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Sister Patricia Gootee Sister Patricia Gootee is one of 650 Medical Mission Sisters in 19 nations trying to be present to others in the spirit of Jesus the Healer. Born and raised in Loogootee, Indiana, Sister Patricia joined Medical Mission Sisters shortly after her graduation from St. John's Grade and High School. After receiving her R.N. from St. Francis School of Nursing in Trenton, New Jersey, and her Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from St. Louis University, Sister Patricia was assigned to Pakistan. "At the last minute, my assignment was changed," she recalls. She was asked to replace a Sister nurse who was sick in Venezuela. "Beware of short-term assignments - this was in 1959, and I am still in Latin America. It all happened in God's plans." Sister Patricia worked as a nurse for 5 years at Hospital Coromoto in Maracaibo, Venezuela, then returned to the U.S. to earn her Master's Degree in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania. Back in Maracaibo, she taught in the school of nursing for 5 years. "Once the Venezuelan students graduated and specialized, they returned to take over the nursing program," she explains. "My task was completed." After a year at St. Louis University studying Theology, Sister Patricia went to Peru, to work in a rural area of the Andes mountains as a nurse and member of a pastoral team. "This was a fantastic mountain experience of 6 years," she says. Sister Patricia then moved to the outskirts of the city of Arequipa, Peru, and began working in a variety of ministries associated with the Church of Christ the Worker: starting a health clinic and breakfast program for children, serving on the pastoral team, and helping to establish the Anna Dengel Center. The Center provides training in sewing, baking, and computer skills, and also houses a day care center for children. "Not only the poor of Arequipa depend on the parish's programs, but also the Quechua of the highlands, who travel into the city and seek her out," the Philadelphia Inquirer stated in an article about Sister Patricia. "They know that she is someone who will give them a straight story, someone who, by not disdaining them, has earned their trust, and is their mediator and advocate." After serving as our District Coordinator in Peru, Sister Patricia recently began offering alternative healing modalities and holistic services to those who cannot afford them. She also has helped to start a new project, COFA, whose aim is to help children with cerebral palsy or similar challenges, and their families, to achieve the child's maximum potential.
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