VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The following is a news release about the upcoming name change for the Sheyenne Care Center in Valley City issued by CEO Craig Christianson.

“On October 1, 2021, the name of Sheyenne Care Center, in Valley City, ND, will change to “SMP Health – St. Raphael.”

According to Aaron K. Alton, President and CEO of SMP Health System, “the name change is part of an effort to update the branding of our system and its healthcare ministries in North Dakota to more clearly reflect our nature as a system as well as to emphasize our Catholic heritage having its source in the Sisters of Mary of the Presentation, who established their first hospital in ND in Bottineau in 1913.” In addition to its North Dakota ministries, the name of SMP Health System will also change on October 1, to “SMP Health.”

Craig Christianson, CEO of Sheyenne Care Center explains that SMP Health – St. Raphael will be under the patronage of Saint Raphael whose name has been adopted as part of the rebranding effort. Christianson said, “Sheyenne Care Center actually chose St. Raphael as its patron saint when it joined SMP Health System in 2002. We later named the chapel in his honor, so we thought it fitting that he should be chosen as the new namesake for our ministry.”

The significance of the name of St. Raphael for a long term care ministry is explained by J.T. Kennelly, SMP Health VP of Mission and Formation as follows:

St. Raphael is one of the three Archangels mentioned in the Scriptures, being a major character in the book of Tobit. Literally translated his name means, “God Heals.”  Among his many patronages, he is the patron saint of bodily ills, nurses, physicians and medical workers, which makes him a fitting patron saint for a health care ministry. In fact, Sheyenne Care Center chose him as its patron saint when it joined SMP Health System in 2002. It later named its chapel in his honor, making it all the more appropriate for us to choose him as the new namesake for the ministry.

SMP Health is a Catholic health care system with ten health care ministries located in North Dakota and Illinois with its central office in Fargo, ND. In central Illinois it operates a regional network, St. Margaret’s Health, comprised of two hospitals and a home care agency.”

Craig Christianson, CEO