Sister Angelina Longo
General Section
My Institute, the Society of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, has about 1,100 members and, at an international session of of the Provincial Superiors with the Provincial Bursars, in 2019, I had the opportunity to highlight our duty to ensure that all the Daughters of the Heart of Mary benefit from healthcare cover, wherever they are. I emphasised that “health insurance is not a luxury” and that this attention to our sisters is our responsibility.
Sometimes, Daughters of the Heart of Mary cannot benefit from local health insurance (because it does not exist or is incomplete) and in this case we offer to enrol them with the IMS. This is also the case for those whose mission means they have to move from one country to another!
Today, DHMs enrolled with the IMS are on mission in Kenya, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Germany, Argentina, and within the last foundation, in Haiti.
Membership of the IMS is a way for us, Daughters of the Heart of Mary, to enact this attention to our fellow sisters, often also the poorest, and to exercise mutual assistance, at the very least between us, while facilitating each person’s mission.
The proximity and speed of email/phone responses of the IMS’ administrators are advantages for me, as too is the principle of sending files electronically, which is faster and less expensive.