SSM Health Care
SSM Health Care
Sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of Mary and based in St. Louis, MO, SSM Health Care (SSMHC) is one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the country.
SSMHC 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. Upon arriving in St. Louis, they began providing nursing care to people in their own homes. The congregation received its formal name as the sisters of St. Mary (SSM), so named because their convent shared a door with St. Mary of Victories Church in downtown St. Louis.
Prior to 1985, most of the health care facilities that today belong to SSMHC were part of a group of hospitals owned by the sisters and centrally governed but not centrally managed. In the mid-1980's, the sponsoring congregation decided to reorganize its hospitals into a system of centrally managed health care providers, and SSM Health Care was created. 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.
In 1986, Mary Jean Ryan, FSM, became the first President/CEO of SSMHC; she continues in that leadership role today.
The mission of SSM Health Care is:
Through our exceptional health care services, we reveal the healing presence of God.
As its founder and sponsor, the Franciscan Sisters of Mary congratulates SSM Health Care as the first health care system in the nation to receive the distinguished Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.