Q: In March, St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawai'i announced that it signed an agreement to sell St. Francis Medical Center in Liliha and St. Francis Medical Center-West in 'Ewa. When will the transfer be complete?

A: CHA — Cardiovascular Hospitals — has their certificate of need submitted to the state Health Department and is waiting for the next step in the process. We have no idea, but hope it's completed by the end of the year.

Q: What will the new St. Francis Healthcare System look like without the two hospitals?

A: St. Francis Healthcare will still be alive and healthy with five distinct corporations, including our newest, Our Lady of Kea'au along the Leeward Coast, almost toward the end of the island. We were very fortunate in obtaining the old First Hawaiian Bank retreat, 50-plus acres of beautiful grounds, 25 of which is all cleared. It has a huge swimming pool, seven lodges, cabins, tennis courts. This is where we're talking about healing people spiritually, mentally as well as physically, but doing it in a very holistic fashion. We're also in the process of planning our non-profit, leasehold St. Francis Residential Care Community in 'Ewa of 207 low-income senior apartments, 57 single family homes and 63 town homes. The apartments are only for seniors. But we'll have families, elderly, a mixture, in the other units. The important thing is that we will bring medical services into the home to keep the residents healthy and well as is needed. Ground was broken in 2003 (with scheduled completion in 2008).

Q: Without the hospitals in its future, St. Francis is now focusing on preventive healthcare.

A: That is part of the new vision for the system. Instead of putting our energies into patient care, we realize that we need to change our focus. We're hopefully keeping people out of hospitals for as long as possible. When we look at healthcare stats, 50 percent of personal lifestyle choices contributes to our overall health, while only 10 percent comes from the medical care system. And yet that's where we've been spending our energies and resources. In the future, we're saying, 'Let's see how we can help people live a much healthier life.'

Q: You've made a few references to spiritual health. Where does that come from?

A: Health is everything we do — the stuff we read, our work; it's spiritual, it's psychological — that all helps your health or doesn't. We've been so focused on the medical centers, that we've lost the focus that your health is made up of all parts of your life. If you do feel good, have a good family that supports you, you're not lonely and your basic needs are met, you'll live a better life and be healthier. We're now free to focus on that a lot more. There's so much out there that we haven't even begun to explore.

Q: How difficult has the transition been for the 1,400 hospital employees who will be part of the new, for-profit company and the 300 employees who will stay with St. Francis Healthcare System?

A: For them, this is a massive change. Their concerns are about their pensions, and paid time off and their extended time off, things that will affect them, which is understandable. They know there will be a change and they don't know what to expect. And we don't always know everything, either.

Q: You have been passing out candles with a prayer for peace from St. Francis to your staff. Why?

A: Throughout our whole history — 145 years — the Sisters of St. Francis have been about going wherever the needs are. So we have to move along with that, also. In several levels of gatherings in all of April I met with the staff with a candlestick. I said that what we believe in and what we are is like a candlestick: It's steady and it's there. But unless something happens to that candlestick, there isn't any meaning. So you have to put a candle into the candlestick to light up the room. I said they are that light to help the Sisters move us forward into the future. They may have a new owner, but I ask them to take that candle and carry our mission forward.

Q: You will still have the title of CEO after the transition but currently share the title with Sister Beatrice Tom, who is acting CEO. Please explain your different responsibilities.

A: You can't try to move forward and close down somewhere else at the same time. Since August, both of us have been working with the system. My job is to move the system forward. Her job is to close things down. After the sale, that will be the end of her job and she will focus as administrator at Our Lady of Kea'au. In good transition theory, you need two sets of everything during a transition: You're trying to change, while you're also trying to maintain.

Q: As a leader, what tools do you use to manage through a major transition?

A: A lot of it is just listening to people's concerns. I begin my sessions by saying I do not have all of the answers, because I don't. We have several communication vehicles — an employee hotline that people can call in with questions, a frequently asked question sheet that will go to employees, an employee newsletter.

Q: What do you do about the rumor mill?

A: You just join it and say, 'Oh isn't that interesting? That's a new one. I didn't hear about that.' You can't do anything about rumors. They go on every day. I have found that if people really want the answers, they'll go to the right people. The Sisters ourselves have been through a major transition and I was part of the task force in 2004 that merged three separate communities in three separate parts of New York into one. The four-year term on my religious community's elected Leadership Council afforded many opportunities for leadership education. National conferences and educational seminars through the Leadership Conference of Religious Women and the Franciscan Federation were focused on church leadership as well as business/administrative leadership.

Q: How do you manage your own stress of managing this transition?

A: I live with five other sisters in the same house, which is very important and has helped a lot. We have long dinners where everybody has a chance to say whatever. God is a she and she's an Asian she. So if she gave me this gift of ministry, she has to figure it out with me because I'm not doing it alone.

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.