St. Mary’s Hospital, Streator begins search for a new owner
Photo Caption: St. Mary’s Hospital, located at 111 Spring St. in Streator, was founded by three Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis of Springfield in 1887.
STREATOR — Citing a desire to make certain high quality health care services will continue to be available in this LaSalle County community, Hospital Sisters Health System has announced that it is seeking another owner for St. Mary’s Hospital.
“Health care is changing rapidly and HSHS continually looks at how we can best serve our patients,” said Mary Starmann-Harrison, president and CEO of HSHS.
“Over the past several years we have undertaken several initiatives designed to better integrate St. Mary’s with our other HSHS hospitals and physician practices. However, we have determined that Streator residents will be better served in the future by another organization that can deliver highly integrated health services in the region,” she said in a statement released July 7.
The process is expected to take several months, but St. Mary’s will remain open during the transition period.
St. Mary’s Hospital was founded 128 years ago this month in a converted two-story residence by three Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis of Springfield. They came at the request of Father Henry O’Kelly, pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Streator, and made it their mission “to reveal and embody Christ’s healing love for all people” through the core values of respect, care, competence and joy.
That temporary hospital at the corner of Bloomington and Main streets gave way to a new facility in 1888. The Sisters made additions in 1902, 1913 and 1924, and when expansion was no longer practical they built a new hospital. The first stage was blessed on Nov. 16, 1963, and the entire facility was dedicated with the second stage was completed in 1964.
Today, St. Mary’s Hospital is an acute care facility with 90 beds and serves seven counties in central Illinois. It is one of 14 affiliates of Hospital Sisters Health System, which has eight hospitals in Illinois and six in Wisconsin.
