ST. FRANCIS MEDICAL CENTER: 118 YEARS LATER, BASIC MISSION REMAINS THE SAME

In 1875, a trio of nuns - Sisters Philomena, Engelberta and Felicitas - came to Cape Girardeau from Carondolet, near St. Louis, with a mission.

The Franciscan Sisters had originally come from Germany, Holland, France and Indonesia during the religious persecution in Germany.

Now, they came at the invitation of the pastor of St. Mary's Parish at Cape Girardeau, Father Joseph Schmidt, because the community was in great need of a way to care for the sick.

The sisters rented a two-story frame house that would accommodate 12 patients. It was immediately filled to capacity, forcing the sisters to look for a larger building.

The sisters moved the hospital from its location on Themis Street to a building at the corner of Broadway and Harmony, which they lost in a dispute over an unclear land title.

A short while later, ground was purchased on the corner of Sprigg and William streets for the first permanent St. Francis hospital.

The first few years at St. Francis were hard for the sisters. There were few patients who could pay for their treatments, there was no running water, no electric lights, no waste disposal system, no furnace and no elevator.

Soon, the community realized that the sisters needed some help in the form of food and clothing. Without a formal name, the first St. Francis Hospital Volunteers were formed.

On through the 1870s the sisters continued to care for patients who were brought to the steps of the hospital by horse and wagon. Coal-oil lamps were carried from room to room to check on patients. The account books show that expenses for 1878 were $471.53 and income was $559.10.

In 1886, a boiler of the Mississippi steamer Mascot exploded, causing many injuries and deaths. Since the hospital was not equipped for such a massive crisis, neighbors and friends provided cots, bedding and old linens. Many of the wounded had to lie on the floor; most were badly burned and in terrible physical pain.

In 1900, the sisters raised $2,000 to expand the hospital. Patients who could paid $3 or $4 per week. A gasoline lighting system was installed and an addition was built. A special room was reserved for surgery. By the time renovations were complete in 1901, the hospital could sleep 25 patients.

In 1908, electric lights were installed in the building.

By 1910, the sisters began another fund drive for much-needed improvements. Property was purchased at the corner of Good Hope and Pacific streets for a new building.

In August 1913, ground was broken on the new site. The cornerstone of the building was laid on October 12. The new hospital was fully operational on Oct. 26, 1914.

In 1917, St. Francis became a member of the Catholic Hospital Association, and in 1919 a pathology lab was begun.

In 1920, the American College of Surgeons inspected and approved the growing hospital. In 1925, a seven-bed obstetrical unit opened.

In 1939, an $11,000 X-ray department was opened.

A year later, when the polio epidemic was in full swing, St. Francis opened its doors to those stricken with the disease, when other hospitals turned their backs.

By 1950, patients came from many miles for treatment under skilled and diversely trained physicians, making the St. Francis a true medical center.

By 1955, the hospital became a non-profit corporation under a proforma decree of incorporation and became known as St. Francis Hospital of Franciscan Sisters.

In 1958, the advisory board of St. Francis Hospital was established with A.W. Zimmer Jr. as its first president. A year later the St. Francis Auxiliary was formed.

In January 1967, a $1 million fund-raising campaign was conducted. Later that year, the St. Francis Medical Center Corporation was formed and its board included both lay members as well as the sisters.

Ground-breaking ceremonies were held at the new site on Gordonville Road in January 1973. Planning for the new 264 bed hospital culminated in October 1976. Thousands attended the gala dedication ceremony.

In 1978 a heliport was completed, allowing for emergency service helicopters to land near the hospital. The Roper Pavilion was dedicated in 1979.

In 1991, St. Francis continued expansion efforts with the Critical Care Center. The 20,000-square-foot expansion calls for construction of two additional 10-bed pods to the west of the existing center.

The next year St. Francis became a smoke-free facility.

The hospital is computerized, has state-of-the-art medical equipment and competes to stay on the edge of medical technology.

More than 118 years after the hospital's inception, John E. Fiddler, president of St. Francis Medical Center, said that the goal of the hospital remains the same.

"Our mission, like the sisters who worked to begin this hospital, is to care for the community and provide every service we can to the people who seek treatment from us," Fiddler said. "We share the same faith and beliefs that the sisters did so long ago."

Fiddler said that health care is the second most pressing issue in the United States today. Last year the hospital spent $22.7 million caring for Medicaid patients; it received only $17.5 million from the government for reimbursement.

The hospital is looking toward the new presidential administration with hopes and fears.

"We want everyone to have health care and to be able to afford proper care," Fiddler said. "But we also have to be able to support ourselves and keep functioning."

Perhaps the future will see a society where everyone is cared for, Fiddler said.

"We look forward to the challenges of the next 118 years," Fiddler said. "We will find a way."