Jordan Beck | Daily Press OSF HealthCare St. Francis Hospital & Medical Group President Dave Lord stands next to a statue of St. Francis outside OSF St. Francis’ Escanaba hospital. Lord said OSF St. Francis has a long history of being there for people in the area.

Editor’s note: The Daily Press features a profile of an area business each week. This week’s featured business is OSF HealthCare St. Francis Hspital & Medical Group in Escanaba.

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ESCANABA — OSF HealthCare St. Francis Hospital & Medical Group has a long history of being there for people in the area, OSF St. Francis President Dave Lord said. The hospital plans to continue this tradition in the coming months and years.

What is now known as OSF St. Francis was established in Escanaba in the late 19th century by a group of Catholic Sisters.

“The first group of Sisters came in February of 1884,” Lord said.

According to Lord, the Sisters took ownership of the building and hospital in 1913. They also opened a hospital in Menominee in 1885 and a hospital in Marquette in 1890.

Today, OSF St. Francis operates a 25-bed inpatient hospital in Escanaba.

“We offer a wide variety of outpatient and diagnostic services,” Lord said.

In addition to their Escanaba facility, OSF St. Francis operates clinics in Gladstone and at Pinecrest Medical Care Facility in Powers.

“Those are our main … physician office practices,” Lord said.

According to Lord, the hospital has also offered in-home services for decades.

“OSF has had home health and hospice services in the community as well going back many years,” he said.

OSF St. Francis’ services are made possible by their employees, Lord said. Between all of their locations in the area, the hospital employs a total of about 700 people locally.

“(That) makes us one of the larger employers in the area,” he said.

This year, OSF is working to better fulfill their ministry priorities.

“Our priorities here in the work that we do … (are) focused around excellence in clinical outcomes,” Lord said. With this in mind, the hospital’s highest priorities in the area are providing patients with the best possible experience and ensuring that patients are able to access healthcare.

The hospital has also been working to make improvements to their physical facilities as of late — a strategy they plan to keep following.

“Within the last couple of years, we’ve spent over $10 million on capital improvement projects,” Lord said. Recent OSF St. Francis improvement projects have included the construction of a new building in Gladstone, the renovation and upgrading of their hospital’s laboratory, and the relocation and upgrading of their pharmacy.

For more information on OSF St. Francis, visit www.osfhealthcare.org/st-francis/.