Based in St. Louis, Missouri, SSM Health owns hospitals, pediatric medical centers, outpatient centers, clinics, surgery centers, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, physician offices, emergency centers, rehabilitation facilities, urgent care centers, home care, and hospice.
History of SSM Health
SSM Health traces its roots to 1872, when Mother Mary Odilia Berger and four other sisters came to St. Louis from Germany, after caring for sick and wounded soldiers during the Franco-Prussian War.[citation needed] Facing religious persecution in Germany, they came to the United States. When they arrived in St. Louis they began providing nursing care to people in their own homes. That winter, when a smallpox epidemic hit St. Louis, the sisters cared for the sick and dying. For a short time, people referred to them as the Smallpox Sisters. In 1874, the congregation received its formal name: the Sisters of St. Mary (SSM) from the parish where their convent was located, St. Mary of Victories near the riverfront in St. Louis.
Five years after their arrival in St. Louis, the sisters borrowed $16,000, to open their first hospital, St. Mary's Infirmary. Almost 60 percent of their patients were unable to pay for their health care services. Account ledgers from this time identify those who were unable to pay for their services as an “ODL,” a designation that stood for “Our Dear Lord’s.” During this time, the sisters relied on God to provide for their needs as they cared for the poor.[citation needed]
Most of the health care facilities that today belong to SSM Health were previously part of a group of hospitals owned by the Sisters of St. Mary and centrally governed, but not centrally managed. In the mid-1980s, the sponsoring congregation decided to reorganize its hospitals into a system of centrally managed health care providers, and SSM Health was created in 1986. Today the system is managed by a team of professionals—both lay and religious—and governed by members of the sponsoring congregation as well as by laypersons from the communities served by its facilities.[citation needed]
In 2012, SSM Health stated that it was 'disappointed with the contraceptive mandate' regarding being legally forced to cover such items by the Affordable Care Act, against Catholic freedom of conscience.[1]
In 2013, Dean Health System, a large multi-specialty physician group and health plan, finalized a deal to merge Dean and its subsidiaries, including Dean Health Plan, into SSM Health. The merger became effective on September 1, 2013, after all necessary regulatory approvals were received.
In 2018, SSM rebranded its Oklahoma hospitals from "St. Anthony" to "SSM Health St. Anthony". The health system's physician's group in the state became known as SSM Health Medical Group.[2] Also in 2018, SSM Health acquired Agnesian HealthCare from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.[3]
The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Roman Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute has about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They also started many education and health care facilities around the world.
SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital is a non-profit 195-bed inpatient and outpatient pediatric medical center in St. Louis, Missouri. Since its founding in 1956, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon has provided care for children regardless of ability to pay. SSM Health Cardinal Glennon primarily serves children from eastern Missouri and southern Illinois, but also treats children across the United States and from countries around the world.
Saint Louis University Hospital is a 356-bed non-profit, research and academic medical center located in St. Louis, Missouri, providing tertiary care for the east Missouri region. The medical center is a part of the SSM Health System and is affiliated with the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. SLUH features an ACS designated adult Level 1 Trauma Center and has a helipad to handle medevac patients.
The Franciscan Sisters of Mary is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of religious sisters based in St. Louis, Missouri, noted for its operation of SSM Health Care, a group of some 20 hospitals throughout the Midwestern United States. It was formed in 1987 from the merger of two related congregations that founded many of the hospitals.
The Third Order of Saint Francis is a third order in the Franciscan tradition of Christianity, founded by the medieval Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi.
Mother Mary Odilia Berger, S.S.M., was a German-born Religious Sister who founded the Sisters of St. Mary in 1872 in St. Louis, Missouri, which established and still runs hospitals throughout the Midwestern United States. In 1987 they merged with Sisters of St. Francis of Maryville, another congregation which had branched off from them, and together became the Franciscan Sisters of Mary.
Ascension Michigan, formerly St. John Providence Health System and the St. John Health System, is the Michigan division of Ascension Health.
SSM Health Saint Mary's Hospital – Madison, formerly St. Mary's Hospital, is a 440-bed not-for-profit hospital located in Madison, Wisconsin that serves 18 surrounding south-central Wisconsin counties. It is a part of the SSM Health system based in St. Louis. Sister hospitals in Wisconsin include St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo and St. Mary's Janesville Hospital. In June 2020, St. Mary's Hospital had 440 hospital beds.
Mercy Hospital South is the third-largest medical center in Greater St. Louis and an affiliate of Mercy. It is the only designated Level II Trauma Center in either South St. Louis County or Jefferson County. The hospital is located in the unincorporated community, Sappington, Missouri just south of I-270 along Tesson Ferry Road. It serves families in St. Louis County, St. Louis City, and Jefferson County, as well as Franklin County, St. Francois County, Ste. Genevieve County, and Washington County in Missouri, along with Monroe, Randolph and St. Clair counties in Illinois. In addition, Mercy Hospital South operates four urgent care facilities located in Arnold, Fenton, Kirkwood, and Lemay.
OSF HealthCare is a not-for-profit Catholic health care organization that operates a medical group, hospital system, and other health care facilities in Illinois and Michigan. Headquartered in Peoria, Illinois, OSF HealthCare is owned and operated by the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.
Firmin Desloge Hospital is a hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, opened in 1932 by the Jesuits of Saint Louis University and the Sisters of Saint Mary. Named for the benefactor, Firmin V. Desloge, it was established to serve the poor and others in need. Located on Grand Avenue between Vista Avenue and Rutger Avenue, Firmin Desloge Hospital was the main hospital building of the St. Louis University Medical Center until a new hospital was built and opened in 2020.
The congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, with its motherhouse at St. Elizabeth's Motherhouse, Allegany, New York, was founded in 1859 by the Very Rev. Father Pamfilo of Magliano, O.F.M.
St. Anthony Hospital is a large general hospital located in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is the oldest hospital in the state and one of 19 operated by SSM Health, a not-for-profit Roman Catholic care provider. St. Anthony Hospital is home to medical and surgical programs providing general acute care services including: cardiology, oncology, neurology, behavioral medicine, surgery, kidney transplantation and other services. An advanced structural heart disease program is offered at the affiliated Saints Heart and Vascular Institute.
Hospital Sisters Health System, or HSHS, is a non-profit healthcare system headquartered in Springfield, Illinois. HSHS operates a network of 15 hospitals and other healthcare facilities throughout the midwestern U.S. states of Illinois, and Wisconsin. HSHS also operates St. John's College, the oldest Catholic hospital based nursing school in the United States.
Mary Antona Ebo, FSM, was an American nun, hospital administrator, and civil rights activist. She was the first African-American woman to head a Catholic hospital, and is known for marching with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma in 1965, famously saying "I'm here because I'm a Negro, a nun, a Catholic, and because I want to bear witness."
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
