SEATTLE — For 100 years, the Sisters of Providence have provided care for the ill and elderly at “The Mount,” the nickname for the Providence Mount St. Vincent senior community located on a hill in West Seattle.

“When this was built, we were a beacon on the hill, a light. We’re still a beacon of hope,” Providence Sister Charlene Hudon, a member of the Providence Mount St. Vincent Foundation board, said in a centennial video. “What is here is the heart … and compassion and caring,” she said. “And that’s why we will continue.”

The anniversary was marked Jan. 24 with a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Paul D. Etienne, viewing of the centennial video and a luncheon. A community open house will be held April 26.

Archbishop Paul D. Etienne celebrated a centennial Mass in the chapel at Providence Mount St. Vincent on Jan. 24, 2024. The residence for the elderly and ill opened on Jan. 24, 1924. (Photo: Vivian Hsu)

“What makes The Mount extraordinary are the people — the caregivers, the volunteers, the residents, the patients,” said Maricor Lim, administrator of Providence Mount St. Vincent, said in the video. “You can see that the moment you set foot at The Mount.”

On-the-job training

On Jan. 24, 1924, the Sisters of Providence moved into St. Vincent Home for the Aged and moved their provincial administration, infirmary and novitiate to their new home on a nine-acre site. In an era before Medicare and Medicaid, the sisters mainly cared for the residents, on separate floors for men and women. The postulants and novices were tasked with mopping floors, cleaning bathrooms and other janitorial work. The sisters also canned fruits and vegetables grown and harvested on the site.

Sisters of Providence work in the gardens on the campus of the St. Vincent Home for the Aged, now called Providence Mount St. Vincent. (Screenshot from centennial video)

It was “kind of on-(the)-job training for us as postulates and novices to be of service to others,” said Providence Sister Suzanne Hartung, chief mission integration officer for Providence’s North Division.

In 1965, the Sisters of Providence announced a project to rebuild the aging facility in phases to modern standards, include retirement apartments and add St. Joseph Residence next door as a residence for aging sisters and sisters working at The Mount.

Although the sisters could have looked for a new location to build a completely new building, “we are confident there is no site more beautiful than that on which the present Mount St. Vincent stands,” Sisters of Providence Provincial Supervisor Mother Mary Loretta wrote in the Catholic Northwest Progress.

Innovation in care

Today’s Mount is very different. It offers retirement apartments with assisted living services, skilled nursing care “neighborhoods” that provide a more home-like environment, transitional care and a renowned intergenerational learning program — once featured on the “Today” show — that allows the elderly residents and young children to participate in activities together, each learning from the other.

An intergenerational learning program at Providence Mount St. Vincent allows elderly residents and young children to interact, each learning from the other. (Screenshot from centennial video)

At the time, “it wasn’t mainstream to put a childcare center in the building,” Charlene Boyd, who was administrator from 1996 to 2023, said in the video. “It wasn’t mainstream to not have a dementia unit. It wasn’t mainstream to not organize by level of care. All of those things at that time were pretty progressive.”

Just like the Sisters of Providence “have always been pioneers and at the forefront of services, we were the same way,” Boyd said.

Today the Mount serves 400 residents, with care centered on the needs and preferences of the residents and patients, allowing each person “to maintain his or her independence, privacy and dignity,” the Mount St. Vincent website says.

And St. Joseph Residence is home to aging sisters not only from the Providence congregation, but also to women religious from other communities.

In 2023, The Mount was named nonprofit of the year by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce.

“What it says to me is there’s a lot of recognition of this building that’s been here over 100 years and how they’re recognizing it as an essential service to the West Seattle community,” Boyd said.

Boyd expects The Mount to be around 100 years from now, “but I think that we, just like the sisters, will trailblaze through that and figure out the best way to serve the community.”

Learn more by watching the centennial video.