SSM Health Hospital

About SSM Health St. Louis Missouri

Origins: The Franciscan Sisters of Mary (1872–Present)

SSM Health traces its St. Louis origins to 1872, when the Franciscan Sisters of Mary arrived and began operating hospitals to serve poor and immigrant communities. That mission expanded into one of the largest Catholic hospital networks in the United States. Through new construction and facility acquisition across more than a century, the Franciscan Sisters of Mary came to operate multiple hospitals across St. Louis city and St. Louis County. Each facility was repeatedly renovated, expanded, and updated during the decades when asbestos-containing products manufactured by , ceiling tile, and were the standard, required, and commercially dominant insulation materials in American hospital construction. The corporate structure now known as SSM Health was formalized through mergers accelerated in the 1990s and 2000s. Your legal rights attach to your exposure at a specific physical facility, not to the current brand name. Document every facility where you worked — that information is the foundation of your claim.

Key SSM Health Facilities with Documented Asbestos Exposure

**SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital

• Location: Midtown St. Louis on Grand Boulevard
• Operating history: Early twentieth century to present
• Partnership: Saint Louis University School of Medicine
• Asbestos materials: Substantial asbestos-containing pipe covering and block insulation manufactured by pipe covering and insulation™, and pipe insulation™** installed during 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s renovations
• Risk areas: Steam pipe systems insulated with pipe covering™, hot water distribution lines wrapped with Armstrong asbestos wrap, central boiler plant with insulating boardblock insulation, valve packing with gaskets and packing asbestos gaskets

**SSM Health DePaul Hospital

• Location: Bridgeton, Missouri (St. Louis County)
• Facility opening: Early 1960s with multiple expansion phases
• Asbestos materials:
• Asbestos pipe covering on steam and condensate return lines manufactured by
• Asbestos block insulation on boilers manufactured by and
• Asbestos-containing floor tile branded as joint compound™ and ™** throughout patient corridors and service areas
• Asbestos ceiling tile manufactured by in mechanical rooms and service spaces
• spray fireproofing™ fireproofing spray applied to structural steel throughout the facility
• High-risk period: 1960s, 1970s, and into the 1980s
• Primary workforce: Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1 members

**SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital – Richmond Heights

• Location: Clayton Road in Richmond Heights, Missouri
• Operating history: Early twentieth century to present; flagship facility of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary
• Asbestos materials: Steam heating systems with pipe covering and insulation™ pipe covering, boiler rooms insulated with Armstrong block insulation, full steam distribution system with pipe and block insulation™ products installed during the post-World War II expansion period
• Exposure period: Post-WWII through the 1970s
• Union involvement: Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1 and Plumbers and Pipefitters UA Local 562

**SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital

• Location: South St. Louis city on South Grand Boulevard
• Campus opening: 1950s as a Hill-Burton Act funded project
• Asbestos materials: Full range of asbestos-containing building products standard for Hill-Burton era construction, including pipe covering and insulation™, Armstrong pipe covering™, and **insulating boardblock
• Risk areas: Utility and mechanical areas; central steam plant with gasket material™ insulation on boiler vessels; pipe systems throughout insulated with block insulation™ asbestos product

**Incarnate Word Hospital (Later SSM Health)

• Location: North St. Louis
• Operating history: Originally operated by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word; later absorbed into the SSM Health system
• Asbestos materials: Standard mid-twentieth century products including, and
• Primary exposure areas: Mechanical rooms, pipe chases, and boiler plant

Why Multiple Construction Phases Multiplied Exposure

Large hospital facilities were never built in a single phase. Hospitals expanded, renovated, and updated mechanical systems continuously throughout the mid-twentieth century. Asbestos exposure at a hospital did not end when the original building was completed. Each renovation, addition, and mechanical system upgrade from roughly 1930 through the late 1970s introduced new asbestos-containing materials. Each demolition, cut-in, or repair of existing asbestos systems — whether the covering was pipe covering and insulation™, Armstrong pipe covering™, or pipe insulation™** — released fibers into the air workers breathed. Workers had no ability to avoid exposure. They were working in compliance with the job specifications.

Pre-War Period (1930s–1945)

• Asbestos pipe covering and boiler insulation were already standard practice before World War II
• Dominant suppliers: , and Louis hospital workers. The Hill-Burton Act of 1946 funded a massive wave of hospital construction across the United States. Hill-Burton specifications required asbestos insulation on steam and hot water systems. Required products included pipe covering and insulation™, Armstrong pipe covering™, and pipe insulation™**. Every major St. Louis hospital that received Hill-Burton funding was built with asbestos-containing pipe covering manufactured by pipe covering and insulationand Armstrong, boiler block insulation by and ceiling tile, and related asbestos products throughout. Contractors did not choose asbestos — they were required to use it by the project specifications.

Late Construction Period (1965–1980)

Medical and scientific evidence of asbestos dangers accumulated throughout this period. Asbestos manufacturers actively suppressed that evidence. Products manufactured by , Armstrong, and insulating boardduring this period contained asbestos at high concentrations. spray fireproofing™ spray fireproofing was applied extensively to hospital structural systems. The industry knew. Workers were not told.

Regulatory Transition (1973–1986)

• EPA restricted certain asbestos spray applications beginning in 1973, affecting spray fireproofing™ and similar products
• OSHA issued progressively stricter workplace standards throughout the 1970s
• Many asbestos-containing products — calcium silicate insulation™, pipe covering™, pipe insulation™, and joint compound™ — remained in commercial sale and active use through the mid-1980s
• Existing asbestos from earlier installations remained in place for decades after — deteriorating, friable, and releasing fibers into the air workers breathed every day

Why Hospitals Required More Asbestos Than Other Buildings

Hospitals are among the most asbestos-intensive building types in American construction history, for specific operational reasons. **Steam Distribution Systems Hospitals ran large central steam boiler plants distributing steam throughout the facility for space heating, instrument sterilization, laundry, dietary, and domestic hot water. Steam at 100–150 PSI and 350°F requires substantial insulation to maintain efficiency and prevent burns. Asbestos pipe covering — pipe covering and insulation™, Armstrong pipe covering™, and pipe insulation™ — was the insulation material specified by every major architectural firm doing institutional work in St. Louis. **24/7 Operating Requirements Hospitals operate around the clock. Maintenance and repair work on mechanical systems was performed while systems ran at temperature or had just shut down. Workers routinely cut into, removed, and replaced asbestos pipe covering on hot steam lines without adequate cooling periods or work area isolation. Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1 members performed this work continuously, shift after shift, year after year. **Repeated Renovation Unlike office buildings or schools, hospitals renovated clinical and mechanical spaces constantly — adding new wings, upgrading operating suites, expanding boiler capacity. Every renovation disturbed existing asbestos installations. Every disturbance released fiber. Workers who thought they were doing routine maintenance were generating asbestos dust that exceeded safe exposure levels by orders of magnitude — levels the manufacturers had known about for decades. —