United States

The Sisters of Bon Secours arrived in Baltimore in 1881, and by 1909, had established convents in Washington, D.C., and Detroit, Michigan. The Sisters of Bon Secours provided the world’s first recorded formal home health care service and, in 1907, opened the first child day care facility in Baltimore to help working mothers whose only alternative was to place their children in orphanages. In 1916, the Sisters of Bon Secours opened St. Edmond’s Home for Crippled Children in Darby, Pennsylvania. It was the first Catholic home for children with physical challenges.

The Sisters of Bon Secours established their first hospital in Baltimore in 1919. By 1980, the sisters had established and/or managed several Catholic hospitals, long-term care facilities and other health care services.

The Bon Secours Health System was formed in 1983 to provide skilled, unified management and professional resources for all Bon Secours health care operations while preserving Jesus’ healing mission and Bon Secours’ tradition of providing quality care to all, especially those who are poor, sick and dying. In 2018, when Bon Secours Health System and Mercy Health of Cincinnati merged, the Sisters of Bon Secours became one of the sponsoring congregations of Bon Secours Mercy Health, which operates 60 hospitals across the United States and Ireland.