Mercy Hospital was founded in 1926 in the railroad town of Oelwein, Iowa by the Sisters of Mercy. In 1982, The Sisters of Mercy transferred sponsorship of the hospital to the Wheaton Franciscan Sisters. Mercy Hospital is a 25-bed, full-service hospital that provides acute, skilled, and outpatient care to the community and surrounding area of Oelwein, Iowa. Mercy Hospital’s role is to provide all the basic health care services needed in its community. Mercy provides for general medical care, surgery, ambulatory care, long-term care, and recovery. Services include 24-hour emergency room access and ambulance transportation, radiology with CT scanning, mammography and ultrasound, laboratory, pharmacy, respiratory therapy, rehabilitation therapies, spiritual care, social services, and nutrition. In addition, Mercy provides access to certain high-technology capabilities such as MRI, nuclear medicine and stereotactic breast biopsy to members of its community through mobile accommodations. Beyond providing exceptional and compassionate health care service on a daily basis, Mercy Hospital extends its healing Mission into the community through numerous programs and resources for all. Our Life-line program, for example, is a telephone contact system that enables the elderly or disabled to continue living alone in their home with emergency help only a button away. Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare's network is one of the largest in the Midwest with approximately 565 enrollees. Our Nurse On-Call program is a free telephone service available to the general public 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, offering medical advice or physician referral provided by registered nurses. This service receives approximately 121,000 call a year. An 800 number is provided to persons living outside the local calling area. Though our Home Health organization we provide continued nursing, therapy, or other support services in a patient’s home. Home Health conducts approximately 36,000 visits per year. And through our Occupational Medicine and Wellness contracts with approximately 1,000 area businesses throughout Northeast Iowa we provide needed health care services such as injury treatment, drug and alcohol testing, and health education and disease prevention information for their employees. Additionally, we provide numerous general health education and screening opportunities for the community at large in many areas including wellness; exercise and fitness; massage therapy; depression, anxiety, skin cancer, prostate cancer, blood cholesterol; and many more. The Mercy Hospital Foundation
The Mercy Hospital Foundation exists to benefit the Oelwein area and operates exclusively for non-profit health care purposes. Contributions are utilized to enhance the quality of patient care, to implement educational health programs, and to acquire new medical equipment. |
