2025 Impact Report
A legacy renewed, because of you.
More than 150 years ago, the Franciscan Sisters of Mary began caring for this community with deep compassion. Today, your support ensures that care continues for those who need it most.
As we move forward in 2026, our focus remains clear: advancing care, expanding access, and responding to community needs.
Watch this message from our Foundation president, Craig Chindemi, CFRE, then read on to see how your commitment made a difference this past year.
How you made a difference in 2025
A snapshot of how your support strengthened care across our community
Your partnership fueled more than $6.7 million in impact, strengthening care across our seven local SSM Health hospitals in St. Louis.
Diabetes Education Program
Community support opens doors to care and education.
The Diabetes Education Program is provided at no cost to patients because of generous donors like you. You helped remove barriers, build confidence, and create meaningful lifestyle changes for patients across St. Louis.
• 639 patient visits focused on education, prevention, and long-term health.
• 312 group classes created connection, accountability, and shared learning.
• 90% of participants completed critical vision exams.
• 78% completed recommended dental exams.
• 1.8% average decrease in A1C levels.
Learn more
Center for Healthy Families and Communities
Your support helps protect mothers during a critical time.
Through donor support, expectant and new mothers facing high-risk pregnancies are receiving closer, more consistent care beyond the hospital walls. The Remote Patient Monitoring initiative focuses on patients diagnosed with hypertension or hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, conditions that can pose serious risks if left unmanaged.
At SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital, nearly 46% of delivering patients experience a hypertensive disorder during pregnancy. Of those patients, 63% are covered by Medicaid, highlighting a population that often faces additional barriers to ongoing care. Thanks to your support of the Center for Healthy Families and Communities, this initiative is helping ensure those most at risk are monitored, supported, and connected to care during one of life’s most vulnerable moments.
Bassinets at two of SSM Health’s The Family Birthplace Locations
Your generosity strengthens maternity and family care from the very beginning.
Because of you, newborns and families at SSM Health’s St. Clare Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital – Lake Saint Louis are welcomed into a safer, more comfortable care environment. Through a partnership between the Foundation and each hospital’s auxiliary, your generosity in action helped bring essential equipment to the birthing centers — enhancing safety, supporting care teams, and creating a more welcoming space for families during life’s first moments. Your support helps ensure that care begins
Bread Basket Program
You help put food on the table and bring stability within reach.
Patients facing food and nutrition insecurity are not discharged without support, thanks to a program you helped fund. The Bread Basket Program helps ensure individuals and families have access to food during a critical moment and a connection to longer-term resources beyond the hospital.
Your compassion supports this work in three powerful ways:
• Referral: Connecting identified inpatients to ongoing community-based food support after discharge.
• Pantry: Providing two to three days of food for a patient’s household at discharge.
• Outreach: Hosting food distribution events that serve surrounding communities in partnership with local food providers.
Together, these efforts help reduce stress, improve recovery, and support whole-person health.
• 3,276 inpatients were served in 2025, a 25% increase over 2024.
• 4,340 individuals in households benefited from food received from the Bread Basket Pantry.
• 50,000 pounds of food were provided to program participants.
• 1,886 patients were referred to the St. Louis Area Foodbank’s Community Resource Team.
“The food provided to me at the hospital helped, and now you’re helping me get monthly benefits. I am going to have so much less stress about food. Thank you!” — Helen, a patient connected with the Bread Basket Program
Virtual Reality Glasses
Innovation that strengthens care and those who deliver it.
Through your support, Smart Glasses are helping equip Radiologic Technologists with advanced training tools that strengthen the radiology workforce across SSM Health hospitals in the St. Louis region. This investment builds caregiver confidence, supports skill development, and helps improve the patient experience every day.
Radiology staffing shortages, a challenge felt nationwide, place added strain on care teams and can affect how quickly patients receive essential diagnostic imaging. Because of your support for this technology, caregivers are better prepared, clinical capacity is expanded, and patients benefit from timely, high-quality care. Your investment is helping ensure innovation works where it matters most — in the hands of those delivering care.
Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) Communications
Your support keeps communities safer when seconds matter.
Because of donor support from SSM Health Foundation – St. Louis and SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation, a critical regional communication system is now fully in place. Your generosity helped fund a dedicated mass casualty incident (MCI) radio channel — creating a clear, reliable line of communication between first responders and hospitals.
The system has already proven its value. During the May 16 St. Louis City tornado and the October 15 Henkel Manufacturing active shooter alarm, real-time updates from EMS allowed hospitals to prepare appropriately, preserve critical resources, and respond with confidence. With your support, emergency teams were better informed — and better prepared to deliver care when care cannot wait.
• 24 hospitals connected
• 2 emergency events supported in 2025
• 1 dedicated communication channel for mass casualty response
With heart, generosity, and a whole lot of fun, you showed up to help raise nearly $850,000 for our community’s greatest needs at the 10th annual SSM Health Foundation Open and Bright Night Gala.
Relive the memories.
Golf Recap: Gala Recap:
Your support made no-cost access to the Diabetes Education Program possible for 639 patients.
One clear line of communication now connects 24 hospitals at pivotal moments because you chose to give.
Your generosity helped provide 32 new bassinets to support maternity and family care at SSM Health St. Clare Hospital and SSM Health St. Joseph – Lake Saint Louis Hospital.
Your support helped bring comfort and calm to hospice patients, serving 124 through Music Therapy and 118 through Comfort Touch® Massage Therapy.
$50,000 provided compassion and relief for SSM Health employees following the May 16 tornado.
3 pairs of Smart Glasses funded by supporters for advanced caregiver training.
Your concern for others helped serve 3,276 inpatients across seven adult hospitals and connected them to ongoing food support after discharge.
Your generosity helped ensure 642 new mothers received ongoing monitoring, support, and postpartum care when it mattered most.
Thank you for making this impact possible.
These highlights reflect more than individual programs or moments. They show what is possible because of you. Your generosity is expanding access, strengthening care teams, and helping SSM Health respond with compassion and confidence at moments of greatest need.
Every impact shared here is a reminder that when you give, you are not just supporting health care — you are helping build a healthier, more resilient community for today and for the future.