Remember or Honor your loved ones this
Christmas season.
For more information,
contact the Hospital or
Click Here to download
a pdf package.
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THE HISTORY OF MARY HEALTH OF THE SICK HOSPITAL has its roots in the founding of the congregation, Servants of Mary, Ministers to the Sick, in the mid-19th century in Spain. From day one, the mission of the Servants of Mary has focused on caring for the sick and the elderly.
The Sisters came to the United States in 1914, establishing their first convent in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1928, they arrived in California to carry out their nursing ministry providing nursing care to people in their homes.
Three decades later, their longtime friend and supporter, Cardinal James Francis McIntyre, Archbishop of the burgeoning Los Angeles Archdiocese, told the Provincial Superior, Mother Acacia Lasa, of his wish to build a hospital with an attached convent to serve sick and convalescing women.
After much prayer and reflection, Mother Acacia decided to take on this challenge and build a hospital for women which would provide love, care and dignity to the elderly and the sick.
Sixty miles west of Los Angeles in the new city of Newbury Park, Mother Acacia discovered 13 acres of vacant land, populated with only walnut trees. On May 18, 1964, a year and a-half after construction began, 11 Sisters moved into the unfurnished convent, sleeping on the bare floors. A month later, Cardinal McIntyre presided at the dedication for Mary Health of the Sick, blessing its 39 rooms and attached convent.
The name “Mary, Health of the Sick” was chosen to represent the sisters' patroness and because “Health of the Sick” is one of the Blessed Mother’s titles given during the recitation of the rosary.
On July 1, 1964, Mary Health received its first residents. In just five months, the Sisters had cared for 57 ladies.
RECOGNIZING THE NEED FOR EXPANSION
Because of Mary Health’s pristine reputation within the community, the number of residents kept climbing and the waiting list kept growing. So in 1969, the hospital expanded to its current capacity of 61 residents.
Since they began this new ministry, more than 100 Servants of Mary have lived and worked at Mary Health. With both humility and pride, the Sisters can report that they cared for more than 1,200 frail, elderly and terminally ill women, ranging in age from 29 to 107, during the final stage of their lives.
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