Barkuronline.com is proud to present Dr. & Sr. Helen Consilia Fernandes of Moodahadu Kudru, as our very first female POM, (Personality of the Month.)  I  had approached her in the very first month when Barkur.com was introduced, but her humility did not allow her to disclose any information about herself.  Apparently her brother’s arm twisting tactics helped us to present this long awaited, long overdue lady POM.  Please note that there are plenty of ladies deserving their share as POMs in this site.

 Kishoo, Barkur.

Dear Barkurians, the simple portals of ‘Window to the World’, such as “Pedruchi Chaavi” and this ‘Barkuronline.com’, are our present means of sharing information.  We have appealed this, and it’s up to you to take advantage of this free service, as I am doing.  Let it not be said that James Fernandes is showing off his relatives. This opportunity is equally accessible to each one of you.  In a buffet dinner, don’t blame the lousy table service if you go home hungry!

 James Fernandes

'The Humble Will Be Exalted' - Sr. Consilia Fernandes, M.D., D.G.O.

By James Fernandes, USA

With Pope John Paul II

"A man who exalts himself will be humbled, while a man who is humble will be exalted. " -Jesus Christ.  Helen’s most cherished and practiced quote from the New Testament.

Several times, my sister reminded me of this quotation, saying "Khaltho tho Vortho Jatha", meaning, 'the humble will be exalted'.  I used to question her, "That’s no reason to stay humble, poor or subservient blindly."  I realized later, that being exalted does not mean how many people you control, how many millions of Rupees you accumulate (without being able share or enjoy), or how expensive or luxurious a house or car you have.  According to my sister being humble means ‘surrendering to the will of God’.   Yes, Helen obeyed God and her superiors, practically without questioning, and therefore she is exalted and happy and content in her own style.  She wrote to me lately, "Dear Jimmy, …. In response to your repeated requests I am sending my bio-data… I really do not know what you are going to write about me. (Meaning that there is nothing to write about.) Be sober and write just the facts.  If anything has been accomplished, it’s because of God’s grace. So I humbly acknowledge God’s grace and thank Him because He has done great things to me and to our family….".  Folks what you are about to read is just naked facts, like "The mighty oak was once a tiny little nut who stood its ground." Pro. 12:13.   Not a single line is glorified.  Being sober, does not mean to stay away from alcohol alone, but to abstain from ‘pride or ego’ and to be humble, hence nothing is exaggerated.

Early Years

Helen was born to Late Mrs. Assumpta Fernandes and the late Mr. Jerome Diego Fernandes in Thenkabettu, of Moodahadu village, Sastan Post, belonging to St. Peter’s Parish, Barkur, on 14th August, 1941.   It was a day of great joy to the family, for Helen was the first female child after three sons, Benedict, Romalth, and Gabriel.  She has two younger brothers James and Vincent.  All of her brothers are well settled, who are very proud of their sister and her achievement.

Helen did not have a very opulent childhood.  One of Helen’s chores was to milk the cow daily before going to school.  Whenever I tried to milk the same cow, I used to obtain much less milk, and she used to tell me you have to be kind and gentle to the cow.  This gentleness, kindness and compassion towards animals she has carried over to her patients and members of her congregation, for she believes that it’s not the medicine alone that heals, but medicine coupled with a kind, encouraging smile and healing words mixed with faith and prayer that accomplishes miracles indeed.

Even though luxury was not very common in those days, there was no scarcity of daily prayers and devotion. ‘No dinner without Rosary’ was practically the 11th Commandment. Morning and evening Angelus, night Rosary, mostly kneeling, and one decade of Rosary kneeling and with hands raised above your head!  Oh, why one had to pray this way, I still wonder! She rarely missed Sunday masses.  She attended daily mass during summer holidays and never missed Church on her birthdays as well.  
Gabriel, her elder brother recalls, "Helen took special interest and devotion to our Lady, Mother Mary. She would ask me or make me collect flowers from the neighborhood every day for nine Novena days to celebrate the birth/nativity of our Lady on the 8th September every year.   She took pleasure and pride in arranging those flowers in a plate or basket, and walking to church to offer the flowers to mother Mary during the Novena, singing the Konkanni songs.   At home, there would be several types of vegetarian dishes, and several sweet preparations, PAIS being the main attraction!!  Mother would feed several poor families in the neighborhood, and Helen used to participate in every action or chore of the day.  She used to invite her girl friends, and this was probably her happiest day in a year."
The best thing her parents did was to let her complete her high school education. Helen used to read on her way to school, three and half miles one-way.  She studied hard.  She read voraciously.  She had the uncanny ability to retain whatever she read, heard, or saw.    Helen used to be an 'A' grade student throughout her high school, passing with high honors, and bagging a few first prizes in some subjects.

Once she attended a wedding of a distant relative along with her father.  This relative and his brothers, who seemingly were loaded with money, used to work in the Middle East.  They used to take pride in and brag about the thousands of Rupees of dowry they were entitled to receive, a common practice then.  Helen’s father casually mentioned, "I wonder whether we can afford such high dowry for your wedding!"  "Don’t worry father, I may not need any dowry at all," was her impromptu reply.  Apparently this was the moment that the seed of the divine call to the religious order was planted in her.

Helen completed her high school degree with very good marks.  Within a few days she reached the Holy Angels Convent on Belvedere hilltop, in Mangalore, a convent run by the Sisters of Charity of Saints Bartholomea Capitanio and Vincenza Gerosa.  (I must point out that these sisters of charity are of a different congregation than that of Mother Theresa.  Actually, had my sister joined Mother Theresa’s congregation, she would have been world famous today with such access to publicity!)

Religious growth and Service to her Congregation

Helen completed her SSLC in 1959.   Officially, she joined this religious order on 25th May 1960. Her date of Vestiture was the 25th March 1962.  She professed her first profession on 2nd October 1964 and her final profession was on 19th March 1970.

She had a unique role as a Provincial Councilor to three Provincial Superiors, Sr. Alicia D’Sa from 1981 to 1983, Sr. Mary Anne Theodore, from 1984 to 1988, and Sr. Romana Fernandes from 2000-2004.  She served as a Superior to the community of Vijay Marie Convent in Saifabad during the years 1989 to 1992.  Needless to say, these roles had high visibility and powerful influence in managing harmoniously the hundreds of religious women, (young and old hailing from rich or poor families with different cultural backgrounds and languages), and in nurturing their physical, educational, mental, spiritual, and especially psychological needs.  She has guided and straightened out several women who needed help and guidance to stay in the service of God.
Further Education

The congregation sent her for teacher’s training, which she completed in 1961.  Because of her academic excellence, and her devotion to God and compassion to human beings, the congregation might have noticed her potential of her becoming a physician.  They took the risk of educating her. She was sent to college and completed her Pre University Certificate in 1963.  She went to Karnataka Medical College, Hubli, where she obtained her MBBS in the year 1969.  She obtained her D.G.O. (Diploma in Obstetric & Gynecology) from Osmania University, Hyderabad.  In the year 1977 she obtained the Certificate in Hospital Administration.   She obtained the MD Degree in Obstetrics & Gynecology from Osmania University, Hyderabad in the year 1980, which qualified her to train other doctors to obtain their MD degrees as well.  She also completed her Post Graduate Certificate in Psychological Counseling in 1989.

Work Experience

She started rendering continuous medical service in Vijay Marie Hospital located in Saifabad, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India, as a Junior Medical Officer and Resident Medical Officer in the years 1971 to 1974.  From 1975 to this day she has been working as the Head of the department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and as Medical Superintendent of the same Hospital.

There were days when she personally attended 10 to 15 deliveries even including Caesarean deliveries, irrespective of the time of night or day.  She has even delivered the babies of the babies she delivered earlier, and also babies of the babies of the babies. She has performed thousands and thousands of minor and major surgeries.

Memberships

All India Obstetrics & Gynecology Society from 1980 to 2004.

Obstetrics & Gynecology Society of Hyderabad from 1980 to 2004.

Indian Association of Palliative Care from 1998 to 2004. 

Indian Hospital Association from 1980 to 2004.

Visits Abroad

Helen went to Italy, where the Head Quarters of the Sisters of Charity is located, in the year 1975 upon completion of her studies in Medicine.  She visited the USA (New York, Chicago) in 1980 for Radiation therapy to treat breast cancer.  In the year 1987, she visited Italy as a delegate to the 22nd General Chapter of the Congregation in Rome.  She visited the Holy Land, Jerusalem, in 1992, after completing her term as a Superior.  In the year 1998 she went to Rome to present a paper at the Vatican on Health on the threshold of the third millennium for the International Conference on Consecrated Women in the World.  She went to Egypt and the Holy land Israel, as a Provincial Councilor along with the Provincial Superior, in the year 2001.   Helen believes such travels are blessings or privileges.

Meritorious Awards

The Meritorious Service Award was conferred upon her for her services in Mother and Child Health.  This prestigious award was presented to her by Shri N. Janardhan Reddy, the Honorable Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, on April 15, 1991.

Indira Gandhi’s National Integration Award presented for the services rendered to Mother and Child health care, in the year 1996.

Millennium Excellence Award on World AIDS Day for the services rendered to HIV +ve and AIDS patients, in the year 1999.

Award for service rendered to T.B. patients on World’s T.B. Day, March 23rd, 2004

Let the Pictures Speak for Themselves

Her parents both biological and spiritual:  No, they did not teach her Latin, Theology, or how to run a Hospital, but they definitely instilled in her the importance of loving God by serving fellow human beings, especially the less fortunate ones, and they told her, "Hard work will never go un-rewarded."

Meritorious Service award presented to her by the Andhra Pradesh Honorable Chief Minister Shri N. Janardhan Reddy in 1991 for services to Mother and Child Health.

Meeting the Governor of Andhra Pradesh Sri Kanth

Millennium Excellence Award on World AIDS Day for the services to HIV+ve and AIDS patients. 'From the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaketh', however, I believe, only a contended person who has made peace with her God and served His creatures, can smile from the heart, like Helen does!’

World T.B. Day.  Award received for service rendered to the T.B. Patients, 24-3-2004.

I came across a souvenir celebrating 50 years of Vijay Marie Hospital, 1998, wherein under the column ‘pioneers’ who ‘worked relentlessly’, this is what they have to say about Helen, a rich tribute indeed, which is copied here verbatim:

"During the last 26 years Dr. Sr. Consilia Fernandes has been an unique person at Vijay Marie Hospital.  Her soft-spoken, gentle behavior, her vast experience in Obstetrics and Gynecology and her great listening power, has made her a mother figure in this institution.  She has been the best advertisement for the hospital.  We never had the necessity of publishing about our services in newspapers.  The patients did that favor to us.  Even today, when an influx of hospitals has flooded in the city, the number of deliveries is still 450 per month and about 5026 in a year.  The antenatal out patients hit the record number of 68,900 this year.  We can never forget her hard labor, working day and night, attending every night call, doing Cesarean sections, and teaching junior doctors the management of complicated cases in the labor room.  There is no glamour about her.  It is silent, unnoticed, hard work for God and her patients in an atmosphere of calm and serenity.  The Indira Gandhi Integration Memorial Forum in appreciation of her services to the community hosted a celebration in her honor in the community hall with profusion of words of appreciation and garlands and trophy.  We pray for her good health and a long life to continue the good she is doing to a ripe old age at Vijay Marie Hospital.”

A hospital for patients, irrespective of caste, creed, or bank balance!

 Governing Body Vijay Marie Hospital

Dr. Sr. Consillia and her team of obstetries and Gynaecology Doctors

I was really upset in 1980 when she was diagnosed unexpectedly with breast cancer.  In those days, cancer patients were granted about six months to live generally.  I sent her a card/letter with the following, or a similar message to God, “Dear God, I do not pray much for hours, but when I pray I really mean it.  The nuns have not recovered their investment in making my sister a doctor yet.  Why do you need her up there?  There is no sickness in heaven right? She is wanted down here to help all those sick people you created.  You all knowing God should know this, better!”   Yes folks God listens!  Helen achieved all those items listed above after she recovered from the mastectomy.   Her other brother Gabriel arranged to bring her to Sloan Klettering Hospital, (where he was working in the Cancer Research area, in New York,) for Radiation therapy, which helped her recover fully.

After 25 years, the Cancer disease once again has attacked some other parts of her body.   She bears her pains while remembering the Passion of Christ. She does not complain or say, ‘Why me?”  She has accepted this cancer saying, “Thy will be done.” Folks, the most elaborate and the best of treatment is underway. Your prayers can help her, please.   The Sisters of Charity are taking very good care of her, in every way, for which her brothers, relatives, colleagues, her patients, and friends are extremely grateful.

Sr. Consilia totally and whole-heartedly acknowledges the God-given talents, intelligence and virtues, which she practiced to the fullest throughout her life with the help of God’s grace. These rich qualities were not only given to her alone, but to her entire family including all her brothers. She is extremely indebted to this congregation for giving her the opportunity of making her life ‘worth-while and useful.’  Don’t you folks believe, that God will tell her personally, “Well done my child!”, while patting her back?  “Even though we were economically poor, we were rich in these God-given gifts and talents and today we can sing with Mary our Mother the “Magnificat,” ‘My soul magnifies the Lord; He who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is His name.’” No doubt, the humble will be exalted.

She owes her gratitude to God first and foremost, and then to her parents and family members and especially to her own congregation who has given her so many opportunities to study and to offer services to humanity. We hope someone will benefit out of this.

Her brothers thank Barkuronline.com  for publishing this article.   21/08/2004