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Ascension St. John is celebrating its One Ascension journey and the benefits it will continue to bring to patients and their families, their caregivers and the communities it serves throughout northeastern Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas.

On Monday afternoon, a One Ascension celebration took place at the Ascension St. John Jane Phillips facility along Frank Phillips Boulevard in Bartlesville. Nick Ragone, Ascension St. John's Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, said the name change to Ascension St. John has occurred nationwide.

Ascension St. John has 2,700 sites of care across the country, and they all have the Ascension name so they can be connected. In the past, Ragone said they had all these sites across the nation under 2,700 different names, which was hard for patients to understand that Ascension St. John have facilities all over. He said it also connects their shared identity that Ascension's sites of care are part of one healing ministry dating back 2000 years to Jesus.

Ascension St. John believes it was important to have a shared identity, shared mission and shared name. These same sites have adopted the trinity symbol, which connects each Ascension St. John site to their Catholic mission and their healing ministry. The purple of the logo stands for compassion, green stands for growth, and blue stands for health. Mike Moore (pictured below), the Chief Operating Officer of Ascension St. John Jane Phillips in Bartlesville, said he is excited for the national brand.

The name Ascension is becoming a well-known name. Moore said he was driving through Waco, Texas a few months ago and saw a billboard with Ascension Medical Group being advertised. He said that gives him a great feeling because he has access to care, his records and life with Ascension St. John anywhere in the country.

Moore said he believes they are going to become more innovative and more efficient with the services they deliver at Ascension St. John Jane Phillips. He added that $19-million of capital has been invested into the Bartlesville site. There are three new chillers, two new boilers, a new Cath lab, and a new CT and 3-D imaging. The theory for Ascension is to give money to local sites to let them purchase what they need to meet their needs, which Moore said is wise.

Ascension St. John Jane Phillips provides up to $18-million in charity care each year. Moore said they have a robust charity care program and they want to make sure their patients are being served. He said this goes for any services they have, and that they will take care of everything if you qualify for their charity care program.

As a ministry of the church, Ragone said their mission is to serve the poor and vulnerable, or those most in need. He said Ascension St. John's shared mission and identity is to serve the poor and vulnerable, to provide personalized compassionate care, and it is to advocate for a just and compassionate society. Now that they are connected under one name and logo, they feel like they can execute their mission to perfection.

It was Ragone's hope that you will see the changes and feel the joy it symbolizes. He said he hopes you feel the sense optimism, the sense of compassion and the sense of care giving.

This effort took six years in the making. Ragone said no other hospital system that is there size has tried something this intuitive.

Celebrations also will take place throughout the week at other Ascension St. John sites of care as follows:

Monday, Feb. 10th:

● Ascension St. John Jane Phillips in Bartlesville (Noon)

● Ascension St. John Owasso (3 p.m.)

Tuesday, Feb. 11th:

● Ascension Medical Group St. John Bixby (8 a.m.)

● Ascension Medical Group St. John S. Memorial (10 a.m.)

● Ascension Medical Group St. John Riverside (Noon)

● Ascension Medical Group St. John Jenks (3 p.m.)

Wednesday, Feb. 12th:

● Ascension Medical Group St. John Claremore (8 a.m.)

● Ascension Medical Group St. John Independence (Noon)

● Ascension St. John Nowata (3 p.m.)

Thursday, Feb. 13th:

● Ascension St. John Broken Arrow (8 a.m.)

● Ascension St. John Sapulpa (Noon)

Since 2013, St. John has been fully part of Ascension, the nation’s leading nonprofit Catholic health system, with more than 2,600 sites of care, 150,000 associates and 40,000 aligned providers in 20 states and the District of Columbia.