Mercy Medical Center–North Iowa is marking its centennial. The Sisters of Mercy opened what was then St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in 1916 in Mason City, Iowa, as part of a broader effort by the congregation to open hospitals in rural towns and cities across Iowa. That effort had begun in the late 1800s.
Hospital staff pose with babies in the nursery of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Mason City, Iowa, circa 1938. The hospital is now called Mercy Medical Center — North Iowa.
The Mason City hospital, which opened with 120 beds, has almost tripled in size. In 1993, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital consolidated with North Iowa Medical Center, a Mason City facility founded in 1909 by a group of local doctors.
The hospital, which took the name Mercy Medical Center–North Iowa in 1999 — grew into a 346-bed, two-campus medical center that employs more than 2,600 people. It is part of the Mercy–North Iowa system, which also includes eight critical access hospitals, a network of primary care and specialty clinics, a home health agency, a hospice, an emergency services network and other facilities.
Mercy–North Iowa is a member of West Des Moines, Iowa-based Mercy Health Network, an integrated system of health care facilities formed in 1998 through a joint operating agreement between Catholic Health Initiatives of Englewood, Colo., and Trinity Health of Livonia, Mich.
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