Sheila Keefe '56
 In
her 38 years as a volunteer at the Cabrini Clinic of Holy Trinity
Parish in the near-downtown Detroit area, Sheila Keefe has
seen such an increase in need that, most nights, some people
must be turned away or referred elsewhere. On the second and
fourth Thursday evenings of each month, Sheila is on hand when
the clinic opens at 6 p.m. and she dispenses nursing care,
nutrition information as well as compassion until 9 or 10 to
the patients who come from all over southwest Detroit, many
of them homeless. She helps out often outside of her scheduled
hours. For instance, she recently arranged to pick up a 72-year
old woman for an appointment at the Kresge Eye Institute. When
she was unable to get an answer to her worried knocks, she
returned with the clinic director and they were able to convince
the landlord to open the woman’s door where they found her
unconscious on the floor surrounded by the chaos of 14 cats.
It was Sheila’s persistence that saved this woman but she stands
in awe of the capacity of those she serves to survive. She
describes the lives of those she assists as real life, decidedly
unglamorous versions of the “reality” Survivor shows.
Sheila followed up her Marygrove degree in Biology with a
Masters in Microbiology from the University of Michigan and,
a decade later,completed a degree in nursing at Mercy College.
After working for several years in hospital nursing, she found
her real calling – Public Health Nursing with the Oakland County
Health Department, a career she pursued professionally for
22 years and four and a half more with the Head Start program
in Pontiac. Sheila says her career choices were influenced
by Sister Mary Anne Huddleston (Stanislaus), IHM, and Father
William Gannon, OP, from Aquinas College.
Retirement in 1998 gave Sheila more time to volunteer. In
addition to the Cabrini clinic, she is a member of two spiritual
development teams that help developmentally disabled adults
in some of the 13 residences maintained by Angel’s Place in
metro Detroit. She also assists in placement of applicants
to Angel’s Place.
She speaks to groups requesting information on Elderhostel
Programs as an ambassador using her personal experience at
a place called Esperanca in northern Brazil in the Amazon valley
near the equator. She and a crew of volunteers and local teens
built a children’s health center in 1998, hauling bricks, sand
and cement.
She has since served three stints as a volunteer nurse at
the Bon Samaritan Mission in Montrousis, Haiti, beginning in
2003. Last year’s was cut short by an advisory to evacuate
foreigners during a period of unrest. With the political situation
calmer, she plans to return again this year, as usual at her
own expense.
Because she believes that everyone is entitled to health care
and years of observation that those without health care coverage
are sicker, suffer more and die sooner, she was led to join
the Interfaith Help and Hope Coalition for Health Care Justice
in 2003.
At the Red Cross, Sheila is a volunteer but, for a change
of pace, not as a nurse. She does data input, envelope stuffing—pretty
much anything she is asked to do in the Communications/Marketing
department.
She has taken on many roles in her parish, St. Columban in
Birmingham, including the Parish Council where she is working
on the merger of her home parish with one nearby. She also
serves on the Marygrove Alumni board, co-chairing the program
committee.
“Follow your dreams and don’t be afraid to change gears” is
the advice that Sheila offers today’s students.
Sheila’s professional, volunteer, personal and family life
has been driven by a deep Catholic faith and a concern for
the poor and voiceless. Single and the eldest of seven siblings,
she enjoys being the beloved aunt to 24 nieces and nephews
and 35 greats. She reflects the values of commitment, compassion
and competence that are hallmarks of Marygrove.
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