Our Catholic health ministry
Many hospitals in our network will continue the legacy of faith-based healthcare.
Care sites operating under Ethical & Religious Directives
Note: Data reflects information from our most current annual report to the community.
What are the Ethical and Religious Directives?
Core commitments of Catholic health care
Catholic healthcare is guided by seven core commitments:
1. Promote and defend human dignity
Every human person reflects the image of God and has inherent worth. We are called to respect, protect, love, and serve every human life.
2. Attend to the whole person
Each person is a unity of body, mind, and spirit. As a community of healing and compassion, the care offered is not limited to the treatment of disease or bodily ailment but embraces the physical, psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions of the human person.
3. Care for poor and vulnerable persons
We give particular attention to the health care needs of the poor, the uninsured, the underinsured, and those on the margins of society. We advocate and work towards a health care delivery system that provides adequate health care for the poor.
4. Promote the common good
Catholic healthcare services are meant for the entire community. The common good recognizes that our well-being is integrally tied to the well-being of other people, our community, and the environment.
5. Act on behalf of justice
Acting on behalf of justice is about ensuring that everyone has what he or she needs to flourish. A just health care system works to promote equity of care, advancing access to basic health care for individuals and improving the health of communities.
6. To exercise responsible stewardship
A Catholic healthcare ministry exercises responsible stewardship of available healthcare resources. We are called to be innovative with our finite resources so that those resources can best serve our communities.
7. Serve as a ministry of the Catholic Church
Following in the legacy and tradition of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, our Catholic care sites continue the healing ministry of Jesus. As a ministry of the Catholic Church, the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (ERDs) help us navigate the health care decisions we make in very complex circumstances.
Catholic care senior leadership
Jacob Harrison
Chief Catholic Mission Officer
Jacob Harrison serves as the Chief Catholic Mission Officer for Intermountain Health. In this role, he partners with leaders to advance, align and integrate clinical and operational strategies with Intermountain’s mission and values. He honors the legacy of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth and partners with Leaven Ministries, the Ministerial Juridic Person over our Catholic entities, to uphold the Catholic identity and Catholic health ministry within the organization’s Catholic entities.
As the senior leader for the Mission Integration team, Jacob and his team support leaders and caregivers in connecting to the meaning and purpose in their work. They support clinical ethics, ministry formation, mission integration, spiritual care, alignment with Community Health, and ongoing relationship support with the Catholic Church.
Jacob holds an M.A. in Theology from the Aquinas Institute of Theology and an M.A. in Healthcare Ethics from Saint Louis University. Before joining Intermountain Health, Jacob held positions in ministry formation with Ascension and in ethics with Mercy St. Louis.