Sister Helen Owens, Lourdes Health System vice president of mission, will receive the Msgr. Michael Doyle and Msgr. Robert McDermott Award for Parish and Community Ministry at the 2010 Catholic Charities (Diocese of Camden) Justice for All Awards on Thursday, April 29.

A native of the Bronx, Sister Helen worked as a mission nurse in Bolivia in the 1960s and 1970s before joining Lourdes in 1979 as director of community health education. That year, she established the Lourdes Wellness Center, the first hospital-based program geared to improving residents' health and lifestyle.

In 1980, she founded The Bridge, a nationally recognized program that positively supports the psychological, social and spiritual needs of adolescents. In 1993, Sister Helen developed the Lourdes Institute of Wholistic Studies, and in 2003 was instrumental in opening Lourdes' integrative family medicine practice. Last year, she celebrated her 50th anniversary as a Franciscan Sister of Allegany.