Mercy Medical Service Inc history

Washington University School of Medicine was founded in 1827 and eventually the physician leadership opened a hospital in Downtown Baltimore to care for the poor.

The Congregation of the Infant Jesus had its beginnings in 1835 in Neufchatel, France.

Upon Catherine’s death in 1841, there were as many as 150 Sisters of Mercy, and shortly thereafter, small groups of Sisters left Ireland to serve the needs of those in various other countries, including the United States.

Only three weeks later, on September 27, 1873, the new Mercy Hospital admitted its first patient—a gentleman with tuberculosis.

On a chilly November 11, 1874, six Sisters of Mercy arrived in Baltimore to take charge of a health dispensary called the Baltimore City Hospital.

In 1878, Washington University was absorbed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons and ownership of the hospital was transferred to the Sisters of Mercy.

In 1885 the Sisters purchased a property called the Dostal House, located about three blocks northeast of the first hospital, and moved into it early the next year.

In the early 1900's, due to religious persecutions in France and in order to attempt to preserve the community, some members were sent to Belgium and some to England. It established its Motherhouse in LeMans, France in 1888.

The Sisters of Mercy and the Medical School faculty worked together until 1898 when the State Board of Regents appropriated money to build a new hospital for the Medical School.

The Sisters of Mercy established the Baltimore City Hospital School of Nursing on this campus in 1899.

Mercy's first patient in 1900 was a 72-year-old housewife from Arlington, Iowa, who had cataract surgery.

The three women who arrived in New York on October 21, 1905 were women of courage, faith and adventure.

Atrium Health Mercy, a facility of Carolinas Medical Center, formerly Mercy Hospital, and Mercy School of Nursing were established together in 1906 by the Sisters of Mercy of North Carolina.

In 1907, Bishop McDonnell received approval from Pope Pius X to establish the sisters as an American Community, distinct from their origins in the French Congregation.

When the Sisters formally opened the 18-bed Mercy Hospital in the McKinley home on September 24, 1908 – the feast day of Our Lady of Mercy – it had been exactly 57 years since the first Sisters left Boulogne sur Mer, France, to care for the orphans and sick of northeast Ohio.

When the Sisters of Mercy officially changed the hospital’s name to Mercy in 1909, the school became known as the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing.

On February 19, 1910, four courageous young women, all Sisters of Mercy from Los Angeles, arrived in Bakersfield to take over the care of patients in what was formerly the St Clair Hospital on H and 16th Streets.

Mercy Hospital soon outgrew its original building and in 1911 opened a new 53-bed facility at 8th Street and North Market.

The College’s teaching partnership with the Sisters of Mercy lasted until 1916, when the College of Physicians and Surgeons was absorbed by the University of Maryland School of Medicine and ultimately created a new partnership - a treasured relationship which continues today.

Mercy later became incorporated on December 8, 1948, and a year later was managed by the Dominican Sisters of Kenosha, Wisconsin.

On April 24, 1950, the Timken Foundation of Canton presented the H. H. Timken mansion and its 30.8-acre tract of land at Harrison Avenue and 12th Street N.W. to the Sisters.

In 1956, the hospital received full accreditation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals.

The first male students were enrolled in 1966.

In 1967, the official Mercy cap was adopted.

Further additions included, an $8.3 million tower in December 1979.

Mercy Hospital South, located in Pineville, NC, opened in 1987.

In an effort to meet the community’s increasing needs in southwest Bakersfield, Mercy Hospital Southwest opened in 1992 and quickly established a reputation for superior health care.

On June 5, 1995, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority acquired Mercy Health Services, Inc., including the Mercy School of Nursing.

In May of 1996, Mercy Hospital joined Catholic Healthcare West, a system of hospitals, ancillary facilities, home care, and physician organizations in California, Arizona, and Nevada.

In 1997, the county approved Sutter Health to lease what they called Sutter Merced Medical Center.

Mercy and Sutter initiated a series of discussions in the Fall of 1999, with the intent of finding the best direction to meet the hospital and health care needs of the citizens of Merced County.

Opened in 2007, the dental clinic offers preventive, diagnostic, restorative and emergency dental care for poor and underserved.

Perhaps Mercy’s most important project to date and its biggest investment in the community is the state-of-the-art Main Hospital, The Mary Catherine Bunting Center, which opened in 2010.