Our Commitment to a Healthy Culture
Our Mission, Vision, and Values are reflected in our commitment to a healthy culture.
At SSM Health, we’re committed to creating a healthy culture that promotes the individual dignity and well-being of everyone we work with and serve. This is an integral part of who we are and a reflection of our Mission, Vision, and Values. As a Catholic health ministry, we believe every person is created in the image of God with inherent value and dignity. Following in the footsteps of our founding sisters, we use our expertise and resources to ensure that all people have access to the high-quality, compassionate care they need. Likewise, we work to create a culture of inclusion and belonging that invites every team member to be the best version of themselves in service to our Mission.
Led by Mother Mary Odilia Berger, five German nuns arrived in St. Louis on November 16, 1872, in search of religious freedom, on a mission to do God’s work. The sisters believed that, with God’s help, everything was possible. When they arrived, they had just $5 among them. Together, they carried the faith and compassion that ultimately would lead to SSM Health.
In 1894, Sister Mary Augustine Giesen and six other sisters left the congregation and traveled to Maryville, Mo., where they formed a separate religious congregation, the Sisters of St. Francis of Maryville, Mo. (OSF). While the Sisters of St. Mary worked largely in the St. Louis urban area, the Sisters of St. Francis worked in more rural areas. In 1898, following their work in Maryville, they established St. Anthony Hospital, the first hospital in the Oklahoma territory.
In 1933, St. Mary’s Infirmary in St. Louis was rededicated as the first Catholic hospital for African Americans in the nation. It became one of the first hospitals to give privileges to African American physicians and to provide opportunities for African American nurses to practice their profession.
