Celebrating Our 50th Anniversary
On March 3, 1963, we opened our doors to serve just eight patients. It’s hard to imagine.
Rolling fields surrounded the new hospital, only five stories tall. The Ortenzio Heart Center, John R. Dietz Emergency Center, thousands of skilled people, scores of new services and dozens of locations were still years away. No one imagined them. And yet, our founders gathered to celebrate this small beginning as the miracle it was—and is.
They knew that while staff and technology would change, our mission of healing would not. The Diocese and Sisters of Christian Charity were joined by physicians, community leaders, businessmen and women, and so many others whose common thread was faith. They believed they could do it, and as it turned out, they were right.
Together, we have grown Holy Spirit from a single hospital into a thriving health system, honored nationally for both quality and service, financially sound to reinvest in the community, and recognized as one of Pennsylvania’s very best places to work. None of this happens by chance, of course. It happens because of all: the sisters, clergy, board members, donors, physicians, nurses, volunteers, the auxiliary, and employees of every kind who honor us with your gifts, and above all, because of the patients who honor us with their trust.
As we begin our next 50 years, a few of the visionaries who built Holy Spirit are with us still, to celebrate again, joined now by so many who weren’t yet born. Every step of the way, our abiding mission of healing has connected us all, from the first sisters to the robotic surgeons whose abilities would once have seemed like miracles. In fact, they are.
We’ve been blessed with so many miracles. Please know we are deeply grateful to God for each of them, and for each of you.
Sincerely,
Sister Romaine Niemeyer, SCC
President/CEO
Holy Spirit's Past, Present and Future
The links below present a pictorial representation of Holy Spirit's Past, Present and Future. We invite you to view them for a look at where we have been, where we are now and our plans for the future.
To view a commemorative video, click here.
