Grace Medical Center, formerly known as Bon Secours Hospital, is a

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. The hospital is part of

LifeBridge Health LifeBridge Health is a nonprofit healthcare corporation that was formed in 1998 and currently operates several medical institutions in and around Baltimore, Maryland. These institutions include Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Grace Medical Center ( ...

, a nonprofit healthcare corporation that was formed in 1998 and currently operates several medical institutions in and around

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

History

The

Sisters of Bon Secours The Congregation of the Sisters of Bon Secours is an international Roman Catholic women's religious congregation for nursing (''gardes malades''), whose declared mission is to care for those who are sick and dying. It was founded by Josephine Pot ...

are a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

religious congregation A religious congregation is a type of Religious institute (Catholic), religious institute in the Catholic Church. They are legally distinguished from Religious order (Catholic), religious orders – the other major type of religious institute – i ...

with the mission of caring for the sick and dying. The name ''Bon Secours'' is French for "''good help''." Members of the group came to Baltimore from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in the 1870s, and they bought the former Maryland Square, a mansion built in 1795 and owned by the

Steuart family The Steuart family of Maryland was a prominent political family in the early history of Maryland. The Steuarts, of Scottish descent, have their origins in Perthshire, Scotland. The family grew wealthy in the early 18th century under the patronage o ...

, which had previously been confiscated for use as a military hospital during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. The Sisters used the mansion and its grounds as a convent, selling some of the land for development. The Sisters provided health care to the community. The original mansion was demolished in 1884. In 1919, George Jenkins, a philanthropist, provided funds to open a Roman Catholic hospital, which was built on the grounds of Maryland Square. The hospital was known as Bon Secours. In 1996, the hospital merged with Liberty Medical Center, which closed in 1999. In 2009, the 125-bed Bon Secours hospital considered closing its inpatient services to cut costs. It faced a number of challenges: 17 percent of its patients are uninsured, twice the average in the city. 90 percent of patient visits were made via the

emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the Acute (medicine), ...

. Its catchment in West Baltimore has high poverty and unemployment rates, meaning that many people cannot pay for care. The hospital was considering emphasizing preventive and maintenance care through outpatient clinics, to reduce long-term disease.Julekha Dash, "Bon Secours mulls closing inpatient hospital to cut costs"
''Biz Journal'' (Baltimore), 15 June 2009 In 2017, Bon Secours received the lowest possible Medicare patient summary rating of one star. Bon Secours declined to provide data to The Leapfrog Group, an independent hospital review agency. However, the ''

Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publish ...

'' reported that Leapfrog was able to obtain data about Bon Secours from the state of Maryland, which resulted in a rating of "F", the lowest possible rating and a distinction shared by only 15 hospitals in the US. In 2018, the hospital's parent company,

Bon Secours Health System The Bon Secours Health System is the largest private hospital network in Ireland. It was formed in 1993 to co-ordinate the health care facilities in Ireland managed by the Roman Catholic Sisters of Bon Secours. Background The Congregation of the ...

, merged with Mercy Health of Ohio, creating a combined not-for-profit

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

health system (Bon Secours Mercy Health) that included 43 hospitals in seven states. The two systems retained their pre-merger names and branding. Less than six months after the merger with Mercy,

announced plans to acquire Baltimore's Bon Secours Hospital. LifeBridge is a non-profit health system that operates several medical institutions in and around Baltimore. LifeBridge took over the hospital's operations on November 1, 2019. On December 17, 2019, the hospital changed its name to Grace Medical Center, ending one hundred years of association with the Sisters of Bon Secours. The Sisters of Bon Secours continued to provide

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

in Baltimore through Bon Secours Community Works, a separate organization that was spun off from the hospital several years before the sale.

References

{{authority control Bon Secours Sisters French-American culture in Baltimore Hospitals in Baltimore Catholic hospitals in the United States Catholic Church in Maryland Catholic health care

History

See also

References