Our story begins in 1851 when the first Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine (CSA) arrived in Cleveland, Ohio from France to serve as the city’s first public health nurses.
As the CSA Congregation grew, the Sisters continued to respond to unmet community needs of the changing times. The Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine established hospitals, schools and dozens of health and social service programs in Ohio and South Carolina.
The health care ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System has an extensive history of innovation and quality. This health care legacy continues today at a community health campus in Cleveland that is home to a community health center, including the renowned Rosary Hall, which provides outpatient addiction treatment services.
ST. VINCENT CHARITY HEALTH CAMPUS
In late 2022, the Sisters of Charity Health System and St. Vincent Charity Medical Center announced the vision for the St. Vincent Charity Health Campus. This new ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System is transforming the Sisters of Charity’s property on East 22nd Street, including St. Vincent Charity Medical Center, into a vibrant hub that promotes holistic health and wellness through health care and services that address the social determinants of health. This vision extends the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine’s healing ministry established in 1851 to serve unmet needs in our community. St. Vincent Charity has provided high quality, faith-based care since 1865 and now provides care through St. Vincent Charity Community Health Center, which is an outpatient health care provider offering services in primary care, occupational health, behavioral health and addiction medicine, urgent care, psychiatric emergency services, and more. The health center is home to the renowned Rosary Hall, which offers outpatient addiction treatment services.
The CSA sisters' history also includes founding four other hospitals that are now owned by other entities. Each continues its mission as a Catholic hospital, working as an extension of the healing ministry of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church.
MERCY MEDICAL CENTER
Due to the generosity of Mrs. Rosa Klorer who had purchased the former residence of U.S. President William McKinley, the Sisters were called to Canton (OH) to establish Stark County's first and only Catholic hospital in the historic home in 1908. Today, Mercy Medical Center offers comprehensive programs and services to meet the health care needs of the community.
PROVIDENCE HOSPITAL
The opening of Providence Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1938 was the result of an extraordinary act of faith by an extraordinary collection of people. With an invitation and support from Fr. Martin C. Murphy of St. Peter's Church and Columbia businessman James B. Younginer, the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine mortgaged their Ohio motherhouse to finance a new hospital in a city the Sisters had never even seen. Providence Hospital continues today as a leading provider of cardiovascular services in South Carolina. In February 2016, the Sisters of Charity Health System announced the completed acquisition of Providence Hospital by LifePoint Health.
ST. JOHN MEDICAL CENTER
This hospital opened its doors in 1981 as the result of a merger of two long-standing health care institutions: St. John Hospital and Bay View Osteopathic General Hospital. Today, St. John Medical Center in Westlake, Ohio, offers a full range of both inpatient and outpatient services and serves as a teaching hospital for the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine. In November 2015, the SCHS/UH 50/50 joint venture of St. John Medical Center transitioned to full ownership by University Hospitals.
PROVIDENCE ORTHOPEDIC HOSPITAL
Established in 1999 and formerly known as Providence Hospital Northeast, this hospital is a 74-bed fully-functioning orthopedic specialty hospital. Along with premium orthopedic care, the hospital houses an emergency room, the offices for Providence Physicians practices and the Moore Center for Orthopedics. In February 2016, the Sisters of Charity Health System announced the completed acquisition of Providence Orthopedic Hospital by LifePoint Health.
NEW STRATEGIES FOR GROWTH
Our hospitals have always thrived through the contributions of our co-ministers, the laity. In 1982, the need for an even broader infrastructure with greater participation of the laity was clear. Through the leadership of Sr. Mary Patricia Barrett, CSA, the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine Health System (now known as Sisters of Charity Health System) was established to promote collaboration and provide strategic direction and faith-based leadership to the growing family of ministries. The formation of the parent corporation was a critical step in increasing the involvement of laity in the oversight and operations of the Sisters’ health care ministry.
RESPONDING TO UNMET NEEDS
Other additions to the Sisters of Charity Health System’s family of ministries include two residential care centers for the elderly, new collaborative partnerships for health and human services and the Cleveland area's only medical respite program for men and women experiencing homelessness to recover from illness or medical treatment. Healthy Learners is a South Carolina network providing health services free of charge to children from low-income families.
VISION FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW
Today, the Sisters of Charity Health System lives out its true devotion to healing by serving the unmet needs of hundreds of thousands of children and families in Northeast Ohio and South Carolina. We continue this tradition of healing the whole person through a range of health and human services organizations, including a community health center in Cleveland, two geriatric residential facilities, direct services in health, education and housing, and grantmaking foundations with significant community initiatives that focus on the root causes of poverty.
We are dedicated to excellence, pledged to advocate for the poor and committed to the values of Jesus Christ. At all levels, we are a trusted resource for those in need of physical, psychological or spiritual wholeness.