St. Joseph’s Hospital transitions to new focus

The Dec. 30 closure of St. Joseph’s Hospital’s emergency room was another step in the St. Paul hospital’s transition from an acute care facility to its new focus: mental health and addiction.

Minnesota’s first hospital, “St. Joe’s” was founded in 1853 during a cholera outbreak by four Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Last year, it had been one of 13 Catholic acute care hospitals in the state, according to the Catholic Health Association. But amid systemwide financial pressures on M Health Fairview, its parent organization, and changing needs for its services, St. Joseph’s has cut many services on site, including a maternity ward it closed three years ago. Most of its hospital services moved last year to other hospital locations within the M Health Fairview system.

Now called M Health Fairview St. Joseph’s Campus, the facility is still a Catholic hospital, said Kaylee Skaar, a spokeswoman for M Health Fairview. The campus’ staff will care for COVID-19 patients, as the system’s COVID-19 inpatient care center recently moved from Bethesda Hospital to St. Joseph’s. And inpatient mental health care is expected to remain on site at least through 2021.

This year, M Health Fairview plans to begin a new model for mental health and addiction services on its St. Joseph’s campus. The health care system’s new Transition Care Services will double the existing Mental Health and Addiction Clinic’s capacity to care for patients. It will also create same-day access to mental health and addiction services, with therapeutic and supportive transition care for patients awaiting admission to an M Health Fairview mental health or addiction program or service.

In addition to physicians and registered nurses, crisis therapists and peer support staff will be on site, and services provided in dedicated facilities for mental health and addiction can be accessed virtually. In what M Health Fairview describes as the first of its kind, a mobile support program will also bring alcohol and drug addiction care to people in the community.

According to emergency medical physician and psychiatrist Dr. Rich Levine, the new services are an important innovation and a stepping stone to meeting immediate community needs. Levine, who also serves as M Health Fairview medical director of adult outpatient mental health and addiction services, said the new service model is in direct response to a growing demand for mental health care and “the undeniable evidence that shows an emergency room is not a sustainable option for meeting the needs of most people suffering from mental illness and insufficient primary care.”

The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet operated the hospital until 1986, when it became part of the HealthEast Care System, but they continued to be involved, with some working with the hospital’s pastoral team. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, they were bringing the Eucharist to patients.

M Health Fairview executives have asked representatives from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet to join them in discussions about the future of St. Joseph’s.

The sisters have been involved in conversations about the hospital’s changes over the years, said Sister Margaret Belanger, who worked in administration at St. Joseph’s from 1985-1989. She continues to be involved in discussions with M Health Fairview about the future of St. Joseph’s.

“I think they value the history and the legacy,” she said. “And … St. Joe’s has been a health care institution. I think it’s kind of a symbol to a lot of people: It’s a safe place where I can go, where I’ll be respected and I’ll be taken care of. And so that doesn’t go away because somebody else takes over the operations.”

Sister Margaret said that while the religious sisters are saddened to see it change, it’s another evolution in the history.

“(St. Joseph’s) isn’t going away,” she said. “It’s going away as a full-service hospital. (But) it’s becoming something else.”

John Swanholm, M Health Fairview’s vice president of community advancement, said the partnership with the Sisters of St. Joseph “has significantly impacted community health and well-being since the sisters entrusted St. Joseph’s to our health system decades ago.”

“The sisters established a legacy at St. Joseph’s of responding to the needs of the day,” he said. “We’re looking forward to continuing that service alongside the sisters as we change to meet the evolving needs of our community.”