Sister Beatrice Hernandez, OSF is also Beatrice Hernandez, MD. She worked as a physician for over 25 years and was the medical director and founder of the Cancer Treatment Center and Blood Disorders Clinic at La Porte Hospital and Health Service in La Porte, IN. Since retiring from her medical practice in 2003, Sr. Bea has served as the pro bono executive director of Upendo Village, a joint ministry of the Wheaton Franciscans and the Assumption Sisters of Nairobi, which provides support and services to women, men and children living with HIV/AIDS in Naivasha, Kenya Africa.
Of her role as a physician working with cancer patients, Sister Bea says: “I liked working with patients and their families at such a vulnerable time in their lives. At a time of such life-threatening illness, facades fall away. I treasured the times spent just sitting and talking with patients or family members about life and death, about letting go and about quality living. As an oncologist I saw patients frequently, and really got to know them and their loved ones. I feel honored to have been able to walk life’s journey with so many people and to make their journey a little easier in whatever way I was able.”
Now, working with those suffering with AIDS in Kenya, Sister Bea is again able to reach out to the poor by consciousness raising and fundraising in the USA in order to support those most in need in Kenya. “Upendo Village is a collaboration of ordinary people here in the United States partnering with ordinary people in Kenya to make a difference in the lives of those infected and affected with HIV. What we are able to do together can literally mean the difference between life and death to those whose lives we touch. In the midst of the worst pandemic in modern times, each of us can do something.”
Sister Beatrice’s own dedication extends beyond the cancer treatment center and response to the AIDS epidemic in Africa. She serves as a member of the Wheaton Franciscan Sponsor Member Board, which oversees the integration of mission in the housing and healthcare ministries of the Wheaton Franciscans. She has worked on the Wheaton Franciscan Justice and Peace Network since 1981, promoting understanding, justice and peace at home and around the world. She has protested against the production, possession, testing and use of nuclear weapons at the Nevada test site near Las Vegas. She has advocated for peaceful solutions to the war in Central America in the 1980’s and has opposed the wars in Iraq and Afganistan. She believes that “as Franciscans, we are called to be a peaceful presence in a world that is all too often torn apart by violence. We must continue to insist on justice for those who are oppressed so that true peace can become a reality.”
When all is said and done, Sister Beatrice feels most in touch with the divine in quiet times of prayer and reflection, with friends and when enjoying nature. She loves to walk in the woods, downhill ski, swim, and bike. Watching a sunset, the glistening of snow on a bright winter day or marveling at a flower’s bright blossoms are special moments of wonder and awe. Life, death, justice, peace, grace, love, action, contemplation—Sister Beatrice Hernandez treasures each experience as a learning and another step on life’s journey.
