CHI St. Vincent Infirmary history

24, 1888, Mother Mary Aloysius Fitzpatrick and Sister Mary Clare Quinlan, Sisters of Mercy at St Mary’s Convent in Little Rock, came to Hot Springs with orders to administer and operate a hospital and call it St Joseph’s Infirmary.

Owing to the general appreciation of the public, immediate steps are being taken to enlarge the capacity of the buildings." - Arkansas Gazette, March 1889.In 1889, Bishop Fitzgerald changed the name of the hospital from Charity Hospital to the Little Rock Infirmary.

The April 11, 1903, edition of the Watertown (N.Y.) Herald wrote: “St Joseph’s Infirmary is a combination of a first-class hotel and hospital; a place for the person seeking rest, recreation or health.

The first class, seven students, graduated in 1909.

Also, in 1920, St Vincent became the first hospital in the state to be certified by the American College of Surgeons.

In 1927, the Sisters of Mercy opened Arkansas’ first million dollar hospital on adjacent property.

Years later, this organization developed into the healthcare accreditation organization now known as The Joint Commission.In 1938, the Sisters celebrated their Golden Jubilee (50th anniversary) in Little Rock by opening a maternity annex.

The 60-bed maternity wing would also become the foundation for the state's first Intensive Care Nursery in 1972.

That title endured until 1976 when the name of the hospital, which had grown by leaps and bounds, was changed to St Joseph’s Mercy Medical Center because it had come to be recognized as one of the most modern facilities of its kind in a seven-state area.

That building was used until 1991 when St Joseph’s Mercy Health Center opened at the current location of St Vincent Hot Springs’ main campus.

It opened in Sherwood in October 1999.