A hospital in Paducah has a new name. Lourdes Hospital is now called Mercy Health Lourdes Hospital. Officials commemorated the name change on Monday with the unveiling of a new sign on top of the building.
Lourdes joined the Catholic health care system Mercy Health in 1989. Director of Marketing Leigh Ann Ballegeer says the rebranding effort will not change patient care.
“We are still the same hospital that everyone has known and loved since 1905 in this community. We still have the same physicians. All of our operations are the exact same," she said.
Lourdes began in the Paducah area as Riverside Hospital in 1905. The hospital was named Lourdes in 1959 after it was purchased by the Diocese of Owensboro. Lourdes moved to its current location in 1973.
Changes include new signage with new logos around the region throughout the year.
Ballegeer said Mercy Health has more than 150 employed providers at 30 locations across west Kentucky and those services will be united under one Mercy Health brand.
For example, the physician group operates under Mercy Medical Associates and the hospital operated under Lourdes Hospital.
"We have points of care at the hospital proper and on our hospital campus including our Lourdes Medical Pavilion and Marshall Nemer Pavilion. We also have sites in Marshall County. We have satellite clinics around town. And I think as we start to rebrand and you see those signs pop up on places that you go to and may not realize were part of Lourdes and Mercy Health, you'll start to understand that a little better," she said.
Mercy Health/Lourdes employs about 1,600 people in the west Kentucky region, according to Ballegeer. The system serves areas in Kentucky and Ohio.
