A Heritage Rich in Mercy

Irish Roots—The first House of Mercy opened in 1827 in Dublin, Ireland, built from Catherine McAuley’s inheritance. In the midst of extreme hardship, the House of Mercy was a place of safety and learning for children and women. Some of the Sisters of Mercy became constant companions of Florence Nightingale and strongly influenced Nightingale during the formative years of establishing nursing as a practice.

Making it to America—Seven Sisters of Mercy set sail for America in 1843. As the number of Sisters grew, they opened schools, hospitals and orphanages across the country. By the late 1800s, the Sisters of Mercy had founded more schools than any other religious order in the English-speaking world.

Sisters and the Sooners—In 1884, five sisters came to Indian Territory to serve on the frontier. In spite of inherent danger from all sides, they organized schools throughout the developing state of Oklahoma.

Emergency Care in Krebs—After an 1892 mining accident in Krebs, Oklahoma—the worst mining accident in territory and state history—the Sisters immediately closed their small school so they could travel from house to house, caring for injured miners and consoling orphans and widows. Like early settlers, the Sisters of Mercy dug in their heels, determined to make a difference in the world around them.

Training Oklahoma Nurses—Mercy School of Nursing was organized in 1927 and continued training nurses until 1969. Some nurses practicing today learned their skills at the Mercy School of Nursing.

Mercy Downtown—Sisters of Mercy purchased Oklahoma City General Hospital, an 85-bed hospital, in the heart of the city in 1947. The hospital was renamed Mercy Hospital and eventually grew to a 225-bed facility.

First Open Heart Surgery—Mercy Hospital opened the Heart and Research Center in 1958 and in 1959 performed Oklahoma’s first open-heart surgery in a private hospital.

Pasture to Pike Pass—In 1974, it seemed almost absurd to move from downtown Oklahoma City to a cow pasture out north. In the end though, it was a wise move. Sister Mary Coletta had envisioned the future need for healthcare in northwest Oklahoma City. Today, Mercy Health Center, along Memorial Road, is at the center of a community fed by three major highways.

First Level III Neonatal Unit—Mercy was the first private hospital in the city to open a level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in 1975.

Ever-Twirling Mercy Cross—Since 1987, the three-story, 2,400-pound, revolving cross has served as a landmark for many. When the cross came down in 1995 for repairs, airline pilots called in to say that they had used the cross as a landmark for years, and that it had long served as a comforting sight upon approach to Oklahoma City.

Mercy Got Milk—In 1988, Mercy established the first full-service lactation support service in central Oklahoma. With International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC), Mercy is able to provide lactation expertise to nursing mothers.

Birthing Babies—Mercy opened the first Labor Delivery Recovery Postpartum combination rooms in 1989 in Oklahoma City, allowing women to labor, deliver and recover in the same room, and providing mothers the option to be able to keep their babies by their side from birth to discharge.

NeuroScience Institute—Mercy NeuroScience Institute opened in 1993 as only the fourth of its kind in the nation, and today is the largest concentration of neuroscience services in the central southwest.

Digital Mammography Debuts—Mercy Women’s Center was the first in Oklahoma in 2000 to offer digital mammography—providing greater clarity than traditional film mammography.

First Digital Hospital in the Nation—Oklahoma Heart Hospital opened in 2002 as the first hospital in Oklahoma focused on cardiovascular care. The Oklahoma Heart Hospital was also the first all-digital hospital in the nation and is among only a handful of facilities, worldwide. With Oklahoma ranking second in the nation in deaths due to cardiovascular disease, Mercy once again boldly stepped up to meet the needs of Oklahomans by opening the Oklahoma Heart Hospital.

Mercy Labyrinth—Patterned after the 800-year-old Chartres Cathedral labyrinth in France, the 40-foot-diameter Mercy labyrinth was completed in 2003 and is made up of 13,000 red sandstone and white limestone tiles that wind around in a pattern leading to the center. Mercy is the only hospital in the state, and one of only a few places in Oklahoma, that has a permanent labyrinth. The Mercy labyrinth gives co-workers, patients, families and friends a path to walk, meditate and pray.

Sister Roch Rocks—Sister Mary Roch Rocklage, chair of the Board of the Sisters of Mercy Health System in St. Louis, in recent years served as the chair of the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) board of trustees. Known by most as Sister Roch, she continues to promote her number one healthcare concern—healthcare for all. “Care should be made available to everyone,” she says. “We have an obligation as citizens to care for one another.”

Bye, Bye Agency Nurses—Thanks to a bold commitment in 2003 by Mercy, there are no longer local agency nurses at Mercy. Although it required incredible vision and stamina, the reason behind the change was simple: in order to have the best medical team, Mercy needs people who are committed to Mercy. Not only is it essential for co-workers to have that kind of cohesiveness, it is critical for patients to see the same medical team day in and day out. Here’s to Mercy leading the way.

Mercy Named Magnet—In April of 2005, Mercy was the first hospital in Oklahoma and among only 3 percent of hospitals in the nation to be awarded Magnet status by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). With only 150 Magnet hospitals out of some 6,000 hospitals nationwide, Mercy is now among a list of distinguished Magnet hospitals, including Cedars-Sinai, Mayo-Rochester, M.D. Anderson and Johns Hopkins. To earn Magnet status, hospitals must undergo a rigorous application and on-site inspection process. The ANCC looks at every area of a hospital’s operation.

Studies have shown that Magnet-designated facilities:

• Report higher patient satisfaction rates

• Deliver better patient outcomes

• Consistently outperform non-magnet organizations

• Provide more nursing care at the bedside of patients

• Have shorter length of patient stay

• Have lower patient mortality rates

• Have lower incidence of needle stick injuries

• Enjoy increased nurse retention and recruitment rates

• Report lower rates of nurse burnout and higher rates of job satisfaction