Sixty-five years! To some it may seem like a significant amount of time. To others it may seem very brief. But for the Dominican Sisters and their family of caregivers, it is a span of time filled with challenges, accomplishments and abundant blessings. It all began for the Dominican Sisters in 1946 when a small group of them arrived by train from Springfield, Illinois, to Jackson, Mississippi. However, while April 15, 1946, was the day the sisters signed the documents for the Jackson Infirmary to become St. Dominic Hospital, the wheels of change were turning long before then.
In the book, The Love of Christ Impels Us, Sisters Susan Karina Dickey and Josephine Therese Uhll provide some of the background leading up to the arrival of the Dominican Sisters to Jackson.
"On a hot August day in 1943 two men from Jackson, Mississippi, set off for Vicksburg. Somehow the conversation turned to the subject of hospitals. Sergeant Leon Thomas and his companion Jack Kennington felt that the facilities in Jackson left something to be desired. Kennington recalled his stay at a Catholic hospital in Colorado Springs. It had been a good experience and he found the sisters who ran the place to be professional, efficient, and dedicated.
"It was as if a light bulb flashed over their heads. Why not bring some sisters to Jackson to operate a hospital? Thomas, a Catholic, liked the idea, but was taken by surprise when Kennington insisted that they return immediately to Jackson so they could talk with Monsignor W. J. Leech, pastor of St. Peter’s Church. Leech promised to speak to the bishop of Natchez, Robert O. Gerow, if Kennington and Thomas would sound out Jackson’s movers and shakers."
Each man set to work and Leech received an enthusiastic response from Bishop Gerow and both Kennington and Thomas found equally eager support from community members. These efforts led to the community raising $36,000 to help pay down existing debts owed by the infirmary and to make the final purchase possible for the Dominican Sisters.
Just a few short years after the initial idea was proposed, the deal was signed and a group of Dominican Sisters traveled from Springfield, Illinois to Jackson, Mississippi. With a shoestring budget and a strong sense of purpose, those pioneer women – embraced by community support – began the remarkable mission of Christian healing found at St. Dominic Hospital.
Today the mission, values and principles established by those founding sisters are all still alive at St. Dominic’s. The hospital has grown into a large, tertiary acute care facility and by both the community and certifying agencies it has been regularly recognized for offering the gold standard in heart, vascular, stroke, cancer, and surgical services, to name a few. However, it is the combination of clinical excellence and a dedication to healing the whole person, mind, body and spirit that continues to set St. Dominic’s apart.
