BRAVE SISTERS DO IT ALL FOR OTHERS

THEY were described this week as courageous but the Sisters of
Charity, who will operate Australia's first heroin injecting room,
have maintained their silence.

A spokesman for the sisters, an order of Irish nuns, said they just
wanted to quietly get on with the job of caring for the disadvantaged,
which they had been devoted to since arriving in Australia in the
early 1800s.

Since then, the Sisters of Charity have turned that devotion into a
national venture, with hospitals and other health services in four
States and an operating budget of $600 million.

Despite their dislike of the limelight, the Sisters of Charity have
never shied away from controversial decisions. Their hospital, St
Vincent's in Sydney, was the first to step forward and care for
HIV-AIDS patients in the early 1980s.

Five sisters arrived in Australia in 1838 to work with female convicts
housed at Parramatta, later building St Vincent's there, which moved
to Darlinghurst.

Located a stone's throw from the sleazy Kings Cross strip, St
Vincent's has provided emergency care for prostitutes and drug users,
among others, for more than 90 years.

Paediatrician and Australian of the Year John Yu said the sisters
decided to set up an injecting room because of their values of
standing up for the disadvantaged.

"The sisters thought this was the right thing to do. It was the best
way of helping people who were not able to help themselves," Dr Yu
told ABC radio.

"I think the nuns have always been extraordinarily courageous in what
they thought was right.

"They always have been a very brave group of women who have put
compassion before, I think, any other consideration. And I would have
hoped they would have done what was right, whether or not that was
legal."

About 260 sisters throughout Australia operate hospitals in Sydney,
Melbourne, Toowoomba and Launceston, along with other healthcare and
education facilities. Their respected research groups include the
Garvan Institute and Victor Chang Cardiac Institute, which grew from
St Vincent's in Sydney.

The Sisters of Charity health board discussed the injecting room in
May, and again in June, before it was endorsed by the regional and
national bodies and revealed this week.

Sisters of Charity Health Service chief executive Tina Clifton denied
the decision was courageous. None of the sisters will be involved in
the day-to-day running of the room.