Message to Our Community
The University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center (UM SJMC) has been a treasured community resource dating back to our founding in 1864 by the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia who opened the St. Joseph German Hospital to serve the sick and needy in downtown Baltimore.
This mission to care for a broad community has continued at UM SJMC in Towson since our move to Northern Baltimore in 1965. This charge is why one of the main tenants of our True North philosophy is “Our Community.” We are working closely with many community partners to accomplish this and continue seeking and developing new, innovative alliances with organizations across our service area.
Although UM SJMC is well known for our large, annual free flu shot campaign, one of our very active relationships is with The Orokawa Y in Towson, where we offer free blood pressure screenings and a new Stroke Support Group. Stroke is one of the most lethal health issues in our community, so we also expanded stroke presentations into local senior centers, universities and churches and have a nurse trained in Stanford’s Living Healthy with High Blood Pressure program, which she has presented at several community settings.
UM SJMC is proud of our well established community-based programs that serve a diverse population in age, ethnicity and income. For example, this is the 20th anniversary of our St. Clare Medical Outreach Program, which provides primary care to a low-income, working, uninsured population that is mainly Hispanic. Located in Lutherville, St. Clare served more than 1,100 patients this year, as well as referring to donated specialty care generously provided by UM SJMC specialists.
Since 2007, UM SJMC has presented a youth sports health conference called “Powered\ by ME!” which takes place every fall to inspire youth to make healthy lifestyle choices and be a positive member of their community. Attended by approximately 500 area high school athletes and their coaches it covers a wide range of topics, from the dangers of performance enhancing drugs to eating disorders, e-cigarettes, opioid addiction and dating violence.
I want to thank the support of our Board of Directors, our talented medical and health providers and support staff, as well as our volunteers and donors for making our mission to enhance our community’s health possible. They are the true force behind our True North.
Sincerely,
President & CEO
UM St. Joseph Medical Center