From patients, doctors, nurses, and cafeteria staff to the CEO, board members, and founders of the Medical Center, our participants were kind and caring people who are dedicated to their work and reflect the Center’s mission to serve all those who come through their doors with “reverence, compassion and integrity in a simple, joyful and hospitable manner.”

Two of our storytellers were celebrating 50 years of service to their communities, and shared their wisdom with us.

Helen Owens (left), a Franciscan Sister of Allegheny, New York is celebrating her Jubilee (50th) year as a Sister. With her friend and colleague, Sister Marianne Hieb, she talked about starting the Wellness Center at Lourdes in the 1970s. Sister Helen was a pioneer of holistic medicine in the community, and dedicated herself to bringing yoga, meditation, parenting services, art therapy, and community health education to Camden. For Helen, health isn’t just about not getting sick, but about living a full, happy, and creative life. The Wellness Center is still thriving today as a venue for all sorts of community health resources and classes.

We also had the pleasure of meeting Monsignor Michael Doyle, who is also in his 50th year of service as priest in the Diocese of Camden, including 35 years as pastor of Sacred Heart Church. He told us about being a member of the “Camden 28,” a group of anti-Vietnam war activists who famously raided the Camden draft board in 1971. He told us that as a teacher and pastor in a poor city he wanted to stop the injustice of sending Camden’s young men to war. In the 38 years since then Michael has dedicated himself to the youth and underprivileged citizens of Camden. He spoke passionately but humbly about the soup kitchen he founded, as well as the fishing pier and gym he was able to open for the community. Although he was born in Longford, Ireland, Monsignor Doyle is truly a walking encyclopedia about the city he loves so much.

Many thanks to everyone at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center who took an hour out of their (very busy!) day to add their voices to the StoryCorps archive.

You can read more about StoryCorps’ visit to Lourdes Health System, and hear some of the stories we recorded at http://www.lourdesnet.org/news/storycorps.php.

At age seven, Ralph lost his hearing to scarlet fever, the same disease that left Helen Keller and Thomas Edison deaf in childhood. Still, Ralph was determined to stay in public school. He taught himself to read lips and was the first hearing-impaired student to graduate with honors from his grade school in Brooklyn. Although Ralph had learned to speak and succeed on his own in school, his deafness was deemed “disruptive” in high school. Ralph was sent to a trade school to learn typesetting and printing– a profession where his intelligence and sharp eyes could be put to use and his ears wouldn’t be affected by the cacophonous printing room.

Ralph had desperately wanted to be a doctor, but in the 1940s he set his sights on serving his country in World War II. He told us each time he failed the medical entrance exam, he would put his test result on the train tracks until it was ripped to shreds and try again. After multiple attempts at enlisting, Ralph secured a non-combat job with the Navy.

As a child, Ralph feared that relying on sign language would isolate him. His decision to remain in mainstream schools and read lips instead of signing was also rooted in the public perception of deafness at the time. Ralph saw people who signed in public being stared at and ridiculed. Fifty years later, Ralph would find out that he could be an ideal candidate for a cochlear implant, a procedure that could allow him to “hear” with a surgically implanted electronic device. Ralph declined the surgery, electing to continue reading lips and speaking as he had been his whole life.

Ralph’s story stood in stark contrast to another recent StoryCorps interview in Washington, D.C.? Taye Akinola, born deaf almost 70 years after Ralph, was also a candidate for a cochlear implant whose parents decided against the surgery. Today, Taye speaks and uses hearing aids but also signs, and is a graduate student at Gallaudet University. Taye is able to study at a university that has become a center for deaf culture, political discourse, and empowerment. From Ralph’s struggle to stay in public high school to Taye’s master’s degree in Deaf Studies, the changes in public understanding and resources are striking.

Today, Ralph keeps pictures of his daughter in her police uniform and his granddaughter in his front pocket, proud proof of the life he built for his family despite a disability that was viewed so differently decades ago.