Political Quotes

“Mr. President, if the rough and tumble of Chicago politics is not where you would expect to find a slightly built Catholic nun, you have never met Sister Sheila Lyne. Sister Sheila has been an icon in Chicago health care for almost half a century. For nearly 10 years in the 1990s she made history as Chicago's public health commissioner. For 15 years before her work as Chicago's top public health officer and for another dozen years afterwards, this smart, visionary courageous woman also served as president and CEO of Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, a legendary institution that has helped care for poor families on the South Side of Chicago since before the Civil War. As public health commissioner, Sister Sheila was never afraid to tackle the powerful. Her decisions were based on conscience, and an iron will. She was once arrested for ignoring a judge's order to test every child in a Chicago public school for lead poisoning because she believed the edict was unnecessarily broad and could hurt children and deplete her department's limited resources. She was out of jail 2 hours later. The first time she took over as president of Mercy Hospital, in 1976, Mercy was bleeding money and on the verge of closing. Sister Sheila's business savvy and innovative management ideas helped put the hospital back in the black. In 2000, following a series of management blunders, Mercy was losing $40 million a year and once again about to go down for the count.…”