming known as a city- and state-wide leader in healthcare. Tulsa’s first heart valve repair occurred there in 1955, followed by the city’s first successful pacemaker installation (1963), first coronary bypass (1969), and Oklahoma’s first linear accelerator for cancer treatment and Tulsa’s first neonatal intensive care unit (1971). That leadership continues today, with the state’s first da Vinci robotic surgical system used for prostate surgery (2005), first hospital in eastern Oklahoma to receive Magnet® designation for nursing excellence (2010; re-designated in 2015), and, this year, a joint venture between St. John Health System and the Tulsa Cancer Institute – the Oklahoma Cancer Specialists and Research Institute – providing comprehensive oncology services to the region.

Today, celebrating its 90th anniversary, St. John Health System presents medical excellence through six hospitals, St. John Clinic, a network of primary care physicians and specialists; and Regional Medical Laboratory, which processes more than 9 million tests each year. And the health system serves those most in need, investing more than $5 million annually to the Medical Access Program, serving Tulsa’s uninsured and underinsured populace; and presenting more than $78 million each year in community benefit.  

Celebrating St. John’s 90th Anniversary

When minutes can impact the amount of brain loss an individual experiences during a stroke, efficient processes and strong teamwork can make a difference in a patient’s future. Established in 2008, the Ascension St. John Heyman Stroke Center is the only Joint Commission-certified Comprehensive Stroke Center in Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma. Comprehensive Certified Stroke Centers are recognized as industry leaders because certification requires significant investment into state-of-the-art equipment, surgeons, physicians, nurses, quality improvement staffing, infrastructure, and technology, with continuous education, required to maintain certification. Oklahoma ranks eighth in the rate of stroke throughout the US, and six Oklahomans die from a stroke everyday, according to the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). However, very few hospitals nationwide attain designation as a Comprehensive Certified Stroke Center by the nation’s most stringent healthcare accreditation agency, The Joint Commission. Despite over 6,000 hospitals in the US, around 1,400-1,500 have Stroke Centers, yet there are only around 145 Joint Commission Certified Stroke Centers nationwide. Daryl Thompson, MD, Medical Director, and Errol Gordon, MD, Vice Medical Director of  the Heyman Stroke Center, led the Stroke Center to achieve the highest Certification during its rigorous Joint Commission onsite review for recertification. Measuring minutes to mitigate effects from a stroke begins as soon as a patient arrives at the ER or by ambulance. “Since brain tissue can be lost by the minute, we continuously strive to ensure every patient experiencing a stroke receives immediate care, counted by the minute” says Dr. Thompson. Acute stroke treatment involves the timely administration of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) or the “clot busting drug”, a standardof-care drug which reduces disability, and as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, St. John Medical Center is able to perform mechanical thrombectomies which is a highly specialized and life saving procedure reserved for the most severe stroke patients. “The Ascension St. John Heyman Stroke Center has invested in leading clinicians and equipment to become a comprehensive multidisciplinary program dedicated to improving overall outcomes for patients suffering from a stroke,” says Dr. Thompson. The advanced certification demonstrates Ascension St. John’s commitment to ensure our stroke patients receive the best possible care, treatment, and therapy. 

Ascension St. John uses a multidisciplinary group of specialists in the fields of vascular neurology, general neurology, neurocritical care, neurosurgery, interventional neuroradiology, neuroimaging, Stroke Team hospitalists, rehabilitation, emergency medicine, social work, pharmacy and nutrition, to orchestrate a coordinated approach to care for complex stroke patients. “Many advanced health systems do not have a Neuro-Intensive Care Neurologist,” explained Errol Gordon, MD, Medical Director of the Neuro-Intensive Care Unit. “Ascension St. John Medical Center now has two which is rare. We are also working on developing a Neurocritical Care fellowship and Neurology Residency to further expand access to excellent care.” Fellowship trained at Columbia University Medical Center, and practiced and led the Neuro Intensive Care Unit at Mt. Sinai in New York City before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma, Dr. Gordon leads the dedicated Neurological Intensive Critical Care Unit and hospital care for patients who have experienced a stroke until patients graduate to a special floor to be cared for by hospitalists specially trained in delivering stroke care. “Ascension St. John Broken Arrow has one of the most advanced MRI machines available to The Heyman Stroke Center, continued 17 CARE EXCELLENCE provide advanced neuroimaging upon a patient’s arrival,” explains Ascension St. John Broken Arrow and Owasso Hospitals President, David Phillips. “A patient can enter our Emergency Room, receive one of the highest levels of advanced imaging, receive treatment by our team, or be transferred to the Ascension St. John Medical Center if needed. Before the patient even arrives to the Medical Center, physicians and radiologists can review patient imaging, via a secure website and application on their cell phone to see where a blockage may be located in the patient’s brain to begin preparing for the patient’s arrival.” Interventional Radiologists at Ascension St. John stand ready to care for patients and remove clots. “Our Stroke Team can immediately begin preparing for a patient on their way to the Ascension St. John Medical Center,” says Dr. Thompson. 

Growing up in Louisiana, Dr. Thompson stated, “I’ll always remember my grandma telling me not to make patients wait when I became a physician. She would sometimes have to wait until the end of the day to receive care.” Dr. Thompson took his grandmother’s message and his desire to provide excellent patient care within a matter of minutes to heart by becoming a fellowship trained Vascular Neurologist at the world renowned Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Notably, Ascension St. John Stroke Center Clinic is the only Outpatient Stroke Clinic in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and helps patients through the recovery process after discharge from the hospital. Ascension St. John also has a Joint Commission Stroke Certified Rehabilitation Center. Excellence in Stroke care requires a team-based approach from everyone involved, from physicians and nurses, to therapy providers including Physical and Occupational Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, and Respiratory Therapists. 

Ascension St. John’s Inpatient Therapy service lines go above and beyond to care for patients. During the Joint Commission survey, the Joint Commission complimented the team on how a Speech Language Pathologist went above and beyond to have an eye gaze communication board donated from the University of Tulsa for a patient with locked-in syndrome so the patient could communicate. She set it up, taught the patient, staff, and even the long term care facility representative where the patient went upon discharge how to use the board. To educate clinical providers throughout Eastern Oklahoma, Ascension St. John recently hired another community educator, in addition to its inpatient and outpatient Stroke RN Navigator roles, to teach clinical teams, community hospitals, first responders, and others about Ascension St. John’s stroke protocols since minutes matter. In addition to Joint Commission Certification, Ascension St. John also earned the American Heart Association’s Get With the Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Award. This award recognizes Ascension St. John’s excellence in providing stroke care to patients utilizing the most appropriate treatments according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines from the latest scientific evidence. 

While there is a shortage of Neurologists nationwide, Jason King, MD, shines as a fellowship trained Vascular Neurologist from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. After receiving excellent training, Dr. King wanted to return to his community to give back. Dr. King chose to join Ascension St. John Jane Phillips after completing a Vascular Neurology Fellowship. Dr. King helps cover the hospital with Stroke consults to determine if patients may need to be transferred to the highest level of care possible in Eastern Oklahoma certified by the Joint Commission. However, since Dr. King serves the Bartlesville area, he helps ensure as many patients as possible get to remain in their own community, in Bartlesville. Consequently, patients only have to be transferred from Bartlesville to Tulsa out of medical need. “At Ascension St. John, our entire health system works together to provide patients the highest level of Stroke Care,” says Jeff Nowlin, Ascension St. John CEO. “Whether receiving care from a fellowship-trained neurologist in Bartlesville, receiving the highest level of imaging in Broken Arrow, having your scans arrive before you do from Sapulpa or Owasso, or receiving the most advanced Stroke Care in Eastern Oklahoma at Ascension St. John Medical Center, our commitment to quality care, health equity, and a multidisciplinary team approach to care is recognized through the Medical Center’s Joint Commission Stroke Certification and makes us very proud to serve Oklahoma.”

The Heyman Stroke Center: Eastern Oklahoma’s Only Joint Commission Certified Comprehensive Stroke Program

Robin Siegfried is a businessman who helped build a worldwide company, a past University of Oklahoma regent and an avid outdoorsman. He grew up riding his bicycle across the field of what is now Utica Square to get to school. His grandfather helped build the original St. John Hospital which remains at the core of the current medical center. The Siegfried name is present on several buildings at Ascension St. John (ASJ) Medical Center representing the family’s deep commitment to Tulsa and the health system, manifested through their generous philanthropy. Something about Mr. Siegfried’s hardiness makes it difficult to imagine him in the state of health he describes when, one year ago, symptoms led to the discovery of a severely leaky mitral valve along with an abnormal heart rhythm. Health effects from Mr. Siegfried’s atrial fibrillation were heightened due to an airplane crash after which he spent over 30 minutes in freezing water, forcing him to seek surgical care in 2019. Following a friend’s recommendation, Mr. Siegfried visited a cardiothoracic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic. After two visits and testing, he finally met with the surgeon who declined to operate because of his very high mortality risk, attributed to age and anatomic considerations. Disappointed, Mr. Siegfried returned to Oklahoma and called a cardiothoracic surgical leader at another institution in Tulsa, who felt Mr. Siegfried was unlikely to survive open heart surgery. Fortunately, Dr. Zainal Hussain asked Mr. Siegfried if he had sought an opinion from a new ASJ cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. George Comas. Dr. Comas completed his advanced fellowship training at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, after graduating from medical school with honors at Cornell University and completing a residency in cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. 

During his tenure at Ascension St. John Heart and Vascular Center, continued in Tulsa, Dr. Comas has also been awarded an advanced robotic cardiac surgery fellowship grant from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Dr. Comas came to Ascension St. John to develop a robotic cardiovascular program with a focus on micro valve repair and other intracardiac procedures, bringing eight years of experience completing hundreds of minimally invasive valve procedures. Knowing Mr. Siegfried had been turned down by other surgeons, Dr. Comas and the Heart and Vascular Center team carefully reviewed Mr. Siegfried’s case. He was felt to be a very high risk candidate for mitral valve surgery for several reasons, but particularly due to a marked build up of calcium involving the entire mitral valve apparatus. However, Dr. Comas felt the surgery was technically feasible and that the benefits exceeded the risks. The surgery included extensive removal of calcium surrounding the valve with subsequent mitral valve replacement (MVR) utilizing a minimally invasive approach along with closure of the left atrial appendage, thus lowering his stroke risk. His cardiologist, Dr. Zainal Hussain, found a well functioning mitral valve prosthesis in postoperative echocardiographic images, deeming the surgery a success both anatomically and clinically. Mr. Siegfried recovered fully and has returned to a very active life as an outdoorsman. Mr. Siegfried explains that he received world class care before, during and after surgery. “Dr. Comas and the whole team are exceptional, but even Dr. Comas will tell you one of his greatest strengths is his Advanced Care Nurse Practitioner, Laura Dorwart,” says Siegfried. Dorwart, Associate Clinical Director of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, is specially trained to provide post-acute cardiothoracic care. Dorwart ensures the entire surgical and postoperative recovery is carefully orchestrated to the surgeon’s standards, by treating, monitoring, and providing patient updates to the surgeons throughout the healing process. Ascension St. John’s Heart and Vascular Center differentiates itself in Tulsa as the only hospital providing minimally invasive cardiac valve surgery. Minimally invasive options allow patients to undergo major cardiac surgery through a small incision, thus minimizing risk, post operative pain and dramatically speeding recovery. 

When asked why Dr. Comas chose to build a minimally invasive program in Tulsa, he explained that his training would be put to optimal use and provide the greatest benefit to patients at Ascension St. John in Oklahoma. He was drawn to the supportive leadership and administration, and also understood the benefits of being part of a national health system like Ascension. The Medical Center offers surgeons some of the most advanced surgical equipment available, including the daVinci Xi robot and instrumentation. Dr. Comas explained the Heart and Vascular Center is further differentiated by the expertise and experience of Ascension St. John’s dedicated cardiac anesthesiologists, perfusionists, OR staff as well as ICU providers and associates. “Our team is patient-focused,” says Dr. Comas. “We work in a collaborative environment that provides a good culture for our team and promotes patient safety. Our collaborative teamwork includes weekly interdisciplinary conferences with our cardiology, surgery, and anesthesia teams to discuss advanced care options for our patients. We also have an excellent continuous quality improvement team.” Resources needed to recruit quality surgeons and build the program at Ascension St. John’s Heart and Vascular Center were made possible through the national resources of Ascension, paired with the support of then St. John Medical Center’s President, and now Ascension St. John’s Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Nowlin. Nowlin has previously led other top health systems and has been instrumental in building other high quality heart programs prior to returning to Tulsa to assume his current roles at Ascension St. John. “From excellent cardiologists with superb subspecialty training including interventional, heart rhythm, diagnostic and structural cardiologists, three high quality cardiothoracic surgeons, an array of specialty clinics as well as cardiac and peripheral rehabilitation programs, the Ascension St. John Heart and Vascular Center provides excellent and comprehensive care to patients throughout the region. Patients referred to the Heart and Vascular Center can be seen in general and subspecialty clinics including heart failure and structural heart for ongoing management of chronic heart failure, valvular heart disease, and other structural heart abnormalities,” explains Dr. Robert Haas, Medical Director of the Cardiovascular Service line and an interventional cardiologist. “Ascension St. John Medical Center has earned the American Heart Association’s 2020 Gold NSTEMI Award and the 2020 Gold Performance Achievement Award for the Chest Pain - MI Registry by the NCDR because of the entire Cardiovascular service line’s commitment to quality care,” says Dr. Haas. 

The Heart and Vascular Center was also recently chosen as a teaching site for minimally invasive surgery. Additionally, the Heart and Vascular Center has also recently received preliminary certification by the American College of Cardiology for its transcatheter valve (TVT) program. Ascension St. John is the only ACC certified TVT program in Oklahoma. “Ascension St. John’s cardiothoracic surgeons, Dr. Comas, Dr. Nagasawa, and Dr. Neel, along with Dr. Milton and Dr. Katari who provide heart rhythm services, and our excellent team of cardiologists has the bench strength of the best institutions. Each offers a component of expertise within the cardiovascular service line uncommon among programs nationwide,” says Jeff Nowlin, Ascension St. John CEO. “Dr. Comas does it right, and I would tell anyone to give him a shot,” says Siegfried. “The Tulsa community is lucky to have Dr. Comas, Dr. Neel, Dr. Nagasawa, Dr. Katari, Dr. Milton, and Dr. Hussain at our health system. Their expertise, combined with the leading innovative therapies and resources Ascension is bringing to the table under Nowlin’s new leadership, is making Tulsa, and more largely Oklahoma, a stronger community.” 

A Second Chance with Minimally Invasive Heart Surgery

Nearly 70 Ascension St. John and CommunityCare associates teamed up to support the Tulsa Area United Way’s Day of Caring on September 6, 2019. The Tulsa Area United Way “envisions a community working together to ensure that all of its members flourish and thrive. Similarly, both Ascension St. John and CommunityCare strive to serve Tulsans and Oklahomans, by providing our communities with excellent healthcare services and options,” explained Ascension St. John Foundation President and State Chief Advocacy Officer, Lucky Lamons, MCJ, MPA, MHR. 

Through interior painting and cleaning, gardening, and the clearing of a playground recently destroyed by fire, volunteers helped the Tulsa Dream Center in North Tulsa. The Tulsa Dream Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to fulfilling their motto, “See a need, meet it. See a hurt, heal it,” by offering services to address both the immediate and long-term needs within the Tulsa community. Each year, Ascension St. John raises funds from associates in support of the many programs funded through United Way. Support is provided through elective Associate payroll deduction, t-shirt sales, Food Truck Tuesday events, donation cans set up in various locations, cook-off events, and “jeans days” hosted by various departments at Ascension St. John and CommunityCare. In 2019, Ascension St. John raised over $69,000 in contributions. Ascension St. John’s 2020 goal for the Tulsa Area United Way and Bartlesville Regional United Way is $75,000. 

Ascension St. John and CommunityCare Living United with the United Way

Sister M. Therese Gottschalk, SSM, 1931-2020

Sister M. Therese Gottschalk, SSM, passed away Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. She was 88 years old. “We are beyond grateful for her 38 years of leadership with Ascension St. John in Oklahoma and the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother,” said Joseph R. Impicciche, JD, MHA, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ascension. A remembrance service and Catholic Mass celebrating her life was held in Oshkosh, WI on March 4, 2020. Sister M. Therese Gottschalk was born in 1931 in Bavaria, Germany, the second of 14 children. She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother at the age of 21. She moved to Milwaukee in 1953 and earned a pharmacy degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1960. After graduation, she operated the pharmacy for a new 150-bed hospital in Roswell, New Mexico, for eight years. Sr. Therese left this position to obtain a master’s degree in hospital administration from Saint Louis University. Known for both her commitment to the Mission of Catholic healthcare and her business acumen, Sr. Therese became an assistant administrator of St. John’s Hospital in Tulsa (later St. John Medical Center) and its School of Nursing in 1970, serving in this role for two years. As part of her duties, she worked with other assistant administrators to operate the hospital and to design a new hospital tower. Sr. Therese returned to Roswell for two years to serve as hospital administrator, then returned to Tulsa after being named St. John’s Hospital President in 1974. 

Upon her return, the hospital underwent a $40 million construction project to build the North Tower, now called the J.A. Chapman Tower. The 603-bed tower was dedicated Feb. 22, 1976. Sr. Therese became Chief Executive Officer of St. John Health System in 1982 and served through 2010. Sr. Therese was always at the forefront of expanding services to meet the growing needs of the community, especially those living in poverty and most vulnerable. During her career, Sr. Therese supervised the building of the Mary K. Chapman Health Plaza, the Bernsen, Kravis, Holliman and Wheeling buildings, and purchase of the Robert W. Davis Tower in Tulsa. Also during her tenure, St. John Health System expanded to include St. John Sapulpa, Jane Phillips Medical Center, St. John Broken Arrow and St. John Owasso. St. John also opened clinics in Sand Springs, Sapulpa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and helped create OMNI Medical Group, a primary care physician group now part of Ascension Medical Group St. John. During her tenure, Regional Medical Laboratory was also established. 

Thanks in large part to Sr. Therese’s vision, Marian Health System was founded in 1989, loosely combining the healthcare activities of the three Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother provinces: Wisconsin, New Jersey and Oklahoma/Kansas. Sr. Therese served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Marian Health System, from that time until it joined Ascension on April 1, 2013. Sr. Therese then served as Senior Executive Advisor to the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ascension Health and Executive Vice President of Ascension. She also continued to serve on the boards of the former regional systems of Marian Health System: Ministry Health Care, St. John Health System and Via Christi Health. She also served as an inaugural member of the Ascension Wisconsin Board of Directors until June 2019. Through the course of her faith-filled life of service, Sr. Therese achieved many honors and recognitions. She was a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and was recognized with its Regent Award in 1995. She served as President of the Tulsa Hospital Council from 1982-1983, the American Hospital Association Governance Committee, and served on the boards of the Catholic Health Association and the Oklahoma Hospital Association (OHA). In 1984, she served as the Oklahoma Hospital Association Board of Trustees Chair. She received the OHA W. Cleveland Rodgers Distinguished Service Award in 1999, was awarded the Association for Women in Communication 2009 Newsmaker Award, was awarded the Award of Merit in 2010 from OHA and held an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the University of Oklahoma. She was inducted into the Tulsa Historical Society’s Hall of Fame in 2011. On Sept. 25, 2019, Sr. Therese left Oklahoma and Ascension St. John to retire in Oshkosh. 

The City of Tulsa Mayor, G.T. Bynum, proclaimed this day Sister M. Therese Gottschalk Day for her remarkable service resulting in the legacy of compassionate healthcare for the City of Tulsa, especially for those who are sick and vulnerable. “May God grant to Sr. Therese eternal rest.  Our prayers are with her and her loved ones,” Impicciche said.

Fond Farewell

On a chilly February day in 1920, General John J. Pershing joined a host of Tulsa dignitaries at a former truck farm at 21st Street and Utica Avenue, stuck a common gardening spade in the ground, and turned over the first earth of the future construction site of St. John’s Hospital, now Ascension St. John Medical Center. 

The spade was used for many Ascension St. John groundbreakings through the early 2000s. General Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I, was in Tulsa on February 11, 1920, for a downtown parade and a speech at the Tulsa Convention Hall, now known as the Tulsa Theater, when he made his brief stop for the groundbreaking ceremony. “My hope is that you have planned this institution large enough,” the Tulsa World reported Pershing saying at the ceremony, ”For if your wonderful city continues to grow in the next few years as it has in the past, you will certainly need a large one.” 

The general was absolutely right. In October 2018, St. John Health System announced plans to add Ascension to its name as part of a national effort to make it easier for patients to access care as part of our nationwide Ascension family, the second largest Catholic non-profit health system in the United States. October 1, 2019, marked the official beginning of our unified brand as Ascension St. John. Branding of interior and exterior signage at hospitals, clinics, security vehicles, ID badges, and even new scrubs for our providers unites our system as one with one of the largest, most advanced Catholic health systems in the nation. Once the signage changes were complete, branding celebrations were held at each location the week of February 10-14, 2020. The new look brings a new dimension to Ascension St. John. “While we are first and foremost a medical organization, we are also a faith-based one,” said Ascension St. John CEO and Oklahoma Ministry Market Executive, Jeffrey D. Nowlin, FACHE. “The symbolism contained in our new brand—the tri-colored trinity and the very name ‘Ascension,’ a reference to Jesus’ ascent into heaven—serve as a reminder to us, and as a confirmation to our patients that we hold a promise of healthcare that is safe and that leaves no one behind.”

Ascension St. John: Celebrating the Past 100 Years of Excellent Care with a New, Unified Name

To honor those who have served in our military, Ascension St. John was proud to launch the first phase of its Veteran Recognition Program over Memorial Day weekend in 2019 as part of the Ascension National initiative to recognize and pay tribute to the local servicemen and women we serve at our facilities. “Our associates are honored to fulfill our Mission of service to those who have served our nation,” says Ramona Miller, Ascension Medical Group Chief Operating Officer and Administrative Dyad Leader of the Ascension Medical Group. Miller was active duty in the Air Force for six years and later served 21 years in the Oklahoma Air National Guard. As a medic, Miller worked in the emergency department at a 1,500-bed Air Force hospital. Upon admission, associates in Registration and, in some cases, associates in nursing, ask if the patient is a veteran. Patients are asked if they would like to be recognized with an American flag patient bracelet, and, if assigned a room, if an American flag magnet may be placed on the veteran’s door. Upon the patient’s consent, Ascension St. John provides these symbols of recognition, and to date, has provided more than 5,000 flag patient bracelets to veterans.


Our clinicians and associates who provide care for our veterans strive to create a welcoming, calm and peaceful environment—to help them know they are respected and appreciated. Part of this process includes asking what we can do to alleviate stress inducers such as sounds, smells, or other sensory items, and how we can provide a calming experience with offerings such as music, pet therapy, open or closed curtains, and other stress soothers. As we encounter veterans in our hospitals, as Associates, we strive to treat them with courtesy and respect—and remember to thank our veterans for their service to our country to help protect and preserve our freedom. 

Phase II of the Veteran Recognition Program was initiated in the fall of 2019 to honor our associates and volunteers who have served in the military by distributing pins that attach to their ID badges, making it clearly visible to other associates and patients that we recognize and value our veteran Associates. We were also honored to provide a Veteran’s Day Breakfast to our Associate veterans to meet and engage with each other. After the breakfast, about 20 Associates, both veterans and nonveterans, braved sleet and sub-freezing wind chill to participate in Tulsa’s 101st Veterans Day Parade through downtown Tulsa. Despite the inclement weather, it was an honor and a privilege to participate alongside about 75 other organizations and groups in showing gratitude and appreciation for the many veterans in the Tulsa area who have proudly served their country. Ascension St. John is deeply appreciative of our patients and Associates for their service.

Ascension St. John Veteran Recognition Program

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