Mercy Health,[2] formerly Catholic Health Partners, is a Catholic health care system with locations in Ohio and Kentucky.[3][4][5] Cincinnati-based Mercy Health operates more than 250 healthcare organizations in Ohio and Kentucky. Mercy Health is the second largest health system in Ohio and the state's fourth-largest employer.[6]
On September 1, 2018, Mercy Health and Bon Secours Health System USA combined to become Bon Secours Mercy Health.[7] Bon Secours Mercy Health headquarters are co-located with Mercy Health in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Religious Sisters of Mercy (R.S.M.) were founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. The sisters arrived in the United States in 1843. Eventually thirty-nine separate Sisters of Mercy congregations across the United States and Latin America developed from that first convent in Pittsburgh. The Sisters of Mercy established hospitals in Hamilton, Ohio in 1892 and in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1898.
In 1855 Toledo, Ohio was in the midst of a cholera and malaria epidemic. Father Augustine Campion, pastor of St. Francis de Sales Church, asked the Sisters of Charity of Montreal for assistance. They established St. Vincent Hospital. In 1983 the Sisters of Charity of Montreal established Covenant Health Systems to direct, support and conduct their health care, elder care and social service systems throughout the United States.[8] St. Vincent's Medical Center in Toledo joined Catholic Health Partners, while Covenant Health Systems retained management of the facilities in New England.
The sisters entered health care in 1879 when St. Joseph's Infirmary was built, the first Catholic hospital in the Mahoning Valley, which functioned until 1910 when the sisters were given charge of St. Elizabeth Hospital in Youngstown, Ohio.[9] Two more Ohio hospitals came under the direction of the sisters - St. Joseph Health Center in Warren in 1924 and St. Elizabeth in Boardman. By 2011, Humility of Mary Health Partners was formed to oversee the administration and management of St. Elizabeth Hospital and St. Joseph Health Center and several other area health-care services.[10] By 2014, the hospitals were run by Catholic Health Partners.[11]
Incorporated in 1986 as Mercy Health Care Systems, in 1997 the name was changed to Catholic Healthcare Partners to reflect the multiple religious communities that sponsored it. It was later shortened to Catholic Health Partners to reflect its growing emphasis on preventative care and overall wellness.[12] It became Mercy Health in 2014.[3] On September 1, 2018, Bon Secours Health System and Mercy Health merged. The merger created one of the largest Catholic healthcare systems in the United States.
These Catholic organizations co-sponsor Mercy Health:[13] the Sisters of Mercy, South Central Community; the Sisters of Mercy, Mid-Atlantic Community; the Sisters of Humility of Mary; and the Sisters of Charity of Montreal.
Mercy Health serves seven markets: Cincinnati, Toledo, Youngstown, Lima, Lorain and Springfield in Ohio and Paducah and Irvine in Kentucky.[14][6]
In the Cincinnati area, there are six hospitals:[15]
And four additional 24-hour standalone emergency rooms:[16]
One hospital in Allen County:[17]
One additional 24-hour standalone emergency room:[18]
One additional 24-hour standalone emergency room:[21]
Seven hospitals in Toledo and the Northwest Ohio area:[22]
And one additional 24-hour standalone emergency room:[23]
Three hospitals in the Mahoning Valley area:[24]
One additional 24-hour standalone emergency room:[25]
