June 25: Mercy's 100th birthday party!

Provena Invites Residents to Celebrate 100th Birthday
06/08/2011
By Marianne Renner For The Beacon-News

Everybody loves a good party, especially a birthday party. Who can resist the food, the games, the singing? It's all part of the great fun.

Provena Mercy Medical Center is no exception. The hospital is throwing a birthday bash this year to celebrate turning 100 years old - an achievement reached by only a select few.

Provena Mercy has witnessed much change since its inception in 1911.

For example, in 1911, basic medicines such as penicillin and vaccines did not exist. Tuberculosis was one of the leading causes of death, and diseases like measles, polio and smallpox were very present threats.

Most doctors in 1911 didn't have a college education, let alone the arduous years of medical school.

Life expectancy at birth was close to 50 in those days, and fewer than 20 percent of Americans had a high school diploma.

Provena Mercy has changed greatly as well. What started as a simple hospital in an old Aurora apartment building has grown to a 356-bed medical center with 1,000 employees and nearly 400 physicians. New private patient rooms are under construction.

But not everything has changed. Some things have remained exactly as they were during that remarkable year in 1911 when a small group of women from the religious order of the Sisters of Mercy opened a hospital to meet the needs of the sick and poor.

Today's mission of Provena Mercy Medical Center is to compassionately respond to human need in the spirit of Jesus Christ, just as it was intended 100 years ago.

Provena Mercy recognizes that its success is due to community support, and the medical center invites everyone to this birthday celebration from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 25 on the Provena Mercy campus. Family festivities will be complete with food, games for the kids, live music and much more.

Call 866-776-8362 or visit www.provena.org/mercy/Centennial.

Marianne Renner is the marketing project coordinator at Provena Mercy Medical Center. She can be reached at Marianne.Renner@provena.org.