Introduction
St. Jude Children’s Hospital is situated in Memphis, Tennessee. It has functioned for over 70 years, a sign of its persistence in the philanthropic ideas of helping children. It was established by Danny Thomas, who prayed to St. Jude Thaddeus to give him hope to continue serving people. Danny Thomas was an entertainer who thought that founding the hospital and the research center for children was his way as a Christian. Therefore, St. Jude Children’s Hospital was opened in 1962, and its doctors and nurses saved thousands of children’s lives. The hospital specializes in cancer treatment and successfully copes with the most severe cases (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 2022).
Results of the hospital’s work
The results of the hospital’s work are exceptional, which allows us to state that the Christian mission to serve people is fulfilled. According to the estimates, St. Jude Children’s Hospital has a high survival rate (94%) among children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia using an approach for treatment that does not use radiation. The hospital employees found a cure for SCID-X1, also called the bubble boy disease. The solution to this problem combines low-dose chemotherapy with busulfan, which is responsible for the immunity among infants with the disorder with gene therapy. Almost 60% of children with the six most common types of cancer are treated at St. Jude Children’s Hospital for five years (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 2022).
Mission
The mission of St. Jude Children’s Hospital corresponds to the needs of servant leadership. The healthcare organization focuses on childcare, which is a God-blessed practice. In addition, the hospital leads many charity programs, helping children who have no financial opportunities to pay for treatment. Danny Thomas, the founder of St. Jude Children’s Hospital, is a faithful Christian. As a result, the organization’s mission statement reflects the basic principles of the religious worldview. According to the description on the organization’s official website, St. Jude Children’s Hospital focuses on preventing serious children’s diseases, advancing the cure, and promoting research in pediatric science. The hospital aims to give all families adequate medical assistance regardless of their nationality, the financial abilities of people to pay for the services, and their faith (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 2022).
Servant leadership
Servant leadership is one of the existing leadership styles that correspond to the Christian worldview. This approach aims to change the formal acting scenario and alter the participants’ moral side and motivation. James MacGregor Burns introduced the notion of servant leadership in analyzing political leaders (Bramlett, 2018). Only after that did the concept penetrate the discourse of organizational psychology. However, it is possible to state that the main ideas that the writer proposed are evangelical by nature and promote the example of Jesus as the optimal role model for leaders. Both followers and leaders should help each other so that all of them will achieve a higher level of motivation and morality.
St. Jude Children’s Hospital
People who work in St. Jude Children’s Hospital work according to these principles articulated in the organization’s mission statement. These principles include tolerance, charity, equality in opportunities, and serving people while trying to help children cure severe diseases and alleviate their pain. It determines the patient-centered approach to healthcare in this hospital. All nurses and doctors remember that the child’s life and well-being are the priority. All of them try to unite their efforts in research and treatment of the diseases that used to be incurable in recent years.
Diversity principle in servant leadership
The first principle is working according to the diversity principle for God’s people regardless of income (Bramlett, 2018). The rich are the poor equal in the eyes of God, and according to the principles of servant leadership, this idea is applied in the work of the St. Jude Children’s Hospital. It is possible to illustrate this claim with the Biblical verses from 2 Corinthians 8:9, which says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich.” Jesus used to be rich, but he decided to become poor to help the people. People in St. Jude Children’s Hospital follow the example of Jesus and help all families regardless of their ability to pay.
The second principle of servant leadership is helping those people who need it (Bramlett, 2018). The passage from Matthew 14:14-21 describes how Jesus distributed his help among those requiring it. Jesus had only two fish and five loaves of bread. He wanted to feed the crowd of poor people who had nothing to eat. So, he started to break the bread into pieces and give these parts to his disciples. The disciples, in their turn, gave the bread and the fish to people, and every person received the food they needed. People in St. Jude Children’s Hospital remember that it is necessary to help others. Research on cancer treatment is a vivid example of this principle of servant leadership.
Giving people hope in servant leadership
Giving people hope is the third principle of servant leadership (Bramlett, 2018). It is described in the Biblical excerpt in Mark 10:30. Jesus promises those who suffer and have no inner strength to overcome these difficulties that they will receive 100 times more in paradise. Sometimes, people do not have the emotional power to deal with pressure, or the stress is too difficult for them. It is important to remember that God loves all people regardless of their ability to be successful in their life. God will judge all actions of people, and if this person is not a sinner, they will receive the reward in the afterlife. St. Jude Children’s Hospital gives families hope that their children will be cured.
Conclusion
Compassion has a significant role in servant leadership (Bramlett, 2018). It is possible to illustrate this idea with the verses from Luke 22:44 that describe that even though Jesus was angry, he prayed, and his sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood. People often forget to be merciful to others. There should always be a place for compassion, even though it might be challenging to achieve, but the example of Jesus should become a role model for appropriate behavior. The St. Jude Children’s Hospital workers are merciful to all patients and their families who are stressed.
References
Bramlett, C. H. (2018). Servant leadership roadmap: Master the 12 core competencies of management success with leadership qualities and interpersonal skills. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. (2022). Our history. Stjude.org. Web.