Genesis Health System

Genesis Health System
Genesis Medical Center, West Central Park is one of the two hospitals in the city of Davenport, Iowa. The other is Genesis Medical Center, East Rusholme Street.
Geography
Location	Davenport, Iowa, DeWitt, Iowa, Silvis, Illinois, & Aledo, Illinois., United States
Organization
Care system	Not for Profit Regional Health System
Hospital type	Regional size, Full-Service Health Care System
Affiliated university	Genesis Quad Cities Family Medicine Residency Program
Services
Emergency department	Level II at Davenport and DeWitt. Level II at Genesis Illini in Silvis
Beds	665
History
Founded	1869
Links
Website	http://www.genesishealth.com
Lists	Hospitals in the United States

Genesis Health System is a health system based in Davenport, Iowa that provides health services to a 10-county region of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois. Genesis Health System operates a hospital with two campuses in the city of Davenport, hospitals in the cities of Silvis, Illinois, DeWitt, Iowa, and Aledo, Illinois. Genesis Health System also manages Jackson County Regional Health Center in Maquoketa, Iowa.

The President and CEO of Genesis Health System is Douglas Cropper. Genesis is the largest employer in Scott County, Iowa and the third largest in the Quad City area with 4900 employees and 1000 volunteers.

Genesis originally consisted of two hospitals that joined on May 24, 1994, to form the system. The two founding hospitals were Mercy hospital and St. Luke's Hospital, both in Davenport, Iowa. Mercy was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in response to an influenza outbreak in the area in 1869.

Since 1994, Genesis has continued to grow dramatically. Today, Genesis operates a total of five hospitals and manages Jackson County Regional Health Center in Maquoketa, IA.

Established by Mother Mary Borromeo Johnson and the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy Hospital received its first patient on Dec. 7, 1869. The construction of Mercy marked the third hospital west of the Mississippi River. In 1872, St. Elizabeth's Hospital for the Mentally Ill was opened adjacent to Mercy Hospital. It is this facility that would eventually burn down in 1950, causing the death of 40 patients.

Because of the 1918 flu pandemic, Mercy Hospital was forced to open an extension in Turner Hall in order to accommodate the ill. Come 1924, Mercy Hospital was one of the first hospitals accredited by the American College of Surgeons, a predecessor to The Joint Commission.

Though a new wing was opened at Mercy Hospital in 1932, the original building was later demolished, replaced by an entirely new facility in 1954. The idea to merge Mercy Hospital and St. Luke's was introduced in 1973 but was initially rejected.