Introducing... Sr. Margaret Flood

Like most nursing students today, Sr. Margaret Flood began nursing school just after completing high school. After her first year, she left school to join the Blauvelt Dominicans. When she was a "Junior Professed" she returned to finish her nursing degree. Her early years in the community were spent as a nurse in Jamaica. She returned to the states and continued practicing nursing until she was elected to the Leadership Team. She spent eight years in Leadership, then worked in the areas of social responsibility and again in nursing. Her concern for patients, their care, and the cost of medical care led her to work for the Dominican Sisters Family Health Service (DSFHS), which provides home health care, social, personal and pastoral services for patients. "The difference here is that we are family centered, care centered," she says with a smile. Sr. Margaret has worked at DSFHS for sixteen years and is currently the Chief Operating Officer.

When she first found out about the Dominicans, Sr. Margaret thought they were mostly about teaching and social work. However, Sister Margaret was inspired by a painting of St. Catherine of Siena, the Patron Saint of nurses, feeding a leper. This painting, of which Sister Margaret is particularly fond, helped her to make the connection between the Dominicans and health care -- especially care of the most poor and vulnerable. Health care and religious life run in the family. Sr. Mary Flood, a doctor, is Sr. Margaret's younger sister.