Giving
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. Five years after arriving in St. Louis, initiating a ministry to the sick and nursing people with smallpox and other illnesses in their homes, the Sisters' focus began to shift to the care of the sick in hospitals.
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 to minister 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.