This year the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, based in Springfield, are commemorating the 30th anniversary of the formation of the Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS), while the Hospital Sisters' ministry in this country dates back more than 130 years.

Every year more than 300,000 men, women and children depend on the Hospital Sisters' ministry for "quality healing services that touch body, mind and spirit," said Dave Urbanek, communications director for the Hospital Sisters Health System.

"For generations, the Hospital Sisters ... have met this daunting challenge by sponsoring hospitals and caring for the sick, the poor and the needy throughout Illinois and Wisconsin," Urbanek said.

"We are taking some time throughout 2008 to say ‘thank you' to the communities in which we serve and to recognize the enormous contributions that the Hospital Sisters have made to the well-being of their patients through the years," said Stephanie S. McCutcheon, president and chief executive officer of HSHS.

Throughout the year, several events and programs are being planned to not only acknowledge and commemorate the 30th anniversary, but to recommit the sisters' ministry. "This is also a good time to reaffirm the sisters' commitment to the future," McCutcheon said. "They want their mission to continue for many generations to come."

In the Springfield diocese, the Hospital Sisters sponsor St. John's Hospital in Springfield, St. Mary's Hospital in Decatur, St. Francis Hospital in Litchfield, St. Joseph's Hospital in Highland and St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham.  

The Hospital Sisters trace their ministry back to October 1875, when 20 members of the order left the religious oppression of their own country, determined to bring their healing work to America. At the invitation of Bishop Peter Baltes, the German-speaking sisters began a three-week voyage from Muenster, Germany to New York.

After landing in the United States on Nov. 4, the sisters first traveled to the see city of Alton and then divided into smaller groups and established themselves in several places throughout Illinois. They offered care, compassion and prayers to the sick and poor in Springfield, Belleville, Decatur, Effingham and Litchfield.

At first, the sisters made house calls for those who were sick, but soon began taking the most serious cases into their own homes, which they had established through the generosity of their neighbors. Because healthcare services were scarce, the sisters filled a tremendous need in rural Illinois. They built such a reputation for good care and compassion that more people began to seek their help.

The sisters went where they were needed, Urbanek said. By the end of the 19th century, their ministry had grown to become a series of hospitals in central and southern Illinois, as well as in northeastern and northwestern Wisconsin.

Up until 1978, the hospitals sponsored by the congregation were "owned" and administered directly by the Hospital Sisters. Although sponsored collectively, each hospital operated mostly as an individual entity, with little mutual interaction. By the late 1970s, it became apparent to the sisters that the organizational model they had used for a century needed to change to keep pace, Urbanek said.

On the day after Christmas in 1978, the Hospital Sisters Health System was created. Its goal was to bring a new level of administrative cohesion to the sisters' mission and to consolidate common services and management practices, especially in the then-emerging area of computers and electronic information, Urbanek said. He added that 30 years later, the foresight and wisdom of the sisters have been confirmed and their mission is thriving.

One of the largest Catholic healthcare ministries in the United States, HSHS sponsors 13 hospitals in 12 Midwest communities, serving a combined population of more than 2.5 million people.

Today, 14,300 men and women carry on the Hospital Sisters' ministry. "We are very proud and privileged to be a part of the sisters' mission," McCutcheon said. "You cannot help but be in awe of what the sisters have accomplished through the years. They are our inspiration and our source of strength as we move forward."