'I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me.
I was ill and you comforted me,
in prison and you came to visit me.'
-Matthew
26:35-36
The Dominican
Sisters Home Health Agency of Denver, Inc. exists to
provide quality nursing care and related service to the
sick in their own homes. We give priority to the poor,
foster the integrity of family life and assist the
elderly and chronically ill to stay at home. We provide
these services without regard to the origin, creed or
other status of the individual. We will protect the life
of all people. We are prepared to adapt to the changing
needs of the community and those we serve.
It all started one summer day in 1869 when Mary Walsh, a poor Irish immigrant girl, came to the United States and settled in the east side of New York City. She secured employment as a laundress with a wealthy family for whom she had worked.
On her way to work one August day a child’s cry of distress caught her attention. She saw the child — about seven years old — sobbing. Gently, she tried to comfort the frightened little girl. She told Mary Walsh her mother was upstairs ill and she did not know what to do.She went upstairs with her to find the child’s mother lying gravely ill, a dead infant by her side. Her prayer was, "Dear Lord, aid me. Tell me how to help."During the next few days Mother Mary Walsh sacrificed her much-needed job and devoted all of her time to helping this "helpless" family. From then on, having seen the desperate plight of the poor with her own eyes and felt it with her own heart, she dedicated herself to a lifetime of charity and mercy.
This incident was to influence her whole life. Though not conscious of it at that time, she was laying the foundation of her real vocation as a benefactress and friend of Christ’s sick poor, no matter what age, race, creed or color. This is how her community, The Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor, began.Mother Mary Walsh made plans for the work to be carried out in other parts of the United States and Denver, Colorado was chosen as one of the sites for the Mission. Mother Mary Walsh died in 1922 but it was decided that plans should go on as she had wished before her death. Four Dominican Sisters arrived later that year on the invitation of Bishop Tihen to begin their work in Denver. Through the joint efforts of Father Charles McDonnell, S.J., pastor of Sacred Heart Church and Loyola Chapel, The Knights of Columbus, the St. Vincent de Paul Society and the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a house was found at 2501 Gaylord Street and we still reside at the same residence to this day.
And now, almost one hundred years later, the Dominican Sisters Home Health Agency continues to do what the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor started out doing — devoting themselves completely to helping the sick and poor of Denver.
OUR LOGO
The Black and White background on this shield represents the open cloak or capa showing the white habit of the original Dominican Order.
The superimposed motif was especially designed for the Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor of which the Dominican Sisters Home Health Agency is a continuation. The lamp portraying a triple purpose: the wise virgins taking their lamps and going out to meet the Bridegroom; the lamp of the Gospel - "let your light shine before men that they may see your good works;" the Nightingale lamp, symbol of professional nursing.
The alabaster vase, similar to that of Mary Magdalene, patron saint of our Foundress Mother Mary Walsh, used for the anointing of Christ sick poor. Surrounding the religious nurse emblem of our work, and embracing it as it were, is the M and crown for Mary the Queen of the Rosary, the special protectress of the Dominican Order.
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