Mercy Hospital Southeast receives blessing

A Catholic blessing ceremony marked the official dedication of the new Mercy Hospital Southeast in Cape Girardeau.

The ceremony took place at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 11, at Mercy Clinic Women's Health, 650 S. Mount Auburn Road.

Bishop Edward Rice of the Diocese of Springfield--Cape Girardeau performed the ritual.

"By the grace of Your Holy Spirit, make this place a house of mercy, a blessing and center of love, where the Mercy team will practice the art of healing, serving the sick with care and helping to bring about more abundant life," he said during his blessing.

Rice sprinkled holy water across hundreds of individuals, including over 100 Mercy leaders, who assembled to commemorate the occasion.

Ryan Geib is the new president of Mercy Southeast. A Kentucky native, he most recently served as chief operating officer for Mercy Fort Smith, Arkansas.Christopher Borro

Afterward, he blessed a Mercy cross, the symbol of the Sisters of Mercy who founded the Mercy health system in 1986.

"Together, we will continue to be a source of comfort, healing and support for this community," new Mercy Southeast president Ryan Geib said after Rice's blessing. "... May we continue to flourish and thrive for generations to come."

Planning for the future

Geib will run the daily functions of the hospital alongside CEO Ken Bateman, who he said he had a good partnership with.

Bateman had been president and CEO of SoutheastHEALTH, Mercy Hospital Southeast predecessor before their Jan. 3 merger. He will continue to serve for most of the year to help Geib with the transition.

Bishop Edward Rice of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese kisses a Mercy cross during the Mercy Southeast blessing ceremony Thursday, Jan. 11 in Cape Girardeau. The cross is the symbol of the Sisters of Mercy, a religious congregation founded in Ireland in 1831 that has set up schools and hospitals across the globe. Many exisiting hospitals started by the Sisters joined to form Mercy in 1986.Christopher Borro

Geib, who is originally from Murray, Kentucky, has been in the Mercy health system for the last four years. He was most recently the chief operating officer of their Fort Smith, Arkansas, location.

"This was an opportunity they saw in my leadership to be able to grow and also to come into a new community that's rather close to where I grew up, so it was a natural fit," he said.

Geib said he plans to work on expanding the care the health care system provides.

"I think that there's a lot of opportunity in how we expand primary care, access to our specialties and continue to deliver that top-notch, cost-effective care that the community expects and deserves," he said.

The SoutheastHEALTH acquisition was the second Mercy has finalized in the last few months. It integrated Perry County Health System, now Mercy Hospital Perry, in October. SoutheastHEALTH's facility in Dexter also joined the Mercy system as Mercy Hospital Stoddard.

Hundreds of people attend the Mercy Southeast blessing Thursday, Jan. 11, at 650 S. Mount Auburn Road in Cape Girardeau. Afterward, they enjoyed refreshments and mingled with one another. Many of those in attendance were Mercy staff or local business leaders.Christopher Borro

"For us going down to Jefferson (County), Perry County, then down here and into Stoddard (County), all of those represent opportunities for us to better serve those immediate communities and bring health care more comprehensively so care can remain local," Mercy president and CEO Steve Mackin said.

Mackin said Mercy's goal is to make Southeast Missouri a regional hub for health care services.

"The whole I-55 corridor, we feel that there's a lot of great health care that's delivered down here, but it would benefit from a more consistent, singular model of care," he said.

Catholic influence

With Mercy's entrance into Cape Girardeau, the city's two largest employers are now both Catholic health care institutions. Saint Francis Healthcare System is also a Catholic health care system.

"I think it makes a powerful statement when we're such a small percentage of the general population ... and I think it speaks so well of the history of the church with health care that the people of the community are so welcoming to have another Catholic hospital here in Southeast Missouri," Rice said.

During his blessing, he said Catholics make up about 5% of his diocese's population.

A traditional blessing is part of the dedication ceremony for every new Mercy facility.

"Our heritage is important, and it's important even as lay leaders that we carry that forward and we bring that spirit to all the communities we serve," Mackin said.

Another blessing took place at 3 p.m. at Mercy Hospital Stoddard.

Another ceremony

In addition to Rice's blessings, the Cape Girardeau Area and Jackson Area chambers of commerce held a joint ribbon-cutting to celebrate the merger. A ribbon-cutting also was held for Mercy Hospital Stoddard.