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St. Joseph’s Hospital celebrates 95 years in Upshur County

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — St. Joseph’s Hospital in Upshur County celebrated it’s 95th anniversary Wednesday by honoring the many multitudes of people who have helped keep the hospital functioning since it’s founding in 1921.

“It is very important to us to remember our beginnings, where we came from,” Sister Francesca Lowis said. “Just like with families, it is very important to know where you come from.”

The hospital opened in 1921 with the help of Saint Vincent Pallotine, and slowly built with new additions and changes every twenty years or so.

Sister Lowis said some of the first Sisters at St. Joseph’s saw their work as a message from God because of two incidents that could have changed, or even ended, their lives.

“They were supposed to come on the Titanic, but something went wrong with their travel documents,” she said. “So they missed the Titanic, which is very providential.”

Not long after that, two of the sisters missed a train in New York that would eventually wreck. When Father Pallotine was transferred from Richwood to Buckhannon in 1921, and with the help of many Sisters immigrating from Germany, St. Joseph’s was born.

But the hospital’s origin story remains rocky–at least financially. The first Sisters adopted a barter system with many of their patients, and St. Joseph’s was often on the brink of financial collapse.

“They got to the point where they said, ‘If we only get one patient who can pay, we will make it,'” Sister Lowis said. “And at that point, they almost gave up.”

They were able to keep going, though. Residents in Upshur County continued to rally around the hospital for decades. Sister Lowis said it was truly a community effort to keep the hospital afloat.

“So now we are in 2016, and we are remembering all the people who helped us get where we are now,” she said. “That’s thousands and thousands of people.”

Sister Lowis said that they continue to approach healthcare holistically, taking care of body, mind, and spirit.

“The love of Christ is our motivation,” she said. “Whatever we do is not just a job, but it’s actually a service to the people. We like to look at everyone with respect and reverence.”

St. Joseph’s is now part of the WVU Medicine family, transferring the hospital sponsorship to United Hospital Center last year.





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