Garden in May

The garden always looks its best in the Spring-plenty of rain and (hopefully) more moderate temperatures.  I bought these violets to put in the bird bath, but can hopefully find my usual water hyacinths to add later

This hellebore that I got for free has been so good this year.  It's a pity that the one I paid for has never really done anything at all!!!

I found this Tibouchina at Garden Heights.  We had one 2 or 3 years ago and it flowered all summer.  I'm going to try to see if I can get this one to overwinter if possible

My lilac is slowly growing and you could smell it all over the garden this year

My shade garden is starting to do really well.  It's going to be a constant struggle because it's on a slope and subject to the water pouring under the fence from our neighbours.  Then there's the mulberry tree that is hanging over from the neglected garden behind us-I'm pulling up hundreds of seedlings every time I go back there

I got this from work, trying to get it to spread in the rain garden if possible

My clematis is doing really well, it's the first one I have managed to keep alive

My copper iris are lovely.

Spiderwort are one of my favourites, they do well every year

Good times in the herb garden

I keep buying more of these Missouri primrose, I'm a big fan!!!

A lot can happen in a week

We had a lot going on after Maggie's graduation.  She went camping with Jan and Julie for a few days and came back with Covid.  I had a premonition that graduation would be a superspreader event!!!!  She was very sick for a couple of days, but not too bad after that.  I think the 5 day quarantine was very hard on her though.  Because  Maggie had Covid, I worked from home and so I missed SLU graduation, including the 4 students who graduated from the MD/PhD program.

Ben went back to Madrid for Summer school.  He left today and will be gone for a month.  
 

Maggie's graduation

Maggie graduated from High School-I'm not sure who was most relieved-me or her!!!

Ben and I had gone shopping with her the week before and she looked great.  She even wore my Rothy's (although she took them off before she even got home and walked down the street in her bare feet!)  She will probably never wear those clothes again, but it was worth it!!!

Rare family photo taken by Jan

One step closer to integration

 Dear SLUCare and School of Medicine faculty, staff, residents, fellows and students:

Thank you for attending our recent Town Halls about the integration of SLUCare with SSM Health, and for sharing your thoughts and questions with your chairs, supervisors and managers.

As a follow-up to our April 28 message to you, we write to inform you that SSM Health and Saint Louis University have now signed a definitive agreement to fully integrate SLUCare with SSM Health.

All SLUCare faculty and staff will be offered employment by SSM Health, including competitive, market-based compensation and benefits.

Our goal is for the integration of SLUCare faculty and staff to occur on July 1, 2022, pending regulatory and other necessary approvals. Residents and fellows employed by SLUCare will transition to SSM Health employment in July, 2023.

The signing of our definitive agreement means that many of your questions about benefits and compensation can be answered.

Beginning Monday, May 9, Human Resources representatives from SSM Health will meet with faculty and staff to review SSM’s benefits packages for SLUCare personnel. Sessions will be offered at various times to accommodate clinic assignments. We will provide you with the meeting details this weekend via email.

SLUCare’s integration with SSM Health will create one of the region’s leading integrated healthcare networks with an Academic Medical Group (SLUCare Physician Group) and a Community Medical Group. It will expand access to high-quality, Catholic health care to more patients across the St. Louis region and will allow SLUCare to grow and flourish.

SLU will receive a substantial contribution that will enable a new transformational endowment for the School of Medicine. This endowment will strengthen and support our core missions of education and research, provide resources for the appointment of permanent chairs, and help to develop new state-of-the-art educational facilities.

We are excited to enter this stage of our partnership with SSM Health.

Sincerely,

Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D.