CAMDEN — Although Sister Mary Lynne Calkins, OSF, will soon travel north to Ohio to be closer to home, a part of her heart will always remain in south Arkansas.
A member of St. Louis Parish in Camden, she has served the area for more than eight years as director of community support for South Arkansas Regional Health Center in El Dorado. It’s a rewarding but demanding job, which entails the oversight of 11 case managers across a tri-county region.
In spite of this seemingly overwhelming task, Sister Mary Lynne found the time to develop a program aimed specifically at helping those least capable of helping themselves — the mentally ill and disabled.
“With the support of the agency, I was able to start a representative payee program to help our clients with their Social Security funds,” she said. “We now have about 78 clients on this program.”
Phil Packard, director of psychiatric programs for South Arkansas Regional Health Center, said the program has proven invaluable for several years and credits Sister Mary Lynne with its creation.
“Basically we call it a money management program, where we assume responsibility for caring for patients who have difficulties in managing their money,” he said.
“We have several employees who make sure their bills are paid and ensure they have money saved,” Packard continued, “These folks are normally people who live day to day. Most have chronic and severe mental illness and sometimes unscrupulous people take advantage of them. The program has grown from nothing to taking care of the needs of almost 80 folks who historically had no resources whatsoever.”
But perhaps Sister Mary Lynne’s greatest challenge has been finding the funding for the other services so desperately needed in this part of the state.
“I also learned when I arrived here that many of our clients needed dental care, and there was no funding for this,” Sister Mary Lynne said, describing the free dental clinic that has become one of her “primary causes.”
She even donated the interest she earned from inherited money to the program.
“Medicaid does not pay for any dental care for adults, and on their low incomes, they can’t afford it. It is a huge problem all over Arkansas,” she said. “I was able to get some grants to help the worst cases, and the local SHARE Foundation has helped. The local Interfaith Clinic set up a dental office. Neither of us has enough money to help everyone, but we have another grant pending now. It’s a huge black hole, but we’re able to help about 150 to 175 people with their dental health problems.”
Sister Mary Lynne has been a Sister of St. Francis of Oldenburg, Ind., since 1960 but moved to El Dorado to be closer to her aging parents in Camden, who retired to south Arkansas in 1981.
Before her stint in Arkansas, Sister Mary Lynne worked in a variety of other ministries, including 23 years teaching in the Catholic school systems in Missouri, Michigan and Indiana.
“I worked five years as director of communications for the Sisters of St. Francis, and, after a sabbatical, went back to school at the University of Cincinnati to get a master’s in social work,” she said.
Sister Mary Lynne said she has close bonds to the people in El Dorado, Camden and Magnolia, but feels God is calling her back to her roots up north.
“I know I will leave part of my heart in Arkansas. I have a brother in Camden, so I know I will be back to visit as long as he continues to live here,” she said. “Since I was very involved in my job here in El Dorado, I stayed on these last three years, but I now believe it is time to return to Ohio where I can be closer to my (religious) sisters.”
