St. Joseph’s Hospital in St. Paul ending storied history

M Health Fairview’s plans for low-income clinic, food distribution continue legacy of service

For 133 years, St. Joseph’s Hospital in downtown St. Paul was owned by its founders, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. In 1986, the hospital merged and ownership shifted to HealthEast Care System, but it remained a Catholic hospital.

When HealthEast merged with Fairview Health Systems in 2017, and Fairview later merged with University of Minnesota hospitals and clinics to become M Health Fairview, St. Joseph’s retained its name and its status as a Catholic hospital.

Sometime in the middle of 2022, however, both the hospital and its status as a Catholic institution are expected to end. M Health Fairview announced a transition Oct. 27 that will close the hospital to create the Fairview Community Health and Wellness Hub. The change will include a no- to low-cost primary care health clinic, additional health and wellness services, and education. It will include outpatient mental health and addiction services, adult day services for seniors, and as early as this fall, a Second Harvest Heartland food storage, distribution and pop-up food shelves with support from other hunger relief organizations.

“For generations, we’ve witnessed the community health indicators for those living in and around our most racially diverse neighborhoods decline,” said James Hereford, president and CEO of Fairview Health Services, in an Oct. 27 statement. “Today is an important step for Fairview as an organization and as a member of this community in thinking about health holistically and proactively addressing the outsize role factors like race, income and ZIP code have on a person’s opportunity to be healthy.”

That will leave the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis with two Catholic hospitals, according to the 2021 Official Catholic Directory: Regina Hospital, part of Allina Health, in Hastings, and St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee.

The changes at St. Joseph’s have the blessing of the religious sisters, who have remained involved with pastoral care at the hospital and helped with the transition, which began three years ago with the closing of St. Joseph’s maternity ward and included the Dec. 30 closing of the hospital’s emergency room.

“We will forever be grateful for the place St. Joseph’s Hospital holds in our hearts and in this Twin Cities community, even as its name is retired,” said Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet Margaret Belanger, 88, who was an administrator at the hospital in the 1980s and in recent years has been involved with pastoral care at the hospital and with transition discussions with Fairview officials.

“We also highly respect what Fairview is trying to do,” Sister Margaret said. “Their efforts to create a Community and Wellness Hub based on the social determinants of health is responding to the needs of the time, which has always motivated the CSJs. We look forward to an ongoing relationship with Fairview as it seeks to serve the needs of the St. Paul community.”

Sister Suzanne Herder, 76, a member of the sisters’ leadership team for the St. Paul Province, said the religious order is “very excited” about the change. “Financially, (St. Joseph’s) couldn’t stay open. And it wasn’t meeting the needs of the times,” as preventive care takes on a greater role, she said. “How can we meet the health care needs of people today? Hospitals are not always the answer.”

Inpatient mental health services will remain at St. Joseph’s until at least July, but closing those services will sever the last remaining link to operations as a hospital, said Fairview spokeswoman Aimee Jordan.

However, the legacy of increasing access to care for the underserved that was started at St. Joseph’s Hospital by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet will be an important part of the Community and Wellness Hub, Jordan said.

The sister’s legacy began in 1853, when the religious order staffed a temporary hospital in the midst of a cholera epidemic. In 1854, the sisters opened St. Joseph’s Hospital, the first stone building in St. Paul. It had private rooms, balconies, a chapel, a laundry, an assembly room and a smoking room.

The hospital was torn down and replaced in 1890, and renovated and expanded numerous times. In 1953, for example, the Sisters of St. Joseph decided to raise funds for a new building, and Archbishop John Gregory Murray was a strong supporter. According to a May 8, 2003, article in The Catholic Spirit commemorating the hospital’s 150^th anniversary, pledges for the new building totaled $2.3 million — at that time, the largest private campaign in the history of St. Paul.

The religious sisters have always responded to the needs they see around them, Sister Margaret said. In terms of Fairview’s developing plans for St. Joseph’s campus, how that might play out is not immediately clear, she said. In another area of health care, the sisters now run St. Mary’s Health Clinics, setting up temporary health screenings, medical care and educational opportunities in parishes and community and centers. Staffed by volunteers, the clinics serve low-income and uninsured patients.

It is a service M Health Fairview is interested in supporting, Jordan said. “There is a gap in care in the south metro,” Jordan said, as an example. “We are talking about meeting that need together.”

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St. Joseph’s Hospital

1853 to 1986: The hospital is owned and operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.

1986: HealthEast Care System is formed through the merger of Bethesda, Midway and St. John’s hospitals. St. Joseph’s Hospital merges with HealthEast in 1987, and CSJ ownership of the hospital ends. But HealthEast embraces CSJ values and mission, including meeting the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop’s requirements for a Catholic hospital issued in 1981, “The Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services” (ERDs). Reviewed by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, a corollary agreement is drawn up to meet those directives.

2017: June 1, HealthEast combines with Fairview Health System. Subsequently, Fairview merges with University of Minnesota hospitals and clinics to become M Health Fairview. The corollary agreement with HealthEast on remaining a Catholic hospital transfers to Fairview Health, and CSJ sisters maintain positive contact with St. Joseph administrators, including pastoral care at the hospital.

2022: Sometime mid-year St. Joseph’s is expected to end its service as a hospital to become a health and wellness clinic and a service center for senior living and food distribution. The corollary agreement pertaining to the ERDs will no longer be applicable. Documents terminating the agreement are being prepared. The names St. Joseph’s Hospital and St. Joseph’s will be retired.

— Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet Margaret Belanger