St John of God Health Care is a Catholic provider of health care services in Australia, with 24 hospitals and facilities comprising more than 3,400 beds. The group operates in Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand.
The group has evolved out of the Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God, a Catholic order.
History
The congregation of the Sisters of St John of God was founded in 1871 in Wexford, Ireland. In 1895, Perth's Bishop Matthew Gibney sent a request to the Sisters for help to care for people suffering from typhoid fever during the 1890s gold rush. The first hospital established under this arrangement was at Kalgoorlie in the late 1890s followed shortly by another in the Perth suburb of Subiaco.
The Sisters often cared for patients with infectious diseases including typhoid and Hansen's disease (leprosy), which spread quickly in crowded mining camps. In 1937, after much lobbying by Sister Mary Gertrude, the order established a hospital for Aboriginal Australian patients with Hansen's disease, outside of Derby.
The Sisters of St John of God went on to establish additional hospitals, pathology and social outreach services in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.
In 2007, St John of God Health Care merged with the services previously operated by the Hospitaller Order of St John of God in Victoria, New South Wales and New Zealand.
In 2015, St John of God Health Care expanded into public health care and took ownership of Hawkesbury District Health Service and opened St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals.
Pomegranate symbol
The symbol used by St John of God Health Care is a cross with a pomegranate. The cross symbolises the Christian heritage of the organisation; the pomegranate, which is open to allow the seeds to scatter, symbolises self-giving and represents the organisation's values.
The pomegranate symbol was chosen by the Sisters of St John of God to reflect the order's patron Saint, John of God, who ministered to the sick and poor in the Spanish town of Granada – ‘pomegranate’ in Spanish – in the early 16th century.
Services
St John of God Health Care operates private and public hospitals, as well as disability, home nursing and social outreach services.
Locations
St John of God operates 13 medical/surgical hospitals, one rehabilitation hospital, three psychiatric hospitals, three day hospitals and one oncology centre across Australia. It also operates home nursing services in Western Australia and Victoria, social outreach services in Western Australia, New South Wales and Victoria and supported residential facilities for people living with a disability in Victoria and New Zealand.
Australia
New South Wales
St John of God Burwood Hospital
St John of God Richmond Hospital
Hawkesbury District Health Service: established in 1996, Hawkesbury District Health Service replaced the old Hawkesbury Hospital which was built in 1955. In 2015, St John of God Health Care acquired the Hawkesbury District Health Service from Catholic Healthcare. the facility has 131 beds and three operating theatres. Its cancer care unit opened in 2017.
Victoria
St John of God Ballarat Hospital
St John of God Bendigo Hospital
St John of God Berwick Hospital
St John of God Geelong Hospital
St John of God Warrnambool Hospital
St John of God Langmore Centre
St John of God Frankston Rehabilitation Hospital
Western Australia
St John of God Bunbury Hospital
St John of God Geraldton Hospital
St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals
St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital
St John of God Murdoch Hospital and Surgicentre
St John of God Subiaco Hospital
St John of God Wembley Day Surgery
St John of God Carine Specialist Centre
New Zealand
St John of God Halswell – a 51-bed facility residential and respite support service and three community homes for people with acquired brain injuries, physical and neurological disabilities. St John of God Wellington – a 36-bed residential care facility for people with physical disabilities.