SAN ANTONIO • The 50th anniversary of the arrival of the Daughters of Charity to begin their ministry here is being celebrated with a Mass Sunday, Oct. 12, at St. Clare Church.
The Daughters of Charity first came to San Antonio in September 1958 at the request of Father Raymond Francis O’Brien to minister to the people of El Carmen, St. Leo, St. Anthony, and San Francisco de la Espada parishes. In 1959, a two-room house was moved to the El Carmen property, renovated and divided into five rooms by the men of the parish. This first El Carmen Clinic, equipped and supplied by the Daughters of Charity Hospitals, opened in the spring of 1961 to provide general medical services exclusively provided by volunteers. In April 1964, a small 24 by 26 foot cinder block building replaced the house as the clinic facility. In these rooms obstetrics, dermatology, minor surgery, pediatrics, medical and well baby clinics were held. It also became a birthing center for the area. A Daughter of Charity nurse midwife delivered the first baby in the clinic in June of 1964. By the clinic’s last delivery in January 1969 a total of 151 babies took their first breaths at the El Carmen Clinic. In November 1968, a modest one-story building was erected on Somerset Road. Known as the DePaul Family Center, the center initially offered a wide range of medical, dental and social services. In 1983, DePaul became a United Way agency. The need of single parents and two wage-earner families for safe, affordable day care was recognized in 1984. Shortly after the doors for this child care facility opened, the state requested to place abused and/or neglected children at DePaul.
These children also required transportation to and from the center each day, and special care to overcome developmental delay. Furthermore, the need to support teenage mothers was quickly recognized, since many were dropping out of school permanently in order to care for their babies. By 1987, the Child Development Center at DePaul had grown to accommodate 120 children and in 1992 we were licensed for 129 children. In 1999, South San School District contracted with DePaul Child Development for 16 slots for special needs children ages 3 and 4. The school district supplies two special education teachers, a teacher’s aide plus some equipment; the children attend at no charge. In 2003 DePaul Child Development Center took a giant leap forward by earning national accreditation from the National Association for Education of Young Children. The five-year accreditation process moves the center into the elite group of only 26 child development centers in all of San Antonio.
Daughters of Charity Services of San Antonio serves a low-income, uninsured, largely Hispanic population on the Southside of San Antonio. Fifty percent of the families served by Daughters of Charity Services have annual household incomes under $15,000. Seventy-five percent have no health insurance and 45 percent have educational levels below high school graduation. All services are offered on a sliding fee scale.
The organization also operates La Misión Family Health Care, a primary care medical clinic in far south Bexar County.
Over the past five decades the sisters have served San Antonio at El Carmen Center, De Paul Family Center, LaMisión Family Health Care, past programs at St. Philip of Jesus and St. Leo the Great, as well as other programs in the community.