This year, Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center is proud to be celebrating 125 years of serving the community since Saint Joseph Hospital was founded in 1882 by the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart.

(Click here for historical photos!)

It's been demonstrated time and time again throughout Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center's rich 125-year history: a commitment on the part of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart to progress the hospital along with changing times and a growing community. It was evident in the early 1900s when the hospital gradually expanded from 20 to 200 beds. And again in 1942 when a two story addition included balconies which allowed patients to enjoy a view of the hospital gardens as well as the historic DesPlaines River. And when the original Saint Joseph Hospital at Broadway and Division Streets had grown as much as it could, the Franciscan Sisters set their sights on establishing a new hospital to serve the needs of a rapidly growing community. Even just a few years after the new hospital opened on Madison Street in 1964, a $14 million expansion program got underway that included additional medical-surgical and psychiatric beds, new intensive care units, new recovery room facilities, and a new health science library. The Sisters, devoutly committed to serving in the Franciscan spirit, were forever positioning the hospital for the future.

When the Sisters first came to Joliet in 1880, they were greeted with a typhoid fever epidemic and later smallpox. When the epidemics were over, the citizens of Joliet asked the Sisters to establish a hospital. Through donations, the Sisters were able to buy their first building on Broadway Street. The facility was remodeled and opened on August 15 of 1882, when the first patients were admitted to the original Saint Joseph Hospital building, a renovated convent on Broadway Street that housed 20 hospital beds.

The hospital continued to flourish on Broadway Street until January 26, 1964, when the Joliet community worked together with the Medical Center to transfer 102 patients to the new and present location of the hospital at 333 N. Madison Street. Dubbed "Operation Life-Line," the move began at 6:49 a.m. that Sunday morning. Over 35 ambulances were needed to transfer each patient, accompanied by a registered nurse, one at a time. Then came Project Renewal, which was completed in 1997, and added on our enhanced Family Birthing Suites with private rooms, a newly renovated Emergency Department, and additional surgical suites. Our new main lobby was unveiled in January 2003, and most recently our Madison Medical Plaza and Medical Building at Caton Farm.

The same vision that's guided the Franciscan Sisters throughout the years is evident even today as Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center continues to build excellence and enhance the services and technology offered to our patients - and most importantly, to continue providing compassionate care in the spirit of Jesus Christ.

Today, Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center provides many advanced health care services typically found in a university hospital setting. Through a partnership with the University of Illinois at Chicago, Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center is the only provider of neurosurgical services in the Will-Grundy region. The Saint Joseph Heart Center is an entire floor solely dedicated to the treatment of the heart and centered on the area's only open-heart surgery program, offering patients an advanced level of cardiac care that's unprecedented anywhere in the region. Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center is presently undergoing a major renovation and construction project that will result in a new eight-story patient tower and all private patient rooms, as well as many special amenities that will create an environment expressly designed to promote family-centered care and enhance clinical outcomes.

 In addition, the 452-bed Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center serves the community's wide-range of health care needs through its Sister Theresa Cancer Care Center, Level II Emergency/Trauma Center, Family Birthing Suites, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Rehabilitation Services, Mental Health Services, Sleep Disorder Center and Retina Center. We continue to provide state-of-the-art medical services to the communities we serve, and are proud to give back to the community through health fairs and screenings throughout the year.

As we celebrate our 125th birthday, we extend a heartfelt thank you to our community. It was your donations that allowed the Sisters to found a hospital, and we are honored to continue providing that same compassionate care for years to come.