St. Mary's Medical Center

History:

For nearly 90 years, St. Mary's has been meeting the healthcare needs of the community.

A hospital never sleeps. The demanding business of caring for the sick and the injured goes on 24 hours a day, seven days a week at St. Mary's Medical Center. But the rhythm of that care slows in the late night and early morning, when the day's visitors are gone and the center is left to its trained staff and those over whom they so carefully keep watch.

The hours tick slowly by. Finally, dawn nears. Outside, the first rays of sun soon appear, and inside, the medical center's public address system crackles to life: "Good morning and welcome to St. Mary's Medical Center. May we pause for a few moments of prayer and reflection as we begin our day together.

"God, thank you for the gift of this day and for all the gifts that we will share with each other. May the gifts of healing, of hospitality and hope be in this place. We ask for your peace for all our patients and family. Through your love may the joy of life be given to all who come here. ... Amen."

It's the beginning of another day at St. Mary's Medical Center. Another day that will be filled with tears and laughter, with love and concern, with compassion and caring. Especially caring.

It's been that way for almost 89 years, since the Pallottine Missionary Sisters provided the foundation for what is today the largest tertiary-care hospital in our Tri-State region and Cabell County's largest private employer.

Inspired by founder St. Vincent Pallotti's motto, "The Love of Christ Impels Us," the Pallottines came to America from Germany in 1912. Four Sisters left from Bremerhaven, bound for the United States. They had booked passage on the Titanic. Fortunately for them, one of the Sister's travel documents were not in order, so they were forced to delay their trip. The ill-fated Titanic sailed into history without them. The Sisters took another ship.

As if one brush with disaster wasn't enough, another soon unfolded. Upon their arrival in America, the Sisters were scheduled to travel by train to Stella Niagara, New York, where they were to study English under the Sisters of St. Francis. Before boarding the train, they received a telegram from the Mother Superior of the Franciscans, asking them to delay their journey until she could join them. Therefore, the train left without them. Before it reached Stella Niagara it wrecked, killing many of its passengers. Again, the Sisters were spared.

Mission:

On November 6, 1924, the Sisters of the Pallottine Missionary Society opened St. Mary's Hospital on a foundation of faith. The sisters built St. Mary's on a set of core values, which can still be seen in the Medical Center's lobby today. From the moment when St. Mary's first opened its doors, the sisters set out to fulfill their mission:

"We are inspired by the love of Christ to provide quality health care in ways which respect the God-given dignity of each person and the sacredness of human life."

And, so began the tradition that is St. Mary's Medical Center. It has been nearly eight decades since the doors were first opened, and during that time, thousands of lay people have joined the Sisters in fulfilling the Medical Center's mission. Along the way, St. Mary's has built on a tradition of faith, a tradition of hope, a tradition of healing and a tradition of service. Most of all, St. Mary's has built on a tradition of care.

Value:

Values are the guiding principles for all our actions. They reflect our beliefs and our aspirations, and provide stability in a time of change. At St. Mary's a strong belief in our core values is interwoven into the fabric of our culture. These values reflect what we stand for, what we expect from ourselves and each other, and what we aspire to be.