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Welcome
History of Mercy Medical Center
Mission
Values
History of the Sisters of Mercy
Welcome to the Website of Mercy Medical Center - Centerville
Our hospital has served Centerville and Appanoose County for over 90 years. Our hospital, community, and healthcare have all changed radically since 1910 when the Sisters of Mercy began their ministry here. The hospital has changed physical locations twice. Our current technologies such as surgical lasers, color flow Doppler ultrasound, C.T., MRI, laparoscopic surgery,
P.E.T. scans and telemedicine existed only in the minds of science fiction writers of the day. A first class letter cost 2¢ to send and the Chicago Cubs were in the World Series - events that only exist in the minds of science fiction writers today!
But with regard to healthcare in our area, there are things that haven't changed. The vision of Catherine McAuley and her Sisters of Mercy has not wavered in Centerville. Although the faces have changed and the numbers have increased, the compassion, excellence, and dedication of the doctors and hospital employees has been as constant as the daily rising of the sun.
All of us at Mercy Medical Center - Centerville are privileged to be in the position of serving in a ministry of healing. The author Julianna Casey noted that healthcare is about people who are vulnerable and anxious interacting with people who seek to alleviate suffering, to heal, and to accompany others in their struggles. In all of Mercy Medical Center's endeavors beginning with wellness/health promotion and ending with faith based hospice services, it is our Mission to promote the well-being of people in the communities we serve by living the values that define and guide all of our actions.
We know you will find our web site information interesting. In our hospital we foster a commitment to continuous quality improvement. Please help us in that endeavor by using the e-mail connection located in the site to contact us with comments, questions, and suggestions.
Thank you for allowing us to serve you.
History
In 1902, the medical fraternity of Centerville, IA, raised approximately $10,000 for the purpose of establishing a hospital.
The Wm. Peatman residence on South Main Street was purchased, and another, close by, was also secured and moved to the west end of the lot. In this latter building rooms were provided for the nurses as well as the chapel. Before work on the hospital had been completed, apartments were erected which joined the two structures mentioned and the result was a connected string of buildings, running from Main Street back to South Twelfth Street. The hospital was opened November 17, 1903, under the management of local physicians.
Financial and management difficulties were encountered in the operations of the hospital. Father Loftus of St. Mary's Church accompanied by a committee of business and professional men approached the Sisters of Mercy in Council Bluffs, Iowa and requested their assistance in the management and operation of the hospital. After a second request, Bishop Davis gave his approval for the Sisters to accept the responsibility and management of the hospital.
In September 1910, two Sisters of Mercy from Council Bluffs, Sister Evagelista Claherty and Sister Alacoque Lannan took over the management of the hospital, assuming all of its indebtedness. A few months after their arrival a small wing was added to accommodate the increasing patronage and the name of the hospital was changed to St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital. At this time also a three-year diploma School of Nursing was established in conjunction with the hospital. The School of Nursing was accredited by the State of Iowa in 1911. Seventy-five young women graduated and became R.N.'s by the time the school was closed in June of 1935.
A new structure with a 48-bed capacity was built in 1916 to replace the old hospital. The citizens of Centerville contributed $15,000 toward the construction of this building. In addition help was given to furnish many of the rooms of the four-story building which contained a total of 60 beds.
The Women's Hospital Auxiliary was formed in October of 1952 under the guidance of Sr. Mary Fabian Huber, R.S.M. The auxiliary organization was noted for its generous assistance in many hospital activities and continues to be a major force of support for SJMH to this day with 200 active members.
In August of 1953 a Federal Grant of $205,414 was approved for expansion of the hospital. The Sisters of Mercy and the Community equally shared the remainder of the debt. A successful fund drive was undertaken to raise the community's contribution to the building addition.
The close relationship between St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital and St. Mary's Church that began with Father Loftus original trip to Council Bluffs in 1910, continued as parish priests served as chaplains at the hospital. In 1967, the Sisters of Mercy donated the candleholders and holy water fonts for the brand new St. Mary's Church constructed that year.
Throughout the years, Mercy Sisters served as administrators, nurses, caregivers, pastoral ministers and managers of the hospital. The last Sister of Mercy to serve as administrator, Sr. Mary Timothea left in 1969 and later became Sr. Patricia Clare Sullivan, President of Mercy Health Center of Central Iowa and Mercy Hospital Medical Center in Des Moines.
In October of 1977, faced with an obsolete building, having numerous code violations that threatened the hospitals accreditation, the community once again embarked on a $300,000 fund drive to build a new facility on the north edge of town. The campaign was successful in raising $400,000 and in the spring of 1979 the hospital moved into a new 60-bed building that at that time was the most modern hospital facility in a 50-mile radius.
In 1986, St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital affiliated with Mercy Health Center of Central Iowa. This union not only assisted SJMH in developing expanded patient services and rural health care programs but also helped preserve and strengthen the institution and continued to serve the health needs in southeastern Iowa.
In 1998, St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital, in association with seven other Iowa Mercy sponsored facilities formed the Mercy Health Network of Iowa, a unified network of institutions, programs and services jointly owned by Catholic Health Initiatives and Mercy
Health Services. A full continuum of services is provided within this Iowa based healthcare system. Through this association, St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital officially changed its name in July 1999 to Mercy Medical Center-Centerville.
Under the sponsorship of the Sisters of Mercy and their world-wide acclaimed dedication to quality and compassion, Mercy Medical Center - Centerville has developed into one of rural Iowa's most outstanding health care facilities. By prudently directing the hospital in order to achieve an optimum mix of modern physical facility, quality medical staff, well-qualified professional employees, and up-to-date medical technology, the Board of Directors and Administration of MMCC has assured area residents of medical care usually found only in urban areas.
Mission
The mission of Mercy Medical Center - Centerville and Catholic
Health Initiatives is to nurture the healing ministry of the
Church by bringing it new life, energy, and viability in the 21st
century.
Fidelity to the Gospel urges us to emphasize human dignity and
social justice as we move toward the creation of healthier
communities.
Values
- REVERENCE
- Profound spirit of awe and respect for all of creation, shaping
relationships to self, to one another and to God, and acknowledging that we
hold in trust all that has been given to us.
- INTEGRITY
- Moral wholeness, soundness, uprightness, honesty, sincerity, as a basis of
trustworthiness.
- COMPASSION
- Feeling with others, begin one with others in their sorrows and joy,
rooted in the sense of solidarity as members of the human community.
- EXCELLENCE
- Outstanding achievement, merit virtue; continually surpassing standards to
achieve/maintain quality.
History of the Sisters of Mercy
Mother Mary Catherine McAuley, who along with a group of young women established a House of Mercy in Dublin, Ireland in 1827, founded the Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy (RSM). Their mission was to provide shelter and education to young, unemployed women. Mother McAuley and her co-workers soon extended their work to the care of orphans, education of children and the care of the sick and aged.
The Sisters of Mercy, at the request of the Bishops of America, came to the United States in 1840 and established their first convent in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The community grew rapidly and convents of Mercy soon spread throughout the country. There are currently nine provinces of the Sisters of Mercy in the United State and the Province Genera late is located in Maryland.
Sister Evangelist Claherty and Sister Alacoque Lannan, from the Mercy order in Council Bluffs, IA came to Centerville, Iowa in September of 1910 and took over management of the Centerville Hospital.
Mercy Medical Center - Centerville is owned by Mercy
Medical Center - Des Moines, Iowa and is a member of the Mercy Health Network of Iowa
and Catholic Health Initiatives.
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