QUINCY — Blessing Hospital celebrated National Hospital Week and its sesquicentennial on Thursday with help from the Adams County Bicentennial Commission.
The commission presented Blessing with the first sign and certificate recognizing county institutions, farms, businesses and churches that are at least 150 years old.
“It’s a great recognition for Blessing, the organization, but especially for our employees. There are 3,800-plus employees behind the Blessing Health System,” said Pat Gerveler, chief financial officer of Blessing Health System and president of the Blessing Foundation.
Gerveler recognized the health system’s longest-serving employee Ann St. Clair, a registered nurse in one day surgery with 52 years of service, during the annual National Hospital Week picnic.
Efforts by past and present employees made possible “the growth of the organization and what we’re able to give back to not only Adams County but the surrounding region,” Gerveler said.
The certificate highlights Blessing’s service to the community and its contributions to the county’s civic and economic heritage as part of the commission’s work to educate, celebrate and commemorate the county’s 200th anniversary.
Quincy’s early health care providers nursed refugees including the Potawatomi Indians and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, immigrants and Civil War soldiers. In 1866, nuns of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor opened St. Mary’s Hospital, but less than a decade later, the city needed additional health care.
Commission Chairman Chuck Scholz said Sarah and Matthias Denman donated land for Blessing Hospital, which opened in May 1875. “It’s pretty amazing when you think that one act of Christian charity spawned a health system that serves 300,000 people,” he said.
Scholz said highlights of the hospital’s history include:
• Being the first civilian hospital in the state to use penicillin in 1943.
• Forming the first volunteer chaplain program in the state in 1973.
• Establishing the first on-site hospital daycare in 1974.
• Making an investment in the future with the Moorman Pavilion in 2015.
Sesquicentennial signs and certificates will be presented to 10 businesses and eight organizations on May 26 in conjunction with a Quincy Park Band concert. Churches will be recognized July 27 during the Adams County Fair, and at least 86 sesquicentennial farms will be honored on Sept. 6.
