Mercy Hospital Springfield (Springfield, Missouri)

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  JohnPT (guest)

  Three Sisters of Mercy from St. Louis settled in Springfield to establish St. John's Hospital in 1891 in a small brick home with four patient rooms. The Sisters lacked medical equipment and often walked many miles to care for patients who were too ill to come to the hospital. At the turn of the century, the Sisters addressed the growing need for staff and equipment. In 1905, a new St. John's Hospital and nursing school opened. As Springfield grew, so did the need for physicians. In 1924, four visionary physicians introduced the innovative concept of group medical practice. General surgeons Wilbur Smith, Wallis Smith, and Robert Glynn along with Guy D. Callaway, an internist, founded the Smith-Glynn-Callaway Clinic. As better roads and automobiles brought more people to Springfield for medical care, Smith-Glynn-Callaway Clinic developed additional specialties and added more internists. St. John's also continued to grow and expand. The Sisters of Mercy purchased the current 11-acre site at 1235 E. Cherokee for a new 250-bed facility after World War II. The Sisters opened the new facility in 1952. Now a regional health center, St. John's Hospital is licensed for 1,016 beds, which includes the Mercy Villa long-term care facility. Numerous physicians and specialists established independent practices in Springfield, many of them locating their offices in medical buildings on and near St. John's campus. In 1990, St. John's created a network of rural family practice clinics in southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas. Three years later, the rural physicians joined Smith-Glynn-Callaway Clinic and other independent physician offices to form St. John's Health System. Since then, a health plans division, a home care division, five regional hospitals and seven pharmacies have joined St. John's. St. John's Health System continues a long tradition of health care leadership, bringing integrated services to those in need across the Ozarks.

  17 years ago | reply | hide comment