St. John's-St. Francis Hospital celebrates 50 years of service

You might call St. John’s-St. Francis Hospital in Mountain View “the little hospital that could.” Despite a rocky beginning, the hospital celebrates 50 years of service to the residents of Howell County this year.

Operated with a partnership between the Daughters of St. Francis of Assisi and St. John’s Health System since 1998, St. Francis will unveil a multi-year renovation plan at a 50th anniversary celebration in the fall.

The hospital recently tore down an obstructive wall on the outside of the hospital, and redecorated, recarpeted and repainted several areas to update the hospital’s interior.

Sister M. Cornelia Blasko, DSF, one of eight Slovak nuns who came to Mountain View in August 1956 to reopen the hospital, will also celebrate her 50th year of ministry at St. Francis this fall.

“Sister Cornelia has been everything to this hospital,” says St. Francis President Doug Trembath, who joined the hospital in March. “If it wasn’t for her personally, and the Daughters of St. Francis of Assisi, this hospital wouldn’t exist. In addition to scrubbing the floors, painting the walls, cleaning and dusting, sterilizing equipment and all the other things the sisters did to reopen this hospital, Sister Cornelia has served as the hospital’s CEO, architect, strategic planner, foundation director and now, as the mission director. She has lived and breathed St. Francis Hospital for 50 years.”

Standing just over 5 feet tall and wearing the traditional habit and veil, Sister Cornelia is a comforting reminder of the hospital’s faith-based tradition. She is frequently called to the ER or to patient rooms to offer prayer and comfort to patients and their families. She spends the rest of her time orienting new employees to St. Francis and serving as the hospital’s historian and on its board of directors.

When asked what she enjoys doing in her free time, she gives a quizzical look, answering clearly, but with her accent still strong after 60 years in the U.S., “I don’t spend much time away from hospital; I don’t go home much, except to join the other sisters in evening prayer and recreation and to sleep. There is no end to making things better for others, especially in health care … that is my full schedule.”

A Daughter of St. Francis of Assisi since she was 14, Sister Cornelia came to the U.S. in 1946, just after World War II ended. She attended the College (now University) of St. Francis in Joliet, Ill., before she and five other Daughters of St. Francis received their assignment to reopen a tiny hospital in Mountain View, Missouri. Arriving by bus in the heat of August, the sisters walked to the hospital, prayed and immediately set to work. Two more sisters arrived to help later.

“For the first few weeks, we slept on the floor in the hospital,” Sister Cornelia recalls, “and lived on very little food and apples from the apple tree. We arrived in Mountain View with only $50. One day, a kind lady from the town brought us a basket of food and we appreciated it very much.”

Just weeks later, the hospital reopened on Sept. 20, 1956 and began caring for patients.

Over the years, all but one of the six founding sisters received new assignments to serve elsewhere. Sister Cornelia stayed behind and dedicated her life to the hospital and the community of Mountain View. She didn’t return home to visit her native Slovakia for nearly 20 years.

“I’m very grateful and thankful to have been part of this hospital. Whatever God has planned for me, I am doing. St. Francis Hospital has been His plan for me all along,” Sister Cornelia says.

Now designated as a Critical Access Hospital, St. John’s-St. Francis is licensed for 25 beds and focuses on meeting the primary care needs of Howell County and surrounding communities.
Critical Access Hospitals are rural hospitals certified to receive cost-based reimbursement from Medicare, to ensure Medicare recipients have access to health care in rural areas. The reimbursement these hospitals receive is intended to improve their financial performance and thereby reduce hospital closures.

Critical Access Hospitals like St. Francis are allowed more flexible staffing options, relative to community need; simplified billing methods; and are awarded incentives to develop local integrated health delivery systems, including acute, primary, emergency and long-term care.

“Our renovation plans include building an outpatient center and redesigning the existing facility to focus on providing what we do best and the most of, which is primary care and outpatient services. We want to make St. Francis a model for how primary care is delivered,” Trembath says.

St. John’s-St. Francis Hospital’s services include emergency care, imaging, such as MRI, CT, ultrasound and mammography; cardiac and pulmonary rehab, physical therapy, comprehensive lab work and other diagnostic and therapeutic services.