Sister Rosemary Welsh, RSM, has a clear vision of what her ministry is all about.

“Being a nurse is about caring for people’s health and being healthy is more than just not being in a hospital. Nursing also means educating people to take care of themselves as best they can.”

Sr. Rosemary fulfills this vision in her many roles at Mercy Ministries of Laredo. She serves as outreach education coordinator for the Primary Healthcare programs of Mercy Ministries of Laredo, while also devoting her energies to working at the mobile medical van and helping with the promotores outreach and education case management program. In addition, she is executive director of Casa de Misericordia, a domestic violence shelter for abused women and their children. She also serves on several committees and coalitions dedicated to promoting access to healthcare.

“A large part of our message is that each person deserves respect and dignity, regardless of their social or economic status. Making a connection between those who have resources and those who do not is very important so that they have a mutual understanding of each other,” she said.

Anyone who has ever spoken to Sr. Rosemary immediately notices the great love she has for her job and the people to whom she ministers. “The Hispanic people are very welcoming. They really want to help themselves and are very industrious. Many times in my social work I am called on to be a voice for the people, but I often find that they don’t really need you to speak up for them; they simply need help getting to the table.”

To illustrate this point, she told the story of a time when she was called upon to give a presentation on the need for clean water in colonias, low-income unincorporated communities along the U.S.-Mexico International Boundary. As research for her speech, she visited people who lived in the colonias and decided to take a small group of them with her to the presentation. Sr. Rosemary explains what happened next: “I thanked the group for inviting me, but said I did not feel like I was qualified to speak on this topic. However, I told them I had brought a few experts who could speak from personal experience.”

Her bold move of having the colonia residents tell their own story shocked many at the time, but it had the intended effect. Moreover, it ended up changing at least one life. Because of her experience, one former colonia resident who spoke at the presentation became involved with Mercy Ministries of Laredo. She now works at Casa de Misericordia, has earned her GED and is learning to speak more fluent English.

Sr. Rosemary's deep connection to the Hispanic people began in 1970 when she first worked with them as a floor nurse at Mercy Hospital in Brownsville, Texas. Not long after, the young nun from Springfield, Missouri, began working in acute care after completing her bachelor's degree in nursing from St. Louis University. In 1976, she began working at Mercy Health Center in Laredo in the Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Room. While there, she saw a need for doctors and nurses to reach out the community and bring healthcare outside the hospital walls. To this end, she started the patient education department to inform patients about their illnesses and teach them how to take care of themselves. As part of the program, educators conducted follow-up home visits instead of requiring patients to make an additional trip to the hospital, a move that increased the likelihood of patients being informed.

During this time, Sr. Rosemary made a point to learn the Spanish language. Although she took many Spanish classes and even traveled to Mexico for nine weeks to learn the language, “it was really the people who taught me how to speak Spanish. They were always very patient and allowed me to make mistakes, all the while encouraging me to speak the language.” This skill proved even more beneficial in 1981, when Sr. Rosemary traveled to Guatemala and various other Central American countries as part of an outreach ministry. While living there, she learned K’ekchi’, an ancient Mayan language, in order to communicate with the people.

Although greatly enriched by her other experiences, Sr. Rosemary’s heart always remained with the people of South Texas. In 1992 she returned to South Texas where her ministry began, to work in Laredo with the Hispanic people she had grown to love.

“Being able to communicate how the sisters continue to serve the Laredo community is the most important thing I do,” said Sr. Rosemary. “I am blessed to be doing something that I truly love. Following your vocation is more than simply living the religious, single or married life; it is being faithful to what you have been called to do.”