Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center celebrates 121st anniversary
Early next month marks an important milestone in the history of Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center. On Feb. 2, 1888, Sister Alexia Kerst, sister of Sister Scholastica Kerst who founded the Duluth community of the Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery, arrived from St. Joseph’s to open the new hospital’s doors.
A small group of nursing Sisters started the hospital, including Sister Alexia, Sister Maura, Sister Helen, Sister Macrina, Sister Susan and Sister Berchmans.
They arrived at an important time in medical history. It was an era where, for the first time, doctors could effectively treat typhoid, tuberculosis, diphtheria, pneumonia and syphilis. Back then, the fourth-floor operating room was primarily used for setting broken limbs. The 100-bed hospital charged $20-25 for private rooms. Semi-private rooms cost $12 per week. Most patients, however, were placed on wards, which cost $1 per week.
St. Mary’s mission then, as now, was to give preference to the poor. The Sisters arranged with the St. Louis and Carlton County Boards of Commissioners to house charity patients for 90 cents a week for each patient.
Then and now, Essentia Health-St. Mary’s is guided by these words from the Rule of St. Benedict: “Care must be taken of the sick that they may be served as if they were Christ in person.”
Submitted by East Region Interim Mission Ministry Leader Nancy Flaig, with information provided from St. Mary’s Medical Center “We Remember the Dream” centennial book