Our MercyOne story

Timeline

19th Century

1831: Mother Catherine McAuley founds the Religious Sisters of Mercy in Dublin, Ireland.

1843: The Sisters of Mercy come to the United States to run a hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Their ministry spreads quickly.

1860: Mother M. Clara Pfaender founds the Congregation of Franciscan Sisters, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, in Olpe, Germany.

1872: Three Franciscan Sisters are sent from Germany to start a mother house near St. Louis.

Late 1800s: The Sisters of Mercy established hospitals across Iowa. Segments of the order, or what came to be called Regional Communities, operate the hospitals.

1879: Three Franciscan Sisters begin caring for patients in a house in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Sisters of Mercy arrive in Dubuque. They launch a healing ministry now known as Mercy Medical Center – Dubuque.

1893: Mercy Medical Center – Des Moines is founded by the Sisters of Mercy from Davenport. It’s the first hospital in Des Moines. Sponsorship later is transferred to the Sisters of Mercy Regional Community in Omaha.

1899 
The Mercy School of Nursing opens in Des Moines.

20th Century

1912 
The Franciscan Sisters found St. Francis Hospital in Waterloo, Iowa.

1947 
The Franciscan Sisters move their provincial mother house to Wheaton, Illinois, and become known as the Wheaton Franciscans.

1976 
The Sisters of Mercy Health Corporation based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, forms. It controls hospitals in three states. Iowa hospitals are in Clinton, Dubuque, Mason City, and Sioux City. The group is later renamed Mercy Health Services.

Regional Communities of Religious Sisters of Mercy also operate hospitals throughout Iowa.

1983 
Wheaton Franciscan Services, Inc. (WFSI) is incorporated. It embraces the hospitals and health care operations the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters had grown and merged since their beginning.

1986 
WFSI sets up regional health care holding companies. They include the Franciscan Iowa Service Corporation, WFSI-Fox Valley, WFSI-Illinois, WFSI-Milwaukee and WFSI-Racine.

WFSI forms Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo, Iowa, by merging St. Francis Hospital and neighboring Schoitz Medical Center.

1990s 
Trinity Health is created when Mercy Health Services merges with the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

1996 
Catholic Health Initiatives forms. The Catholic Health Corporation (previously formed by the Regional Community of Omaha RSM) joins with other Catholic orders and health systems to create the new group. CHI is based in Englewood, Colorado. Mercy medical centers in Des Moines and Centerville are among its health care units.

1998 
Mercy Health Network forms. Mercy Health Services (a predecessor to Trinity Health) and CHI agree to pursue their shared vision to improve health care services and the health status of people in their communities. The two national systems sign a Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) for their units in Iowa and selected adjacent areas. They will work as one regional health system.

21st Century

2000s:  WFSI runs hospitals, clinics, home care, and other services and facilities in three states.

2006: WFSI unites its regions into Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare and Wheaton Franciscan Medical Group. The system includes Wheaton Franciscan Health – Iowa. The Iowa group offers care at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo, Sartori Memorial Hospital in Cedar Falls and Mercy Hospital of Franciscan Sisters in Oelwein. Its services also include Covenant Clinic.

2015: The Wheaton Franciscan Sisters announce the transfer of Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare to new owners and sponsors. Its Iowa facilities will become part of MHN.

2016: The Wheaton Franciscan Sisters transfer their Iowa operations to Mercy Health Network.

CHI and Trinity Health sign a new agreement. The contract makes MHN a more integrated, effective, and competitive regional health system. It simplifies decision making and streamlines business processes. MHN is more clinically, operationally, and financially integrated. Hospitals, clinics and other ministries of MHN function as a true regional system. It responds to community needs and business opportunities quickly and efficiently. The units work together to enhance quality, control costs, and improve the health of populations.

Today

Now a member of Trinity Health, based in Livonia, Michigan and one of the largest Catholic not-for-profit health systems, MercyOne provides award-winning health care to our communities.

We have annual operating revenues of more than $3.8 billion.

We employ more than 22,000 people.

More than 2,000 physicians and advanced practice clinicians provide care in MercyOne facilities. With nearly 1,000 formally integrated, MercyOne is one of the largest multi-specialist physician group practices in Iowa.

The MercyOne ACO (Accountable Care Organization) is recognized as one of the most successful in the nation. Health coaches and other fresh techniques help people better manage chronic diseases and improve their health.