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The Sisters of St. Catherine's
For a number of years after McCook's founding in 1882 McCook did not have a hospital. Ordinary procedures and some operations were done in the doctor's office or even in the home (in those days house calls by doctors were the norm), and the old Commercial Hotel on Main Street was the location for many surgeries. Beginning in 1895, for a few years, what was referred to as a hospital occupied the second floor of the bank building. Some folks began calling for a "real" hospital for McCook, but they were in the minority. In 1904 the McCook Tribune conducted a survey of the needs of the community. A hospital ranked third in importance, behind library and auditorium in the opinion of Tribune readers. "Hospitals were for cities, not small towns."
In 1912 Dr. D.J. Reid started The McCook General Hospital, in a large home in the 500 block on Main Street (which in 2007 is again a residence). However, when Dr. Reid died, in 1918, the issue of a hospital became No. 1 priority in the community. Dr. Reid's wife attempted to keep the facility running, but its days were numbered.
In 1921 Father Kunz, of the McCook St. Patrick's Church made contact with the Dominican Order of Nuns, St. Catherine of Siena of Kentucky, who were experienced in Hospital Administration, about founding a hospital in McCook. The Order agreed to provide Nuns to operate the hospital and provide $40,000 toward construction, if the community would match those dollars. The proposal was successfully met, with great enthusiasm by the Chamber of Commerce and the community in general.
In August of 1921 two Sisters, both Registered Nurses, arrived in McCook, followed shortly by three more, who began at once to provide hospital services to the people of McCook. They first re-opened the Reid facility, which they operated until 1923, when the new facility, St. Catherine's Hospital, in Northwest McCook was opened.
The new hospital offered convenience and helped people of the McCook area to avoid the long trips to Denver or Omaha for hospital treatment. The charter of the new hospital guaranteed non-sectarian service to "people of all denominations." Still, not everyone was happy to have Dominican Nuns operating "their" hospital.
One evening, soon after the dedication of the new hospital in September 1923, Sister Zita, one of the nurses at the hospital, was alarmed to see flames leaping to the sky outside her window. When she went out onto the hospital porch for a better look she was astounded to see a 30-foot cross ablaze near the hospital, with white-hooded figures milling about the burning cross. Though she was terrified that the sight might signal violence, she stood her ground on the porch till the fire died out and the crowd dispersed.
The KU Klux Klan had made its debut in McCook in July of 1923. Soon after the cross burning incident, a spokesman for the Klan told a crowd of 700-800 people, that the Klan had no quarrel with the Catholic people, but the Klan was opposed to the Catholic hierarchy. He said that prior to 1880 most of the immigrants to the US were Anglo-Saxon and Protestant, but since 1880 immigrants had come from Southern and Eastern Europe and Asia and these people "were the scum of the earth and 80 percent Catholic."
There were more incidents of Klan inspired activity in McCook, but the movement was never really strong in McCook. Moreover, most citizens in McCook were very happy with the new hospital and happy to have the Sisters running it.
The Dominican Sisters were progressive with the hospital. In 1924 Sister Zita inaugurated a teaching program for nurses in McCook. The St. Catherine's nursing school was short-lived, however, as Sister Zita was transferred, and the program proved to be prohibitively expensive. After a short time nursing students had to go elsewhere for their training -- but not before a number of the Sisters arriving in McCook got their training and helped alleviate the nursing shortage at St. Catherine's.
In 1924 St. Catherine's began to work for Accreditation from the American Hospital Association. That journey proved to be a long one and difficult, and it was not until 1937 that the hospital satisfied all requirements and became fully certified.
Government grants over the years and generous donations from Mary Brady, the Barnett Estate, and others made continuing expansion of St. Catherine's possible over the years, growing from six to 120 beds. But by the early 1970s it was apparent that the facility was obsolete and the Catholic Hospital Assn. declared that St. Catherine's was faced with four choices -- major remodeling, build new, sell, or close. The $2 million price tag for a new hospital was beyond the resources of the Dominican order.
Reportedly, Sister Paschala Noonan, who was the administrator of the hospital at the time, had been given a date for the Order to close up the hospital and leave McCook. Angus Garey, who was on the original Management Board for the new hospital in 1970, remembers Sister Paschala Noonan as being a very kind person, but tough as nails. She refused to leave McCook without adequate medical facilities. She agreed that St. Catherine's was hopelessly out of date and it was not cost effective to remodel the facility to conform with the new hospital standards. At the same time she exhorted the people of McCook to come up with a feasible plan for building an entirely new hospital.
Realtor Chas. P. Noll and Sister Paschala Noonan are generally acknowledged to have been the driving force for bringing the new hospital to fruition, but they had a great deal of community support. The original Management Board consisted of Don Harr (insurance man), Sally Cunningham (attorney), J.T. Harris, Jr. (merchant), Dr. Roger Mason, Aileen Murray (councilwoman), Ken Wallace, G.E. Allen (druggist), Pete Graff (banker), Ron Hull (service station operator), Stan Marr (insurance man), Bob Ault (furniture man), Angus Garey (banker), and Chick Wagner (McCook Mayor).
Allen Strunk, owner of the McCook Gazette was the Chairman of the very successful area fund drive, with the assistance of Don Harr and Lynn Wallace. Hometown boy, Bill Noll, represented Architect Leo A. Daly Co. of Omaha as Project Manager for the new "Community Hospital", which was dedicated in June, 1974.
Originally, it had been the plan of the Hospital Board and Medical Staff to ask Sister Paschala to remain as Administrator of the new hospital, and they had promised to observe the Catholic Code, as they always had at St. Catherine's.
However, by 1974 the political climate of the nation had changed. In January, 1973 the US Supreme Court decision, Roe vs. Wade, had made abortion legal, which challenged the Catholic Code of Ethics, regarding the life of an unborn fetus. Some doctors pressured for abortion privileges, under the law of the land. Although the Administration would not be involved in surgical procedures, Sister Paschala felt that it would be inconsistent for her to be in charge of a facility which performed abortions. She withdrew from her position of Administrator. Soon after the other Dominican Sisters, serving in various capacities at the hospital, left McCook as well.
The Kentucky Dominicans had served McCook for over 50 years in the health field. They had the satisfaction of knowing that they had developed and left in place a well-developed system of health services and pastoral care for the people of the McCook area. They also left with the heart-felt love and thanks of the people they served.