About

About Mercy-Douglass

Mercy-Douglass History: Serving the Needs of Older Adults

The Mercy-Douglass Corporation, a nonprofit health and human services organization, has served African American adults’ health, social, and economic needs for six decades.  Mercy-Douglass has been a shining example of taking responsibility and action to solve problems affecting African Americans due to discrimination, neglect, and institutional barriers.

The company’s programs include nursing homes, adult day care centers, case management, and housing. Its founders were grounded in a powerful principle guiding the company today: ” Where there is a will, there is a way.”

Mercy-Douglass Corporation traces the roots of its guiding principle back to the history of three organizations: The Home for the Aged and Infirmed Colored Persons (1864), the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital (1885), and the Mercy Hospital (1907).

The Home for the Aged and Infirmed Colored Persons

W.E.B. DuBois in his 1899 book, The Philadelphia Negro, cited the Home for the Aged and Infirmed Colored Persons and the Douglass Hospital and Training School (antecedent institution to the Mercy-Douglass Hospital) as two of the chief Negro institutions of the city.

The Stephen Smith Home for the Aged, formerly the Home for Aged and Infirmed Colored People, was founded by Quakers and African Americans in 1864. The land for the home’s second building was donated by Stephen Smith, a wealthy African-American lumber merchant, who was a slave until the age of twenty-one. He owned real estate and spent his summers in Cape May, New Jersey, where he had a building constructed for the use of black Methodists. He also built the Zion Mission Church in Philadelphia, located at Seventh and Lombard Streets.

DuBois described the home as “one of the best institutions of the kind; its property valued at $400,000 and it has an annual income of $20,000. It has sheltered 558 old people since its foundation in 1864” (The Philadelphia Negro, p. 230). The home originally served only women. However, in March 1872, its first male resident was admitted and, in December of that year, the first married couple were admitted. Between 1864 and 1953, the home cared for approximately 2,200 residents.

The home experienced severe financial problems during the Great Depression despite its endowment. Reductions in operating funds, staff, and residents resulted, and there was talk of closing or moving the home. One plan discussed was moving the residents to the Douglass Hospital.

The chief administrator of the home died in 1948, and Hobart Jackson was appointed to the position in February 1949. Jackson had been the business manager of the Douglass Hospital before its merger in 1948 with the Mercy Hospital.

Jackson brought the home out of stagnation and emerged as a leading national advocate for the elderly, specifically for African-American older persons. In addition to returning to its status as a model provider of institutional services to African-American older persons. the home offered community-based services to the elderly. The focus of service changed from custodial to care. The home was renamed “The Stephen Smith Home for the Aged” in 1953.

By the time of Jackson’s death in 1978, the Stephen Smith Home for the Aged was operating a 180-bed nursing home. The Stephen Smith Towers, an apartment complex constructed in 1967, provided 140 units of housing for the elderly and social, recreational, and nutritional services for older persons living in the community.

The Mercy-Douglass Hospital established in 1948 was a merger of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital founded in 1885 by Dr. Nathan Francis Mossel, and the Mercy Hospital, founded in 1907, under the leadership of Dr. Eugene Theodore Hinson and other community lead- ers. Both these institutions were formed out of the urgent need for opportunities for study by “Negro” physicians and persons interested in nursing training. For over seventy-five years (1885 to 1971), the hospitals served the African-American community and provided a place for black physicians and nurses to practice, teach, and learn.

Prior to the merger, these hospitals had operated interm programs for African-American physicians and nurse training programs. The Douglass Hospital opened the first “Negro Nurse Training School” in Philadelphia in 1895. It was known in the 1930s for its services to indigent persons with tuberculosis. In 1930, the Mercy Hospital gained prestige for bringing together “men of goodwill of both races” in a fund-raising campaign resulting in the construction of a nurses’ home, costing $100,000.

By 1938, both hospitals were feeling financial pressure. Although fundraising for capital programs was successful, funding day-to-day operations was difficult to secure. Leaders recognized the advantages of joining forces to develop a “single strong” institution in Philadelphia, eliminating competition and factions, and bring- ing “closer harmony and cooperation between the Negro profession and public.” Moreover, a group of black physicians from Philadelphia who toured the United States to study medical services for African Americans concluded that the situation in Philadelphia was the worst of all the cities visited, with the exception of New York.

In the early 1940s, the two hospitals shared chiefs of various medical and surgical services. When the Mercy-Douglass Hospital and School for Nurses was incorporated on March 11, 1948, priority was given to the improvement of the nursing service and the training program for medical residents.

Writer Russell F. Minton attributes the success of the merger to the hard work of persons dedicated to the institution, including the reorganized Board of Directors, chaired by Judge Herbert E. Millen, and the leadership of Dr. Wilbur H. Strickland, the first medical director of the Mercy-Douglass Hospital. In his 1951 article, Minton called attention to its services in emergencies, delivery of babies, medical training, and professional opportunities for Negro doctors.

Financial problems again emerged and resulted in the Mercy-Douglass Hospital going into receivership in December 1971. It closed in July 1973 and the building was torn down in December 1982. An explanation is that the institution was not able to compete with the more modern, air-conditioned, hospitals that then welcomed African-American inpatients.

Some members of the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Anti-Poverty Action Committee and several leaders in the African-American community were interested in keeping the name of the organization alive and maintaining a presence of health care and service in Philadelphia.

A survey of the community in the 1970s resulted in 50,000 signatures favoring the development of a nursing care facility as a means of assuring continuity for Mercy-Douglass.

The Mercy-Douglass Human Services Corporation was created to develop the nursing home through the use of private funds and a grant from the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under the Hill-Burton program. It required that facilities built with these funds provide at least 10 percent of its services free to the indigent. The founders of the new corporation were Earl Grey Roberts, Jr., who served as president of the Board of Directors, Walter A. Brown, the Reverend Hiawatha Coleman, Senator Freeman Hankins, Edna Harrison, Senator Paul McKinney, Virginia E. Pryor, Delores B. Waters, Frances Williams, James J. Wilson, and William T. Samuels. The new building was constructed in 1977, with a capacity to provide nursing home care for 180 patients.

After the death of Earl Grey Roberts, Jr., in 1975, James J. Wilson became president of the Board of Directors of Mercy-Douglass Human Services Corporation. Under his leadership, the organization continued quality services to the Philadelphia community. As a result of a reorganization in 1984, Mercy-Douglass Corporation was developed for the purpose of serving the “social, economic, and ancillary needs of the community.” The Mercy-Douglass Corporation and subsidiaries provide a comprehensive group of health, social, and housing services designed to fulfill this mission.

The Mercy-Douglass Corporation established a separate nonprofit corporation, Mercy-Douglass Center, Inc., for the purpose of purchasing the assets of the Stephen Smith Home. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania pro- vided $600,000 to satisfy obligations against the prop- erty, and the Mercy-Douglass Center assumed responsibility for the operations of the Stephen Smith Residents of the Stephen Smith Home for the Aged enjoy the library, installed in 1962. (L. to r.) Thomas Reed, Mrs. Sadie Thomas, Mrs. Angeline D. Smith, librarian (also resident), and Mr. John Fitchett. Photographer James H. Robinson Associates. Urban Archives, Temple University.

Mercy Douglass’ Mission Today

Today, Mercy-Douglass delivers on its mission by providing housing for seniors and special needs populations and property management and development services for U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) housing projects.  For over 40 years, our reputation for providing our customers with worry-free and reliable housing and management/development has established Mercy-Douglass as a trusted service provider in the low-income housing industry in Philadelphia.

Housing: Great Living, Safe, and Affordable

Keeping in step with the Mercy-Douglass tradition, our housing programs address underserved needs in Philadelphia.  We specialize in meeting the housing needs of vulnerable populations. As such, we focus on providing the most important features and benefits to their living accommodations.  For seniors, this means apartments equipped with safety elements (i.e., emergency pull cords, grab bars, etc.) that promote their sense of safety; and community rooms and recreation programs that create a social environment that facilitates a lifestyle they have enjoyed all their lives.

Mercy-Douglass is committed to providing more than four walls and a roof for our special needs residents.  We provide accommodation and programs that meet our residents where they are.  Suppose it is braille support in our residence for the visually impaired (Rudolphy/Mercy-Douglass) or ramps and wheelchair accessibility in our Westminster/Hoopes Townhouses for the disabled. In that case, Mercy-Douglass housing sites facilitate a lifestyle that aligns with the quality of life that the residents desire. Regardless of the type of disability, Mercy-Douglass facilities cater to the specific needs of each site’s residents.

Each of our residences is a low-income facility where rental rates are determined by HUD low-income guidelines.  As a result, residents live comfortably and safely at an affordable price.

Most importantly, our courteous staff of property managers, service coordinators, facility maintenance workers, and administrators supports all of our residents, whose top priority is their well-being and care.

Property Management/Development: Protector of Assets, Experts at Compliance

Mercy-Douglass’s 40 years of experience managing HUD projects and properties makes it an expert in protecting owner assets and compliance with HUD regulations and procedures.

Our owned and managed properties are well maintained and consistently meet the facility maintenance standards mandated by HUD. Our knowledge and execution of HUD regulations in managing properties have resulted in Mercy-Douglass retaining contracts with property owners for several decades. Because of its past performance with its standards, HUD has recommended Mercy-Douglass as a property manager and developer partner to entities that want to develop HUD projects.

 Affordable housing and support services for seniors and special needs individuals will be challenges the city faces for the foreseeable future. As a non-profit, Mercy-Douglass will continue to contribute to solving the problem and improving our communities. Just as it has done since 1977, Mercy-Douglass thrives on the principle, ‘where there is a will, there is a way. ‘