SSM Health
SSM Health Care is a health care system that owns, manages and is affiliated with 15 acute care hospitals and two nursing homes in Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin and Oklahoma.
It is sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of Mary and based in St. Louis, Missouri. It is one of the largest Catholic systems in the country.
History of SSM Health Care
SSM Health Care 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. 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).
Most of the health care facilities that today belong to SSM Health Care 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 Care 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.
About SSM Health Care
Headquarters
- St. Louis, Missouri
Locations
- Missouri
- Wisconsin
- Illinois
- Oklahoma
Employees
- 23,000
Physicians
- More than 5,000
Mission Statement
- Through our exceptional health care services, we reveal the healing presence of God
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
In 2002, SSM Health Care became the first health care organization in history to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the nation's highest award for quality.
SSM Health Care Facilities
Missouri
- SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Health Center (St. Louis)
- SSM St. Clare Health Center (Fenton)
- SSM DePaul Health Center (Bridgeton)
- SSM St. Mary's Health Center (Richmond Heights)
- SSM St. Joseph Health Center (St. Charles)
- SSM St. Joseph Health Center (Wentzville)
- SSM St. Joseph Hospital West (Lake Saint Louis)
- St. Francis Hospital and Health Services (Maryville)
- St. Mary's Health Center (Jefferson City)
Wisconsin
- St. Clare Hospital and Health Services (Baraboo)
- St. Clare Meadows Care Center (Baraboo)
- St. Mary's Care Center (Madison)
- St. Mary's Hospital (Madison)
- Columbus Community Hospital (Columbus)
- Stoughton Hospital (Stoughton)
- New Janesville hospital coming in 2010
Illinois
- Good Samaritan Regional Health Center (Mount Vernon)
- St. Mary's Hospital (Centralia)
Oklahoma
- Bone and Joint Hospital at St. Anthony (Oklahoma City)
- St. Anthony Hospital (Oklahoma City)