Our History
The ministry of the Benedictine Sisters has roots that run 15 centuries deep to Rome and the founders of the Benedictines, St. Benedict of Nursia and his twin sister St. Scholastica. The “Rule” St. Benedict wrote for monastic living continues to guide monastic life today. Benedictine Sisters first came to South Dakota from Maryville, Mo. at the invitation of Bishop Martin Marty, OSB to work in the new Dakota Territory and start a new foundation. They homesteaded in Zell, South Dakota, and then took over the bishop’s house and school in Yankton. Their rich health care tradition began in 1897 when Bishop Thomas O’Gorman asked them to convert their academy and orphanage into Sacred Heart Hospital in response to the need for a clean, quiet place for the sick and injured.
The roots of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary are Irish and began with the zeal of an Irish woman, Nano Nagle, who redirected her life and wealth to the needs of the education of the poor and night-time ministry to the poverty-ridden elderly and sick in her hometown. In the late 19th century, three Presentation Sisters from Ireland responded to the call to come to Dakota Territory to educate the children of the Lakota Sioux and those of the European settlers, as well. As the territory grew, the new Dakota community of Presentation women did, too. Presentation College in Aberdeen became a leader in providing teachers and nurses to the rural area. At the turn of the century, the Sisters began caring for victims of diphtheria and typhoid epidemics in their homes and in their schools, opening St. Luke’s Hospital in Aberdeen in 1901.
As the Sisters heeded the Gospel call to care for the sick, their health care ministries grew. By treating every sick person as a child of God, they hoped to reveal God’s love to the world. Through a century of prudent and able administration, the Sisters met the challenges of an ever-changing health care system. In the early years, they borrowed to build hospitals for the people of the region and kept their ministries alive and flourishing during hard times. Mid-century, they met and often exceeded community expectations for quality care, specialized skills and technology. In the 1960s and 1970s they cooperated with government programs while assuring Gospel values, pastoral care and mission awareness would continue to be evident in their hospitals and nursing homes.
In 1978 the Presentation Sisters formed the Presentation Health System to combine the strengths of their individual institutions. In like manner, the Benedictine Sisters formed the Benedictine Health System of Yankton in 1987. The new organizations made it easier for the facilities to share the costs of expertise in areas of reimbursement coding, legal affairs, personnel management, employee benefit administration, bill collection and risk management. In a first step toward the eventual union of their health ministries, the Benedictine and Presentation Sisters formed the Benedictine-Presentation Health Alliance, and under its aegis began sponsoring an annual health care ethics conference.
Revitalizing their century-long commitment to the health care ministry, the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Benedictine Sisters of Sacred Heart Monastery announced in September 2000, that henceforth they would cosponsor Avera and the individual institutions they had previously sponsored separately. This action completed a process that began in 1998 when they chose one family name, Avera for their health care facilities, and added the Avera name to the existing names of their hospitals, nursing homes and clinics. In doing so, the two communities modeled the ultimate collaboration by integrating their respective health ministries in order to strengthen their ability to serve the people of the region.
Our Name
Our name, Avera (it rhymes with Sarah), means "to be well." The most prominent element of the Avera logo is a cross, symbolizing the Christian heritage and mission of Avera's partners. The design elements below the cross can be interpreted as hands, open and lifted up as in prayer, or doves, a Christian symbol of peace and hope. Both the design and its color, a deep green, are intended to convey hope and renewal, qualities significant in Christian belief and also particularly relevant in our predominantly rural area of the country.