St John of God Health Care

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.[1]

St John of God Health Care logo

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.[2] The first hospital established under this arrangement was at Kalgoorlie in the late 1890s followed shortly by another in the Perth suburb of Subiaco.[3]

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.[4]

The Sisters of St John of God went on to establish additional hospitals, pathology[5] and social outreach services in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.[6]

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.[7]

In 2015, St John of God Health Care expanded into public health care and took ownership of Hawkesbury District Health Service[8] and opened St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals.[9]

Pomegranate symbol

The symbol used by St John of God Health Care is a cross with a pomegranate.[10] 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.[11]

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.[12]

Services

St John of God Health Care operates private and public hospitals, as well as disability, home nursing and social outreach services.[13]

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.[14][15]

New South Wales

Victoria

Western Australia

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.

Social outreach

The system operates a number of social outreach and community programs to support disadvantaged and vulnerable communities, including:

  • St John of God Accord – disability support services including day respite, to group housing and employment support.[20]
  • St John of God Horizon Houses – accommodation and support in WA and Victoria for people aged 16–22 at risk of homelessness.[21]
  • St John of God Raphael Services – early intervention counselling, therapy and support for parents from conception through to their child's fourth year. Services are located in Victoria, WA and NSW.[22]
  • International health programs – aimed at raising the capacity of healthcare workforces in Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea and the Kingdom of Tonga.[23]
  • St John of God Casa Venegas – accommodation and support in Sydney for people with enduring mental illness.[24]
  • Community mental health services – in regional Victoria and Perth, WA, providing individually tailoring counselling at low or no cost.[25]
  • Waipuna – a youth service in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Home nursing

St John of God Health Choices, a division of St John of God Health Care, provides home nursing services in the Australian states of Victoria and Western Australia.[26][27] Health Choices has bases in Ballarat, Bendigo, Berwick, Geelong, Melbourne, Subiaco and Warrnambool.[28][29]

In 2009, Health Choices was created as a separate division to provide home nursing in sites where it had not existed before.[30]

In May 2010, St John of God Health Choices acquired Melbourne-based nursing provider M&M HealthPower.[31]

St John of God Health Care is a provider of community nursing services on behalf of the Department of Veterans Affairs.[32] The Health Choices service is free for veterans and people with private health cover.[33]

The St John of God Foundation

The fundraising arm of St John of God Health Care is the St John of God Foundation, established in 1994 by the Sisters of St John of God. In February 2010, the Foundation was integrated into St John of God Health Care.[34]

The Foundation raises funds to support medical research, life-changing medical equipment[35] and person-centred treatment in response to the needs of people and communities that are not met by traditional means or government funding.[36]

See also

References
  1. "St John of God Annual Report 2009/10" (PDF) (Press release). St John of God Health Care Inc. October 2010.
  2. Sisters of St John of God, "Our Founding Story", Retrieved 2011-02-28. Archived 2004-12-16 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "The pioneering Sisters". www.sjog.org.au. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  4. Clement, Cathie, "Greene, Anne (1884-1965)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 6 February 2021
  5. "St John of God Health Care 2015/16 annual report". annualreport2016.sjog.org.au. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  6. St John of God Health Care, "History", Retrieved 2011-02-28
  7. St John of God Health Care, "Annual Report 2007-2008", pp.2, Retrieved 2011-02-14
  8. Rizk, Rita (10 July 2015). "Hawkesbury Hospital transfers ownership". Hawkesbury Gazette. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  9. "Hospital shot in arm for Midland". The West Australian. 5 October 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  10. Bronwyn Hughes (2009), "Shining Lights Ethereal Visions", Frankston City Council, pp.23, Retrieved 2011-02-25
  11. St John of God Health Care, "Annual Report 2007-2008", pp.2, Retrieved 2011-02-14
  12. Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, "St John of God", Kairos: Volume 21, Issue 03, Retrieved 2011-02-27
  13. "St John of God Health Care Annual Report 2015-2016" (PDF). Retrieved 18 June 2017.
  14. "Facilities". sjog.org.au. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  15. St John of God Health Care, "Hospitals", Retrieved 2011-02-25
  16. Rizk, Rita (10 July 2015). "Hawkesbury Hospital transfers ownership". Hawkesbury Gazette. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  17. "St John of God Health Care Annual Report 2017-2018 page 45" (PDF). Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  18. "Hawkesbury Living Cancer Trust cancer treatment centre open: 8 year wait over". richmondclub.com.au. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  19. "St John of God Langmore Centre".
  20. Disability News (2008-08-12), "Imaging Better Together", Retrieved 2011-02-25
  21. St John of God Health Care, "Horizon Houses gear up for the Great Bike Ride", Press release, Retrieved 2011-02-25
  22. Department of Health, "Perinatal Emotional Health and Wellbeing Community Support and Resources", pp. 2. Retrieved 2011-02-23
  23. St John of God Health Care, "Asia-Pacific Neighbours", Retrieved 2011-02-28
  24. "YourCare – Social Support, Goods and Services – Supplier – Casa Venegas Community Accommodation". yourcare.org. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  25. "Community mental health". www.sjog.org.au. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  26. "SJOG expands home nursing to VIC". Business News. 25 May 2010. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  27. LiveinVictoria.vic.gov.au (2010), “Living in Regional Victoria”, pp.3, Retrieved 2011-02-24
  28. St John of God Health Choices, “Locations”. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
  29. St John of God Health Care (2009-11-26), “More health choices for Bendigo people”. Retrieved 2011-02-25.
  30. Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne, “St John of God's new clinical services director”, Kairos: Volume 21, Issue 17. Retrieved 2011-02-25.
  31. Sophie Knowles (2010-05-25), “SJOG expands home nursing to VIC”, WA Business News. Retrieved 2011-02-25.
  32. Department of Veterans’ Affairs, “Providers – East Melbourne Metro”. Retrieved 2011-02-25.
  33. Dimity Barber (2010-05-24), “Ready to treat people at home in Casey and Cardinia”, Berwick Leader. Retrieved 2011-02-25.
  34. Sisters of St John of God, "St John of God Foundation", Retrieved 2011-02-28
  35. "Revolutionary technology saves Emma's life". 3 May 2018.
  36. Sisters of St John of God, "St John of God Foundation", Retrieved 2011-02-28

Further reading
  • Scally, John (1995). To speed on angels' wings : the story of the sisters of St. John of God. Columba Press. ISBN 1856071448.
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