Bronx—The Archbishop of New York, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, celebrated Mass recently at Calvary Hospital for more than 140 patients, families, employees, and special guests. Afterwards His Eminence visited with many patients and their visitors. He also visited the Hospital’s Kosher Hospitality Room and Shabbos Lounge. Cardinal Dolan serves as honorary chairman of Calvary Hospital.

In 2012, Calvary and Yeshiva University’s affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) announced a pioneering collaboration to provide rabbinic consultation to the observant Jewish community about end-of-life care in accordance with Jewish law. Several representatives from Yeshiva University were on hand to meet with the Archbishop including Edward R. Burns, M.D., Executive Dean, Albert Einstein School of Medicine, and Rabbi Menachem Penner, Dean of RIETS. Each year, the Hospital cares for hundreds of Jewish patients at their Bronx hospital, 25-bed Brooklyn Satellite at Lutheran Medical Center, as well as with home care and home hospice throughout the greater New York area.

Calvary Hospital is the nation’s only fully accredited acute care specialty hospital devoted exclusively to providing palliative care to adult advanced cancer patients. A 225-bed facility with locations in the Bronx and Brooklyn, Calvary is the model for the relief of cancer pain and symptoms for more than a century. More than 6,000 patients are cared for annually by Calvary’s inpatient, outpatient, home, hospice, nursing home hospice, and wound care services.

To learn more or sign up for the e-newsletter, Calvary Life, please go to www.calvaryhospital.org.

By Barbara Nitzberg