History
More Than a Century of Compassionate Care in Western North Carolina
In 2017, Sisters of Mercy Urgent Care became Mercy Urgent Care. Under the simplified name of Mercy Urgent Care, our organization continues its 100+ year tradition of meeting the healthcare needs of individuals and families. Still a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy Urgent Care is the only dedicated nonprofit urgent care network in the region, providing an alternative to hospital emergency rooms for the treatment of non-life-threatening illness and injury.
From Dublin, Ireland to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina
The Sisters of Mercy, an international religious institute of Roman Catholic women, has been touching lives and evolving to meet community needs across the world since its founding in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland by Catherine McAuley (1778–1841).
By the mid-1800s the Sisters of Mercy had begun to expand across the Atlantic and around the world to include Asheville, where in 1900, the Sisters opened an 18-bed tuberculosis sanitarium. The Sisters of Mercy ultimately established and operated one of the area’s largest hospitals, the 338-bed St. Joseph’s Hospital, for nearly 100 years until its sale to Mission Hospitals in 1998.
Compassionate Care at Eight Mercy Urgent Care Centers in the Mountains
During the era in which the Sisters of Mercy owned and operated St. Joseph’s Hospital, the organization opened, and expanded, a network of urgent care facilities that thrive as Mercy Urgent Care today.
Sisters of Mercy Services acquired its first urgent-care facility in south Asheville in 1985, and opened a Weaverville location to serve northern Buncombe County in 1993. 2009 marked the opening of the flagship, 15,000 square-foot urgent care facility and corporate office on Patton Avenue in west Asheville, followed by the opening of the Brevard location in the same year.
In 2011, Sisters of Mercy Urgent Care Brevard acquired Frances Warde Family Health, a primary-care clinic (formerly located in nearby Rosman). In 2016, Mercy Urgent Care opened its fifth urgent care center on Tunnel Road/U.S. Highway 70, serving east Asheville, Swannanoa and Black Mountain. A sixth location opened in Burnsville in 2018, followed by a seventh location, Mercy Urgent Care Foothills, which opened in Columbus in 2019. The eighth, and most recent location, opened in Waynesville in early 2020.
A History of Service Continues: Mercy Around the World
The Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas is an international community of Roman Catholic women who dedicate their lives to the Gospel of Jesus and take vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and service. Inspired by the life of Jesus and by their founder Catherine McAuley, they care for those who suffer from poverty, sickness and limited access to education with a special concern for women and children. Today, more than 2,900 Sisters of Mercy of the Americas make a difference in the lives of others in North, South and Central America, the Caribbean, Guam and the Philippines.
Humanitarian Awards
In 2016, Mercy Urgent Care received national attention for its Mercy for Haiti project when it received the Urgent Care Association of America’s prestigious Humanitarian Award, marking only the second time the industry has given the award for dedicated philanthropy work. The Humanitarian Award recognizes substantial volunteer contributions that are medically related and have a positive impact on a national or international cause.
“Mercy Urgent Care is a stellar representation of our industry with its incredible international charitable efforts over the past year — truly making the world a better, healthier place in areas that need it most,” said P. Joanne Ray, chief executive officer of UCAOA. “We are honored to award Mercy Urgent Care our second annual Humanitarian Award.”
In 2025, the Urgent Care Association again honored Mercy Urgent Care with a Humanitarian Award for its service to the Western North Carolina community in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Although many Mercy facilities had no running water, staff worked quickly to reopen the clinics — setting up portable bathrooms in parking lots and water distribution stations in centers — to ensure Mercy remained accessible for patients across the region. Mercy Urgent Care, the region’s only nonprofit urgent care network, became a central access point of healthcare in the community during the disaster, and its urgent care facilities continue to be a vital resource as the region rebuilds. The Mercy team’s resilience played a critical role in keeping the community’s access to care intact in the wake of the storm.
“Against many odds, this group stepped up to find a way to continue to serve their communities in Western North Carolina in the wake of the devastation from Hurricane Helene,” said Robert Kimball, MD, chair of the Urgent Care Association Awards Committee. “Many of the staff themselves were impacted but still showed up to take care of those in need. Thank you, Rachel and Mercy Urgent Care, and congratulations on this well-deserved award.”