A Legacy of Compassionate Care

The Sisters of Bon Secours, whose ministry was founded for the care of the sick, has long held nursing at their foundation. In 1919, the Sisters of Bon Secours opened the first hospital on U.S. soil in Baltimore as a “Hospital and Training School for Nurses.” Soon after, the Sisters opened the Bon Secours Hospital School of Nursing in 1921. The school operated for 49 years preparing students to be professional nurses not only according to state regulations, but also, above all, according to the spirit and traditions of Bon Secours. 

Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing’s rich history began at Richmond Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, which opened in 1961. The school was a diploma program, created to serve as a source of nurses for Richmond Memorial Hospital, built a few years earlier to memorialize the Richmond community’s World War II victims and to provide a general hospital that served people of all races and backgrounds, regardless of their ability to pay. 

In 1993, a replacement hospital for Richmond Memorial was planned in collaboration with Bon Secours. The new hospital, Bon Secours Memorial Regional Medical Center, opened in 1998. The school was renamed the Bon Secours Memorial School of Nursing. 

In response to the growing evidence showing a positive correlation between a nurse’s education level and patient outcomes, the school launched a four-year Bachelor of Science in nursing degree in 2010 and became the College we know today. We feel privileged to carry on the tradition of nursing education within Bon Secours, continuing the legacy of caring, learning and transforming as the next 100 years of nursing education unfolds.