Pittsburgh Mercy history

Mercy established the region’s first teaching hospital with resident physicians in training in 1848.

Vintage color postcard showing Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh in 1917.

The origins of Northern Southwest date to the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Act of 1966 passed by the Pennsylvania legislature.

In 1974, the Northern Communities Citizens Advisory Group selected Roy Lahet as its administrator.

In the year prior to Lahet’s appointment, Allegheny County established a contractual relationship with St John’s to operate Northern Communities, a move that the County later made with Southwest Communities in 1978.

In 1983, they established Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, known today as Pittsburgh Mercy.

Allegheny County recommended the consolidation of Northern Communities and Southwest Communities in 1987.

As part of the system’s expansion, Pittsburgh Mercy acquired St John’s Hospital in Brighton Heights 1989, which included the St John’s division known as Northern Southwest Community Mental Health (MH)/Mental Retardation (MR) Services, or in short, Northern Southwest.

As part of the vision to provide a comprehensive, community-based continuum of services, Pittsburgh Mercy closed Mercy Psychiatric Institute in 1995, but retained Northern Southwest as an integral part of its mission, renaming it Mercy Behavioral Health to reflect this commitment.

In 2006, Mercy Hospital decided to seek a strategic partner to strengthen and preserve its faith-based care.