Page 5 - BusinessWest September 4, 2023

Richard F. Burkhart, CPA and Salvatore J. Pizzanelli, CPA, JD, PFS
The talented team at Burkhart Pizzanelli
Accounting
Julie M. Quink, CPA and Deborah J. Penzias, CPA
The talented team at Burkhart Pizzanelli provides
provides expertise in a full range of accounting
and financial services. Feel free to call on us at Consulting 413.734.9040.Feel free to call on us at 413.734.9040.
expertise in a full range of accounting and financial services.
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Litigation
Sr. Caritas has always been known as a fighter, whether the issue was reimbursement rates for hospitals or securing a cancer unit for Mercy Medical Center.
with matters for the diocese, such as deciding the fate of some of the buildings on the former Brightside complex still to be repur- posed; on the golf course — although she’s not playing as much as she once did because others are having health issues — and as a mentor to many.
And if you keep watching, you might see her in one of several different testimonial ads for car-dealership owner Gary Rome. “Some- one put a camera in my face, asked me what I thought of Gary, and they made it into a commercial.”
She’s in these ads, presumably, because
she’s extremely well-known and possesses a
name, and a voice, that people trust. And when
she talks, people listen. She’s earned that trust,
and that willingness to listen to what she says, through roughly eight decades of service and involvement in this region, often at the highest levels.
Indeed, over the years, Sr. Caritas has been asked to do lots of things — from managing Mercy Hospital to solving the odor prob- lems at Bondi’s Island. She’s rarely said no — when given assign- ments by the ministry, she really couldn’t say no — and has almost always succeeded with the task she’s been given.
In many respects, she’s risen to legend status, one of few in the 413.
“Sr. Caritas has been called a legend in her time, and that’s rare,” said Sr. Kathleen Popko, SP, president of the Sisters of Providence, who has served beside her colleague in many capacities for decades
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And if you watch Jeopardy! or the nightly news, you might catch her in a TV ad reciting the track record of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, who is one of several candi-
dates jockeying for votes in the primary coming
up later this month. “I’m not out there holding
signs for anyone,” she said, adding that she
can’t even vote in Springfield. “But if someone
asks me my option of Mayor Sarno, I’ll give it to
them.”
“All my life I’ve been looking up
at ... everything. In that RAV4, I’ve been sitting on top of the world, looking down at everything; it’s been such a blessing.”
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