Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
MERCY MEDICAL CENTER
See: JULIEN HOUSE
MERCY MEDICAL CENTER. In 1879, at the request of Bishop John HENNESSY, Mother Mary Baptist Martin, Sister Mary Agatha Murphy and Sister Mary Euphrasia come to Dubuque to establish a hospital. (1) On January 13, they opened St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital in a house at the corner of Third Street and Bluff. (2) The facility was the second hospital established in the State of Iowa by the SISTERS OF MERCY and quickly became the largest hospital within Dubuque and Jackson counties in Iowa; Jo Daviess County, Illinois; and Grant County, Wisconsin.
Working without heat, electricity, or running water, the Sisters by April 1879 were caring for fourteen orphans and many elderly. The orphans were taught reading, writing, and arithmetic while the older children were taught to work. Housing was also provided for homeless girls looking for work. The government paid St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital 86 cents a day for caring for the "marines," river workers. Other patients were charged a weekly fee with the homeless treated for free. (3)
On New Year's Eve, 1880 a Mercy Hospital Fair was held at the DUBUQUE CITY HALL. Ladies in charge of the event with the help of ladies from ST. MARY'S CATHOLIC CHURCH organized set up several displays of items for drawings including a parlor and chamber set of furniture, silver tea set, and refreshment table. (4)
Within one year the hospital had outgrown its home and moved to larger quarters on KELLY'S BLUFF where Mercy Medical Center was later built. (5) The medical staff in the early days of the hospital included ten physicians and the sisters who, in addition to their attention to spiritual needs of the patients, cooked, washed, ironed, and cleaned. In 1885 the Sisters of Mercy opened ST. JOSEPH'S SANITARIUM, the first mental health provider in the area. (6)
A $25,000 surgical annex was opened in 1892 which nearly doubled its size. Although surgeries had previously been done, this annex housed the first Surgery Department. (7)
In the fall of 1900 Mercy opened its NURSING EDUCATION program with instruction including the proper methods of bed making, dusting, dressing wounds, and the application of leeches. The school was accredited by the State Board of Nurses Examiners in July of the same year. (8) Graduating its first class in 1902, the school remained open until 1974. (9)
Continued expansion included the construction of East Building, a $200,000 addition in 1905 that nearly doubled the hospital's size. This addition also housed the area's first permanent operating room and boasted an X-ray machine. This addition was thought to make Mercy the "finest hospital west of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. (10)
ST. ANTHONY'S HOME FOR THE AGED was constructed in 1912. Located west of the hospital it was partially demolished in 1967 to allow for additional hospital expansion. The remainder of the building was torn down in 1970. The site was soon occupied by Medical Associates East Campus. (11)
The original hospital building was demolished in 1921 to make room for McAuley Hall, a convent for the Sisters. The convent, opened in 1922, remained until the early 1980s when it was demolished for the construction of the Professional Arts Plaza. (12)
In 1922 one of the largest x-ray machines in the world for the treatment of cancer was installed in St. Joseph's at a cost of $10,000. This made Dubuque the second city in Iowa (behind Davenport) to have such a machine. (13)
In 1947 the $2,500,000 expansion increased Mercy's capacity with an additional two hundred beds. (14)
On February 8, 1970, the new medical center was dedicated which combined the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, St. Anthony's Home for the Aged, and St. Joseph's Sanitarium for the mentally ill. (15) The resulting $9,500,000 facility received funds from the Hill-Burton Act for hospital construction, mental health monies, and a $1,100,000 community fund drive headed by Postmaster Charles J. MURPHY who coined the phrase,"The Umbrella of Mercy." This was the largest community fund drive of Dubuque's history to that time.
In March 1970, Mercy began the first INHALATION THERAPY TECHNICIANS SCHOOL in Iowa. At the time Mercy employed three of the estimated ten inhalation therapists in the state. In 1971 Mercy opened one of the first neonatal intensive care units in Iowa. (16)
In a 1971 study, Hamilton and Associates recommended locating doctors' offices near the hospital. This was followed in 1975 by the move of the MEDICAL ASSOCIATES CLINIC PC (THE) office building to its present location. On July 1, 1976, Mercy Health Center became a division of the Sisters of Mercy Health Corporation, the nation's largest Catholic health system. (17) Mercy Health Center merged with the Dyersville Community Hospital on January 1, 1978, leading to the creation of Mercy Health Center, St. Mary's Unit, Dyersville and St. Joseph's Unit, Dubuque. (18)
In 1981 Mercy merged with the Franciscan-operated XAVIER HOSPITAL. (19) Designated a regional health center, Mercy was the home of the Northeast Iowa Regional Perinatal Unit, Substance Abuse Treatment Center, and the Eastern Iowa comprehensive mental health center in addition to being the Trauma Center for Northwestern Illinois and the Iowa-designated Poison Information Center. Sister Helen HUEWE, who had been the president of Xavier, transitioned to the same role at MERCY MEDICAL CENTER from 1986 to 1997. (20)
In 1989 Betty WEBER, manager of the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit, helped begin the Share program which provided support and comfort to parents whose babies had died. (21)
Mercy Health Center, along with other Mercy Health Services hospitals in Clinton, Mason City and Sioux City, Iowa and Mercy Hospital Medical Center in Des Moines, joined together in 1998 to form Mercy Health Network. (22) In 1999 Mercy Health Center became known Mercy Medical Center - Dubuque and Mercy Medical Center - Dyersville. (23) In 2000 Mercy Health Services of Farmington Hills, Michigan, consolidated with Holy Cross Health System of South Bend, Indiana, to form Trinity Health, headquartered in Novi, Michigan. (24)
Regular announcements of progress in medical care continued to be the norm. In 1999 Mercy Medical Center-Dubuque officials announced that the hospital was able to transmit ultrasound images of children's hearts. The technology allowed the transmission of pediatric echocardiograms - ultrasound images of children's hearts -from Mercy to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where the "echoes" were interpreted. (25) Mercy - Dubuque opened the Medical Associates Community Cardiology Center on its campus in 2005. In November 2009 Mercy hosted an open house at its new inpatient psychiatric unit. (26) Mercy opened the region's only autism center in July 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOI6z6WcbHg (27)
Mercy Medical Center-Dubuque was one of 277 American hospitals recognized in a three-page advertisement in the July 23, 2007 issue of US News & World Report by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's "Get With the Guidelines (GWTG)" program. The program recognized performance achievement in cardiac patient care, helping hospitals ensure that patients consistently receive cardiac and stroke care according to the most up-to-date guidelines and recommendations. (28) In March 2012, Mercy Medical Center announced that the construction of new intensive-care and cardiovascular units had a target completion date of August. The project included 22,000 square feet of renovated space and about 8,000 square feet of new construction. Features included small areas for nurses outside the patients' intensive-care rooms and larger rooms to facilitate equipment for tests. Instead of taking patients out of their rooms, testing equipment would be brought to the patient.
One of the most meaningful benchmarks for hospitals has become the Magnet designation. In 1981, during a serious shortage of nurses, the American Academy of Nursing commissioned a study to identify hospitals with the best nursing practices in the country. The term “Magnet” was adopted to describe these select hospitals, because they acted as magnets in attracting and retaining outstanding nurses. Since that time, the American Nurses Credentialing Center has formally recognized only 289 hospitals across the country for meeting the rigorous standards required in achieving this prestigious award.
Mercy Medical Center received Magnet status in November 2004. (29) It became the 134th hospital in the country and the second of only two hospitals in Iowa to receive the designation. It was re-designated with Magnet status in 2009 (30)
In 2015 Mercy Medical Center and the University of Iowa Health Care announced that AirCare, the state's first hospital-based helicopter ambulance service would station AirCare 3 at Mercy beginning in early 2016. AirCare became the 11th helicopter ambulance service in the nation on April 1, 1979 with one aircraft based in Iowa City. AirCare 2 began service from Schoitz Hospital in Waterloo in 1988 and in 2015 was cased at Covenant Hospital in Waterloo. Between 1979 and 2015 over 30,000 patients were flown by AirCare, the first and only Iowa-based air ambulance service to receive accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems. (31)
Philanthropy played a major part in the continued success of the Center. Examples include a meeting called on June 9, 1879 when $370.00 was pledged for the Sisters' work. The 1928 "Fruit Shower" saw 342 jars of jam and jelly, 33 jars of pickles, two bushels of potatoes, 12 quarts of tomatoes, a peck of onions, ten pounds of prune and other donations sold with $15,000 being raised to endow two charity rooms. A public appeal in 1947 helped finance a $500,000 addition while the 1965 "Umbrella of Mercy" capital campaign raised over $1 million. An expanded patient entrance, remodeled cafeteria, and ambulatory service area were funded in the mid-1990s. Since 1992 Mercy's annual giving program raised over $1 million for special needs from hi-tech beds for premature infants to ICU cardiac monitors. The Mercy Service Club donated its Gift Shop profits to children's services and the Mercy Auxiliary in Dubuque and Dyersville. (32)
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Source:
1. Gallagher, Mary Kevin. Seed/Harvest. Dubuque, Iowa: Archdiocese of Dubuque Press, 1987, p. 40
2. Celebrating 125 Years, Mercy Medical Center, p. 3
3. Ibid.
4. "Mercy Hospital Fair," Dubuque Herald, December 28, 1879, p. 4. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=uh8FjILnQOkC&dat=18791228&printsec=frontpage&hl=en
5. "Mercy Dubuque," Online: http://www.mercydubuque.com/history
6. Ibid.
7. Celebrating 125 Years, p. 3
8. "Mercy Dubuque"
9. Ibid.
10. Celebrating 125 Years
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. "St. Joseph's Buys X-ray for Cancer," Telegraph Herald, September 10, 1922, p. 5
14. "Mercy Dubuque"
15. Ibid.
16. Jacobson, Ben. "Dream Fulfilled: 6-Plus Decades of Nursing," Telegraph Herald, January 1, 2015, p. 1
17. "Mercy Dubuque"
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. "The Sisters of St. Francis," Celebrating 125 Years, Mercy Medical Center, 2004, p. 5
21. Jacobson, Ben.
22. Ibid
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Hogstrom, Erik. "Dubuque Sending Echoes," Telegraph Herald, Oct. 18, 1999, p. B10
26. Hogstrom, Erik."Change Coming to Unit at Mercy," Telegraph Herald, Nov. 12, 2009, p. 3
27. "New Autism Clinic Opens in Dubuque," KCRG, April 27, 2010. Online: http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/92252204.html
28. "Mercy Recognized by Heart/Stroke Program," Telegraph Herald, August 29, 2007, p. 3
29. "Mercy Dubuque"
30. "Mercy Hospital"-Wikipedia
31. "UI Health Care to Base Medical Helicopter in Dubuque," The Golden View, October, 2015, p. 3.
32. "A History of Lifesaving Support," Celebrating 125 Years, Mercy Medical Center, 2004,