Who We Are

Pittsburgh Mercy is one of the largest community health and social service providers and employers in Southwestern Pennsylvania. We reach out and offer help and hope to some of our community’s most vulnerable people and populations:

• People who have complex behavioral health (mental health and substance use) challenges
• People who have intellectual and developmental disabilities
• People who are experiencing homelessness
• People who need wrap-around services to live safe, healthy, and well in the community.

Pittsburgh Mercy is a member of Trinity Health, serving in the tradition of the Sisters of Mercy. Our mission is to be a compassionate and transforming, healing presence within our communities.

Pittsburgh Mercy includes Bethlehem Haven, McAuley Ministries, Pittsburgh Mercy Behavioral Health, Pittsburgh Mercy Community Health, Pittsburgh Mercy Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities Services, Pittsburgh Mercy’s Operation Safety Net®, and Pittsburgh Mercy Family Health Center.

Pittsburgh Mercy’s focus is local and community-based. With total operating revenue of $120 million*, we’re one of the largest health and human service nonprofit organizations and employers in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Together, the Pittsburgh Mercy Family of Care® serves more than 17,000 people annually in 90 locations in Southwestern Pennsylvania and employs 1,000 colleagues. (*Fiscal Year 2024) 

Pittsburgh Mercy is the largest Integrated Community Wellness Center (ICWC) in Pennsylvania and the only one in Southwestern Pennsylvania. We are also a five-time awardee of Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Certified Community Behavioral Health Center (CCBHC) expansion grants. Pittsburgh Mercy is also an NCQA-accredited Patient Centered Medical Home, a model of care that puts persons served at the forefront of care. Our Medical Respite Center at Bethlehem Haven is certified by The National Institute for Medical Respite Care (NIMRC), a special program of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. We were one of the first NIMRC-certified medical respite programs in the U.S.*

A Heritage of Hope

Pittsburgh Mercy serves in the tradition of the Sisters of Mercy, a religious congregation of women founded in Ireland in 1831 by Catherine McAuley. Our history and heritage of hope begins with these courageous women of service.

Having spent most of her life relying on the goodness of others to provide her with food and shelter, Catherine inherited at the age of 40 approximately $1 million by today’s standards. Instead of using her newfound wealth to care for her own needs, Catherine instead built a House of Mercy to respond to the needs of the poor, especially women and children. The house was intentionally located at 64A Lower Baggot Street, one of Dublin’s most affluent neighborhoods. Catherine wanted to make the needs of the less fortunate known to those who had the resources to help. Known as Catherine’s House, the center is now home to the Mercy International Association.

In 1843, the Sisters of Mercy brought their caring and compassionate works of mercy and service to Pittsburgh. Mother Frances Warde led six other courageous young Sisters of Mercy to Pittsburgh, where, on December 21, they founded the first American congregation of the Sisters of Mercy. They visited and cared for the sick poor in their homes and opened a school in the basement of their convent on Penn Street (now Penn Avenue). The Sisters of Mercy quickly became known as “the walking Sisters” for their outreach and service to others.

On January 1, 1847, the Sisters of Mercy opened Mercy Hospital, the first permanent hospital in Pittsburgh and the first Mercy Hospital in the world. Everyone was welcomed regardless of race, nationality, age, gender, or religion.

Mercy Hospital grew quickly with Pittsburgh. In 1983, Mercy expanded to become Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, a network of integrated, community-based health and human services throughout the region.