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About Us
Living the traditions visions and values of the Sisters of Mercy Mercy Medical CenterSioux City is a regional medical center that meets the needs of residents in a 33county area of western Iowa eastern Nebraska and southeastern South Dakota

In addition to the main hospital in Sioux City MercySioux City owns rural hospitals in Primghar Iowa and Oakland Nebraska manages hospitals in Pender Nebraska and Hawarden Iowa and operates a primary care clinic network specialty care clinics and home health services Mercy also partners with other community healthcare providers to sponsor a regional cancer center paramedic services hospice services a freestanding surgery center and a variety of other health services

Mercy has earned more national recognition for quality patient outcomes than any other hospital in the region The medical center has earned multiple honors for its leadership and excellence in several clinical areas including cardiac care orthopedic services vascular surgery stroke care and cancer care

MercySioux City is also home to the only Level II Trauma Center in Western Iowa and provides a vital lifesaving link to rural areas via Mercy Air Care the hospitals helicopter ambulance service

Mercy Medical CenterSioux City is a member of Trinity Health Novi Michigan the fourth largest Catholic healthcare system in the nation As Mercy continues to position itself as Siouxlands most trusted health partner for life it will always keep in focus its central mission providing extraordinary care for patients in the communities it serves

Mission amp Values
Our Mission
Our mission as Mercy Medical Center Sioux City is to work together and with others to continue the healing ministry of the Church promoting the well being of people in the communities we serve by living the values of compassion respect concern for those who are poor excellence and stewardship

Our Vision
In partnership with physicians staff and the community Mercy will become the indispensable provider of health care services to the communities in our region

Our Values
Compassion

We serve others with tenderness and generosity treating them as they would like to be treated

Respect

We recognize the dignity of each individual by promoting an atmosphere of hospitality trust and cooperation

Concern for Those Who are Poor

We strive to relieve misery and address its causes particularly committing our resources to those most in need

Excellence

We seek to continually improve the delivery of services in our communities working toward distinction in all we do

Stewardship

We responsibly manage our Godgiven resources for the common good

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History

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History
The story of Mercy Medical Center really begins in Ireland in 1831 with the founding of the Sisters of Mercy in Dublin by Catherine A McAuley The work of Sister Catherine and the Sisters of Mercy was caring for the citys poor especially women and children in the Houses of Mercy

In a few years their charitable work spread throughout the British Isles the continent and in midnineteenth century to the cities and factory and mining towns of the United States In the US the Sisters cared for poor immigrants and anyone too destitute to pay for medical care

Their good works were so well known by 1890 that civic leaders of Sioux City that year invited the Sisters to establish a hospital that was not to be associated in any way with city government Mother Mary Agatha Murphy a native of Ireland wasted no time snatching up a large Victorian house at the corner of 28th and Jennings Streets for the princely sum back then of 12999 That house built by John Pierce a prosperous Sioux City businessman was the inauspicious beginning of St Joseph Mercy Hospital which would much later become Mercy Medical CenterSioux City

In the summer of 1890 the Sisters moved 20 patients to another building built by Pierce at 21st Street and what is now Court Street The Pierces left most of the furnishings behind for the Sisters along with many of their belongingsincluding a horse and buggy and a cow Later that year the Sisters built a threestory brick hospital at the site at a cost of 20000 It became Sioux Citys first building constructed as a hospital At the time those who cared for the sick often contracted communicable diseases As a result many of the Sisters died young from infectious diseases

A list of St Josephs patient complaints included acute catarrh cable car and horse accidents nervous prostration and typhoid fever In 1893 after a tornado in Pomeroy a central Iowa town the injured were transported by train to the hospitalprefiguring Mercys Air Care by almost a century

The early Sisters not only cared for the sick they grew vegetables for the hospitals kitchen milked the cow for fresh milk and grew and cut flowers for hospital rooms

The philosophy of the Sisters of Mercy in Sioux City is summed up in their statement from the late 19th century Any poor person who cannot afford the heavy expense of sickness will be tenderly cared for in the Sisters hospital free of any charge If he should happen to die and have no friends he will be decently buried at the Sisters expense andending on a somewhat ghoulish note no dissecting room will ever see his bones

In the late 1890s the income from hospital charges 6 a week for a double room 10 for a privatewas inadequate to cover expenses To raise money several Sioux City women formed the Mercy Hospital Association the forerunner of todays Mercy Auxiliary

In 1902 the Sisters opened St Josephs School of Nursing With the number of patients averaging 100 a month student nurses went to work immediately in the hospitallearning on the job Under the Sisters the hospital grew and advanced in technology Early 20th century medical equipment seems primitive to us moderns but St Josephs was credited with several firsts for Iowa including an Xray machine in 1910 A year later a major addition doubled the hospitals capacity so that it could care for 200 patients The addition was timely with major population growth in Sioux Cityand three devastating fires in the decade that resulted in hundreds treated at St Josephs

In 1924 the hospital recorded 4000 admissions and 15000 visitors The everenterprising Sisters seeing the need for more space added five more stories The new addition housed many advances in medical technology including a new treatment for cancer called deep therapy and a high tech marvel of the time that may seem hopelessly quaint to us a blanket warmer for each floor

In the 1920s relatives and friends of a patient undergoing surgery could watch the operation from behind a partition This protected them from ether fumesand protected surgeons from onlookers who had been known to interfere with the surgery by grabbing the doctors hands

In the 1930s St Josephs continued to grow and expand to meet the needs of Sioux City residents In that decade the Sisters established western Iowas first physical therapy unit that included a Hubbard Tank used to treat polio victims

In the forties St Josephs opened the first outpatient and emergency department and later the first blood bank in the hospitals lab Other advancements included Schools of Medical Technology and Radiotechnology and a new fivestory wing that added 100 beds to the hospitals existing 200 Polio claimed the life of the first Sioux City resident in 1946 a seven year old Fifteen cases were admitted during September alone that year In 1952 polio in Sioux City had reached epidemic status Proportionally Sioux City was hit harder by the crippling disease than anywhere else in the country with 952 cases reported in 1952 alone Fortunately a new addition had been built that same year bringing the total number of beds to 400 and the hospital was able to care for the large number of polio patients Nine of the citys 11 iron lungs were also housed at St Josephs With the additional beds St Josephs became one of the largest hospitals in the Midwest The projects total cost was 4563000 One major improvement Each patient room now had its own bathroom

Polio struck a disproportionate number of Sioux City children As a result many celebrities from the world of sports and entertainment stopped by the polio ward to cheer up the young patients Among them were former heavy weight champ Jack Dempsey the movies singing cowboy Gene Autry and comedian Bob Hope During the polio years St Josephs added Iowas first cancer center and a 39bed psychiatric unit In the 1960s the hospital introduced EKG monitors and defibrillators to Sioux City These were the first steps in its becoming one of the states most complete coronary care units by 1965 That same year the Xray department installed an image intensifier a nuclear scanner and a laminograph

In the early seventies St Josephs and St Vincent a hospital operated by the Benedictine Sisters at 6th and Jennings Streets in Sioux City joined forces to begin the citys first hospitalbased ambulance service In 1974 St Josephs added a zeroradiograph an instrument for the early detection of breast cancer In January 1977 the citys two Catholic hospitals announced that they would merge and form one institution Marian Health Center The name was chosen from among 200 entries submitted by employees of the hospitals Later that year the two hospitals established the first cardiac catheterization lab paving the way for Dr Ted Roman in 1978 to perform the citys first open heart surgery in the St Josephs unit Groundbreaking ceremonies were held in 1979 for a new 28 million hospital adjacent to St Vincents the present site of Mercy Medical Center

St Vincents brought many services to the merger including a renal dialysis unit and a school of nursing located at the rear of the new Marian Health Center building The school offered a threeyear program and graduated about 25 nurses a year St Vincents 40bed chemical dependency unit was the first adult treatment center in the area for alcohol and drug addiction

Patients equipment and clinical departments began moving into the new building in August 1982 A month later ambulance crews transported the last patients to the new building Staff of both hospitals reacted to the change with mixed emotions It was a tremendous thing one nurse said But moving day was also sad and many people cried

Over the decades Marian Health expanded and grew steadily in its healing ministry to Sioux City and the surrounding area Innovations and medical firsts for the region included the first magnetic resonance imaging or MRI unit and the areas first air ambulance service Marian Air Care later to become todays Mercy Air Care or MAC for short

Perhaps the greatest test of Marian Health Centers mettle came on July 19 1989 when United Airlines Flight 232 crashed during an emergency landing at the Sioux City Airport Many of the 184 surviving passengers and crew were treated at Marian Healthand the rest of the world learned about the Sioux City hospital National and international news media praised Marian Healths physicians and staff for their heroic response to the tragedy In September 1991 the production crew of a TV movie on the crash spent several days filming scenes depicting patient care on location at Marian Several scenes at the hospital included leading man Charlton Heston who played Flight 232 Captain Al Haynes

In the summer of 1999 Marian Health Center changed its name to Mercy Medical CenterSioux City the new title in honor of the Sisters of Mercy The following May the hospital became part of Trinity Health Trinity Health is sponsored by the Catholic Health Ministries which was created by the Sisters of Mercy Regional Community of Detroit and the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross

In other advances during this period Mercy added a Total Joint Care Center and a Comprehensive Stroke Center both of which have been nationally recognized for excellent clinical outcomes The most ambitious project of the new century though was the construction of a 20 million stateoftheart Mercy Heart Center The new facility expanded and enhanced Mercys already excellent cardiovascular services The Mercy Heart Center was dedicated on Nov 19 2003 in a community ceremony In remarks at the dedication Mercy CEO Peter Makowski said Mercy is committed to making advanced cardiac care available to all residents of Siouxlandthis is our pledge and promise

Mercy did not disappoint In the ensuing years its cardiovascular services earned a number of national excellence awards and No 1 state rankings These include excellence awards for vascular surgery cardiac care and coronary intervention Several national sources have also recognized other services at Mercy for excellence including total joint replacement and general surgery

What began with the Sisters of Mercy planting a tiny mustard seed in an old Sioux City house has grown into a towering tree with farreaching branches Today Mercy is a regional medical center serving a 33county area in Iowa Nebraska and South Dakota It owns or manages four rural hospitals and operates 30 family practice clinics in Iowa or Nebraska along with 9 specialty clinics

Mercy Medical Center continues to offer a range of services that make it a leading healthcare provider in the region and nation These include rehabilitation a family birth center behavioral care wound and stroke centers and the only Level II trauma center in the region as well as the only air ambulance service

Despite growth and success across three centuries Mercy takes modest pride in living the values of the foundress of the Sisters of Mercy who perhaps best summed up her Sisters philosophy by saying To the poor always show great tenderness Inspired by the example of Sister Catherine McAuley Mercys philosophy statement reads in part In our works we affirm the dignity and value of every personwe embrace the opportunity to extend compassionate service especially to the suffering the lonely the marginal and the poor We pledge ourselves to these values and beliefs