Sisters of Bon Secours: Where We Serve

Building Communities

In West Baltimore, the Sisters of Bon Secours work to renew the community
The Sisters of Bon Secours have been an integral part of the West Baltimore community since they arrived in Baltimore from Paris, France in 1881. True to our founding mission we did home nursing in Baltimore and the surrounding region. In response to a community need we expanded our ministry to include day care for children of single parents in 1907. In order to serve more people and to provide a nursing training center for the sisters, we opened the first Bon Secours hospital in the U.S. in 1919.

Over the years, like many urban neighborhoods, West Baltimore has confronted problems with crime, drugs, and poverty. Though many city hospitals chose to move to the suburbs, the Sisters of Bon Secours made a commitment to remain in the neighborhood, providing much needed healthcare services and striving to help the community address the significant social problems in the area.

Through the Bon Secours Baltimore Health System, partnerships with sisters in other congregations, and programs developed by the sisters to address the needs of our neighbors, the sisters of Bon Secours work to make West Baltimore a stronger, safer place to live.

Two programs that spring from the work of the health system are New Hope Treatment Center and the Parish Nursing Ministry. New Hope is a methadone treatment center just a block and a half from the Bon Secours Hospital front door. The center serves several hundred people each day, providing not just methadone, but also counseling, job placement services, and family support.

Jim DeBoy, Vice President of Mission for the Bon Secours Baltimore Health System says, "The services offered at New Hope are broad and deep and take a holistic approach to helping the person to identify and correct the root causes of the problem."

The Parish Nurse Ministry serves five West Baltimore parishes, serving about 150 people each month. Joe Ann Murphy, Clinical Care Coordinator for the Bon Secours Tele-Heart Program and the Parish Nurse Ministry heads both programs. These program offer monthly health education, blood pressure screenings, question and answer sessions, and physician referrals. Members of the parishes also call on Joe Ann to check in with neighbors who have been ill or hospitalized.

She is also part of the Community Fall Prevention Project in conjunction with the Bon Secours Emergency Room. The program pinpoints elderly patients who come to the ER often as a result of falls in their homes. Joe Ann visits the patient's home, assessing its safety and explaining to the patient's family how to make the home safer. She checks back several times a year to see what progress has been made in making the home more fall-proof.

The Parish Nurse Ministry is in the process of expanding its reach. Now called The Community Faith Nurse Ministry Alliance, it brings together people from all faith community churches to provide care and support throughout West Baltimore. "Community nursing is a beautiful holistic avenue to work in," adds Joe Ann. "As you care for and talk to people, you feel like part of the family and you can't stop helping. It allows you to be creative and gain a larger 'family' base than you ever imagined."

IN HEALTH CARE • OUR RETREAT CENTER • OUR COMPANIONS