Help make a difference in the lives of patients, visitors, and staff at St. Joseph’s Medical Center. You don’t need experience to join our family of volunteers. We’ll work with you to find an area that fits your schedule, talents, and interests.

Volunteer Opportunities

Explore volunteer opportunities at our hospital, including:

• Help desk (Greet guests and answer questions.)
• Gift shop
• Popping popcorn in cafeteria
• Escorting patients or concierge
• Mailings and special office projects
• Piano playing
• Patient advocate (Ask what patients need to make their stay more comfortable.)
• Department specific help (Cancer Center, endoscopy, Joint Trails Unit, radiation therapy)
• Comfort cart (Hand out items like magazines, earbuds, lip balm, and eye masks.)
• Quilt making, book bag assembly
• And more (Just inquire!)

Benefits of Volunteering

Besides the great feeling you’ll get by helping others, you can also take advantage of:

• Free meal (up to $6) in cafeteria with four-hour shift
• Gift shop discount
• Free flu shot
• Orientation and training
• Discounted movie tickets for sale in HR department
• Special recognition events
• Awards for first 100 hours and every 500 hours after that

St. Joseph’s Medical Center Auxiliary

The St. Joseph’s Medical Center Auxiliary helps raise money to fund special projects. These projects improve patient care and comfort and provide scholarships to promising nursing students. To learn more about how you can get involved in fundraising efforts, call 218-828-7610.

St. Joseph’s Medical Center has served the Brainerd Lakes area for more than a hundred years. We continue to further the health care mission of the Benedictine Sisters. This includes providing a wide range of services with special concern for the poor and powerless.

History Timeline

1890 | Dr. James Leaworthy Camp opens a 12-bed hospital on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Brainerd to treat injured or ill lumberjacks.
1897 | Dr. Camp asks the Diocese of Duluth to send a few Benedictine Sisters to Brainerd to manage the Camp Hospital.
1901 | Dr. Camp sells the Camp Hospital to the sisters, who rename it St. Joseph’s Hospital. Owning the hospital allows the Benedictine Sisters to fulfill the commission of St. Benedict: “To serve the sick as if they are Christ.”
1902 | The Benedictine Sisters build a new 35-bed hospital.
1922 | A two-story wing is constructed, adding 10 private rooms.
1931 | St. Joseph’s is admitted to the American Hospital Association.
1953 | The new St. Joseph’s Hospital opens.
1955 | St. Joseph’s is accredited by the Joint Commission and its auxiliary is incorporated.
1957 | The hospital’s 2nd floor is remodeled, providing classrooms and other facilities for LPN students.
1971 | St. Joseph’s opens the area’s first Intensive Coronary Care Unit.
1977 | St. Joseph’s expands, adding space for emergency and rehabilitation services and a medical records department.
1983 | The hospital is renamed St. Joseph’s Medical Center.
1984 | The hospital’s north tower is built, adding more space for patient rooms. The Focus Unit opens, offering chemical dependency services.
1985 | St. Joseph’s Medical Center joins the Benedictine Health System.
1989 | St. Joseph’s opens its Family Birthplace, offering a family-centered birth experience.
2004 | Essentia Health is formed as the governance body for the Benedictine Health System.
2005 | A $28-million, 116,000-square-foot expansion and renovation boosts capacity to St. Joseph’s intensive- and progressive-care units.
2007 | St. Joseph’s partners with Brainerd Medical Center to create the nonprofit Brainerd Lakes Integrated Health System.
2010 | Essentia Health fully integrates its health systems to create efficiencies and reduce health care costs.