Maureen Keleher

Sister Maureen Keleher (June 2, 1911 – November 23, 1995) was an American hospital administrator, hospice advocate, and Catholic nun. She served as chief executive officer of St. Francis Medical Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, Sister Keleher established St. Francis Hospice, the first hospice in the state, in 1978. She also served as regional administrator of the St. Francis Order of Nuns. she was the youngest of six children. In 1931, she entered the Sisters of St. Francis of Syracuse, and professed her final vows as Sister Maureen Keleher in 1936. In 1951, she arrived in the Territory of Hawaii to serve as assistant administrator at St. Francis Hospital. An early advocate of the hospice movement, Sister Keleher helped to evolve the home care program over time to also offer care for the dying. The St. Francis Hospice program officially began in 1978, offering 24-hour hospice care both at home and in the hospital, including pain control and team support for the physical, emotional, spiritual, and social needs of terminally ill patients and their families. In 1988, St. Francis opened the first freestanding hospice facility in the state of Hawaii. Sister Keleher made an animal laboratory available to him. Subsequently, the state's first organ transplants – three kidney transplants on August 10, 1969