Sister Jilda Marie Chabot, FSE, BSN, CWS

“I remember you! You helped my grandmother when she had gall bladder surgery twenty years ago!”
“You came to our house to care for my dad after his heart attack.”

In the grocery store, on the street, at church, anywhere in town, people come up to Sister Jilda Marie as they recognize her as the nurse who meant so much to their families during a health incident.

Sister Jilda Marie started her nursing career as a teenager working in a nursing home near her home in Meriden, Connecticut. Later, as a nurse, she served in the local hospital before and after joining the Franciscan Community. Since 1997 she has been on the full time staff of Franciscan Home Care and Hospice Care. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree at Idaho State University. She covers three areas for the agency.

As an on-call hospice nurse, she responds frequently to calls during the night, often going to the home of a patient to adjust medication, advise about a problem, and provide comfort and reassurance to the patient and the family about medical issues. Upon receiving a call that a hospice patient is close to death, many times she is the bedside nurse, attentive to the patient’s needs at the most important moment of their life.

Sister is also a Certified Wound Specialist. This certification by the American Board of Wound Management, “is a formal recognition of a master level knowledge and specialty practice in wound management.” According to the ABWM, “it is a prestigious and rigorous certification in wound care, and demonstrates a distinct and specialized expertise in the practice. The CWS credential displays to patients, employers and peers a dedication to the highest standards and achievement in wound care.” Her wound care patients can attest to her dogged determination to treat successfully even the most challenging wound.

Sister Jilda Marie also serves as the Liaison Nurse for Franciscan Home Care and Hospice Care, assisting patients who are being discharged from a hospital or rehabilitation facility to their homes and are in need of home care services.

An avid gardener, Sister Jilda Marie is on the Franciscan Community’s garden committee comprising Sisters and work day volunteers who plant, weed, nurture and harvest the large vegetable garden at the motherhouse in Meriden.