By Anthony Barich
The Sisters of St John of God never really had a strategic plan to build an enterprise when they built their first hospital in WA at Subiaco out of wood.
The Sisters, considered the pre-eminent experts in the field of infectious diseases in the pre-antibiotic era, only ever responded to the needs of the times; and in a post-Federation WA hit by the potentially fatal typhoid fever in the chaos of the 1890s gold rush, they were desperately needed.
When eight Sisters arrived in 1895, responding to a request by Bishop Matthew Gibney and built their hospital at Subiaco due to the availability of fresh water and the proximity to the Subiaco train station, they were criticised as being “daft” for building such a thing “so far from the city”.
“There was great criticism of what was considered the daftness of the Sisters to put it so far out of the city, but it proved a wise choice,” said Sr Eugenia Brennan, Guardian of SJOG’s Heritage and History who helped set up the new Hospital Heritage Area in the main foyer of the Subiaco campus in June, which will be open forever.
Bishop Gibney’s gift of the land, paid off over about 10 years, was part of the Benedictine grant of land at Subiaco, known as Church Lands.
From the beginning when the Sisters’ congregation was founded in 1871 in Wexford, Ireland, the discipline of health care was of knowing how to look after infectious diseases “which was the reason we were brought to Australia”, Sr Eugenia said.
Their arrival in 1895 was the beginning of the medical fraternity’s realisation that many diseases like typhoid were caused by an organism – a bacterium – and the Sisters were at the forefront of this knowledge.
Pope Paul VI’s comment that hospitals are called to humanise the place of human suffering is a guiding principle of St John of God Hospital, with the dignity of the human person the central principle,” Sr Eugenia said.
This is in line with the charism of St John of God himself.
In the first half of 16th century Spain, St John of God devoted a major part of his life to alleviating human suffering, to comforting and soothing the afflicted, sick and dying. As the hospital’s website proclaims, he lived the teachings of Jesus Christ and, as a man who recognised the great injustice of those experiencing disadvantage, he was often heard encouraging others to: “Do good for yourselves by doing good for others.”
From Subiaco, the Sisters of St John of God went on to establish hospitals, pathology and social outreach services in Geraldton, Victoria and New South Wales in response to invitations from Bishops and local communities.
The Hospitaller Order of St John of God also came to Australia from Ireland in 1947 to care for people experiencing disadvantage, and its Brothers began ministries in NSW and Victoria, and then in Christchurch, New Zealand, focusing initially on learning difficulties and intellectual disability, then on psychiatric care and child and family social services.
St John of God Health Care’s larger, broader organisation of today reflects the wisdom and inspiration of the St John of God Sisters and the Brothers of St John of God along with the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition; various Mercy Congregations; the Sisters of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood; as well as the secular traditions of those parts of our ministry sourced outside the Catholic sector.
The arrival of the Subiaco hospital’s heritage exhibition is a timely reminder, Sr Eugenia said, that “our history is being added to each day. All our todays become tomorrow’s past. Each one of us is constantly making history – history for people of the future.”
The exhibition’s genesis is found over two decades ago, from a long-held desire to “have some recognition of the hospital’s history available to everybody who comes to it”. The project only became possible once the funds were made available in its 2009-10 budget.
The Heritage Area was steered by a working party of caregivers, the CEO Dr Shane Kelly and Director of Mission Suzanne Sherry with designer John Davies to develop an area that “would create conversation around who we are, where we have come from and the common thread that underpins everything we do,” a statement from the hospital said.
There are six themes in the Heritage Area symbolising Foundation, Philosophy, Change, Technology, Discipline and Inter-connectedness – to tell a story that “made some sense” among its long history, Sr Eugenia said. However, she insisted that, in doing so, “we didn’t want it to be laudatory of the Sisters or standout doctors”; it was “more to get the spirit of the hospital”.
Sr Eugenia’s concern was that the exhibition tell the story of what guides and motivates SJOG Healthcare and how a response to change is always guided by principles, especially the dignity of the person and the relationship between the carers and the patients.
Just as the founding Sisters started the hospital as part of a response to the urgent need of the time, so too does today’s institution continue to respond to adapt to changes in response to relevant areas like medical science and population growth and dynamics.
“The history of SJOG Hospital Subiaco illustrates that when there are people of good will doing their best, God is always present, and this means it will always survive and flourish,” Sr Eugenia said.
“The success of the hospital has depended extraordinarily on partnership with many people and convergence of people of good will, starting with Bishop Gibney in securing the original plot, and throughout Australia with Bishops who have provided empowerment and facilitation by local Church.”
The exhibition shows the passage of time in both the external appearance of building and the wide range of people necessary to run a hospital, and how each group of people is interconnected.
This interconnectedness is highlighted by the fact that the hospital is the place of birth of many of its present senior staff; and the fact that “the hospital needs the community and vice versa,” Sr Eugenia said.
“For us the big thing was that work and prayer need to go hand in hand and that’s part of our tradition,” she said.
This interfaith harmony was cemented from day one when Bishop Gibney said at the hospital’s opening that there was to be no discrimination of person, creed, race or colour, Sr Eugenia said. “It’s a hospital for the sick, not a hospital for our own faith group,” she added. “I’m discovering an amazing interfaith cooperation always at the hospital.”
There is also interdependence with the local community, including fundraising efforts, “which has not been a constant but was there at the beginning and is there now”.
Pictures are the key element of the Heritage Area, creating a ‘living’ story – and the design allows for people to move through the exhibition in any direction.