Providence St. Joseph Health...Day 1

July 1, 2016...a whole new day...very excited at how much more great work we will be able to do...TOGETHER!!!

Providence Health & Services and St. Joseph Health are coming together to serve more people in a partnership that joins two remarkable organizations with rich heritages. The Sisters of Providence and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange were courageous women ahead of their time who brought health care and other social services to the American West when it was still a rugged, unta...med frontier.

Now, as we face a new frontier – a changing health care landscape – we draw upon their pioneering and compassionate spirit to plan for the next century of health care for all, especially those in the margins of society.

Two early milestones:

1856: Providence was founded when Mother Joseph of the Sacred Heart and four sisters began establishing schools, hospitals and orphanages throughout the Northwest. The foundation of this work was started in Montreal a decade before by Emilie Gamelin.

1912: A small contingent of the Sisters of St. Joseph went to Eureka, California to establish a school. In 1920, the sisters opened the 28-bed St. Joseph Hospital of Eureka, realizing that the small community desperately needed a hospital after the 1918 influenza epidemic. Centuries before, the Sisters of St. Joseph began by tending to the poor and vulnerable in France.

The journeys of both groups of these tireless Sisters were moved by faith and touched many lives wherever relief, comfort and care were needed most.
Our new organization will strive to do the same - significantly increase access to care and improve the health of the communities we serve.