Dynamic Challenges: The Perioperative Nurse

Sisters Arrive

The Mississippi and Missouri Railroad (later Rock Island Line) connected Chicago to Des Moines. Besides transporting cargo, the steam train pulled one or two passenger coaches. The train jolted its way along the track, stopping frequently to discharge and collect both passengers and cargo.

This was the same train that on July 21, 1873, had experienced its first train robbery. Jesse James and his confederates loosened a rail, derailing the train and robbing all the frightened passengers. But since the Sisters did not read the newspapers, they were unaware of this event, so they felt quite secure booking passage to Iowa City on this train.

On the morning of September 6, 1873, after an overnight trip across sixty miles of prairie land, four Sisters of Mercy alighted from the train at the depot in Iowa City. Mother Borromeo accompanied the three Sister she had assigned for this new mission: Sister M. Catherine Slattery, who would be the Superior; Sister Philomena Early, and a postulant, Alexis Crotty. Together they would open a branch hospital from Mercy Hospital, Davenport, for the Medical School of the University of Iowa.

The first patient was received into the hospital on September 27, 1872. Mr. Harris, a consumptive, died six weeks after he entered. He had paid ten dollars a week for care.

The Sisters furnished much of the hospital equipment and provided for the patientsÕ board, lodging, and nursing care. Although none of the Sisters was formally trained in nursing, each learned much from their mentors in Davenport, who had experience in the care of the sick poor. These women were the best nurses to be had in the period, since training schools for nurses were just being developed, and none existed in the Midwest.

The Sisters continued to learn through experience, devoting their full time and efforts under what must have been very trying conditions. Both Sisters Catherine and Philomena had received tutelage in nursing after they entered the Convent. Housekeeping and food preparation were primarily the tasks of Sister Alexis. Mother Isidore, who became Administrator in 1880 and had fourteen years of experience at Mercy Hospital, Chicago, inherited the problem of dealing with the Regents, doctors, and medical students. Her letters and memos the Board of Regents demonstrate her mastery of the art of negotiation, her broad knowledge of administrative principles, her organizational skills, and her commitment as a Sister of Mercy to serve the sick poor. It is evident that she, like Dr. Peck, had a rare capacity for leadership.

Because patients were supposed to pay for their hospital care, at least in theory the hospital was self-supporting. In reality, it was not, and the deficits were met by both the Regents and by the subsidies from Catholics in the vicinity. The Regents appropriated $1,474 for the hospital in 1874, and $1,200 for reconstructing the amphitheater in 1880. This amphitheater provided an operating arena attached to the hospital, so that surgery patients could be safely transferred into the hospital.

The Medical Faculty gave its services to free patients who were willing to undergo surgery in front of the class. By 1883, the medical students were required to pay an annual of three dollars, which went to the support of the hospital.

Mechanics Academy

The Mechanics Mutual Aid Association had been organized by the Mechanics Guild of Iowa City in 1841. The Guild applied to the Legislature for a donation of land on which to build a structure exclusively for school and library purposes; on the one-half block of land the Guild erected a two-story brick building they called the Mechanics Academy. The Association ultimately failed to comply with the terms of the grant, and the property reverted to the State. By an Act of the General Assembly on March 26, 1866, the property was donated to the State University of Iowa. The building remained empty for a number of years; and by the early 1870s it had fallen into disrepair.

131. Mechanics Academy

Dr. Peck had originally wanted a hospital primarily to provide a clinical practice setting for students enrolled in the Medical College; only outpatient clinic settings were available for education during the first three years of the Medical School, and Mother Borromeo agreed that the Mercy Hospital proposed for Iowa City should become a department of the Medical School; and now, by special arrangement and permission of the Right Reverend Bishop John Hennessey, Bishop of Iowa, it was made so. The combination of hospital and convent became a branch of the Davenport Mother House of the Sisters of Mercy.

The Regents turned over the old Mechanics Academy to the Medical College to house the proposed hospital. The Faculty of the Medical College petitioned the Regents to remodel the building, and permission was granted, but no funds were made available. So this decrepit building came without any funding for repairs or furnishings. Two doctors headed a Soliciting Committee, which during the next few months collected nearly $5,000, $500 of it from the Iowa City Council. The Board of Regents finally committed $500 to cover the deficit for remodeling.

From Obscurity to Distinction, Sister Mary Brigid Condon, R.S.M. - The Story of Mercy Hospital, Iowa City 1873-1993
Copyright 1993, Mercy Hospital