Mercy's New Brand Identity: Coming to a Community Near You
August 8, 2011
Connecting more than 100 communities in seven states with one Mercy.
Mercy is introducing a new symbol across the
ministry. If you live in St. Louis or Washington, Mo.,
you began to see this symbol in September.
Other Mercy communities will follow in the
upcoming year.
Mercy’s symbol is a contemporary version of
the original cross which Catherine McAuley,
founder of the Sisters of Mercy, adopted for
her ministry. The outer extensions of the
cross represent a ministry that is diverse but
aligned around a common purpose, forming
a cross-within-a-cross. For Catherine, the inner
cross was a reminder that we should
dedicate ourselves to the work God
has given us, take up our own cross
and serve with a deep respect for others.
News Coverage
As one of the “Most Wired” health systems in the nation with the ability to access and share electronic medical records across facilities, it only makes sense that the Sisters of Mercy Health System’s 100 communities in seven states should share one name: Mercy.
Beginning Thursday, Sept. 1, St. John’s Mercy Medical Center became Mercy Hospital St. Louis and St. John’s Mercy Hospital in Washington became Mercy Hospital Washington. Mercy’s St. Louis facilities were the first within the Sisters of Mercy Health System to transition into the new identity.
“We owe it to the 3 million patients we serve each year to know us by one name,” said Lynn Britton, president and CEO of Mercy. “Adopting the Mercy name is not so much a change as a natural evolution. Our electronic health record has allowed our physicians and medical teams to coordinate care across facilities, communities and even states in ways that were never before possible. It has opened up a whole new world of more convenient and personalized care for our patients.”
Over the next year, Mercy facilities across seven states will move to one Mercy name, including St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo.; St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Mo; St. Edward Mercy Medical Center in Fort Smith, Ark., and St. Joseph’s Mercy Health Center in Hot Springs, Ark.; and clinics such as Garrett Goss Clinic in Bentonville, Ark.
For patients, different names have long been confusing. Case in point:
When Jarrod Anderson’s red-headed toddler got sick while they were visiting grandparents in Edmond, Okla., they sought medical help. Understandably, the Andersons made no connection between their hometown physician at Garrett Goss Clinic in Northwest Arkansas and Kelly Stephens, a pediatrician at Mercy Edmond Memorial Clinic in Oklahoma.
“We had no idea that the clinic in Oklahoma was in any way tied to our doctor in Northwest Arkansas,” said Anderson, father of three. “And yet, they were both Mercy facilities.”
Although the different facility names proved confusing, the Andersons still benefitted because of Mercy’s electronic health record. Both doctors in Oklahoma and Arkansas could read the toddler’s medical record and could track all of his care. Moving forward, Mercy will not only be connected electronically but share a consistent name and logo.
The change has already been underway the past year in Mercy communities across the Midwest with the introduction of MyMercy. The free online service, with more than 140,000 users to date, allows patients to access medical records, schedule appointments, view lab results and contact their primary care physician. In addition, the Mercy name was unveiled with the opening of Mercy Children’s Hospital in St. Louis and Mercy Clinic – a 1,500-strong physician-led, multi-specialty group.
“We have always been one Mercy in spirit, and now we will be it in name,” said Britton. “We will continue to honor the Sisters of Mercy who founded our ministry by continuing to spread mercy to those we serve.”
Supplemental Materials
What They're Saying About Mercy
Sister Mary Roch Rocklage, RSM
Lynn Britton, Mercy President and CEO
Cathy Patterson, RN, St. Louis
Robyn Weilbacher, RN, St. Louis
Julie A. Brooks, RN, St. Louis
Mercy In Our Communities
Ardmore, Oklahoma Fort Scott, Kansas
In 1898, the Sisters of Mercy opened St. Agnes An early photo of two Sisters of Mercy
Academy in what is now Ardmore, Okla., then in Fort Scott, Kan. The Sisters opened a
Indian Territory, for young Native American girls. 10-bed hospital in 1886.
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Fort Smith, Arkansas Hot Springs, Arkansas
In 1905, St. Edward Infirmary in Fort Smith, The Sisters of Mercy, who arrived in Hot Springs,
Ark., was opened by the same Sisters of Ark., in 1888, worked alongside an emergency
Mercy who nursed wounded soldiers during ambulance team and cared for thousands during
the Civil War. an influenza outbreak, circa 1920.
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Independence, Kansas Joplin, Missouri
In 1927, the Sisters of Mercy turned a tiny In the late 1800s, the miners in Joplin, Mo., were
Independence, Kan., hospital into a vibrant in desperate need of a hospital. The Sisters of
community resource. Mercy responded, offering care for 25 cents per week.
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Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Springfield, Missouri
Five years before the land run of 1889, Sisters The Sisters of Mercy ministered to smallpox
of Mercy began teaching in Indian Territory in Springfield, Mo., in 1899. The Sisters volunteered
and providing informal health care. to be quarantined with the ill in order to help.
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St. Louis and Washington, Missouri
Not long after an apple orchard was cleared for
a new hospital in St. Louis, Mo., the Sisters of
Mercy expanded their healing ministry to include
the communities surrounding Washington, Mo.
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