About Avera St. Luke's

In 1901, Presentation Sisters were asked to open a hospital in Aberdeen, SD — one of the first in Dakota Territory. Today, Avera St. Luke’s Hospital provides a comprehensive array of medical and health services and care in a wide range of specialties including primary care, specialty services, outpatient procedures, labor and delivery, surgery, inpatient care, a behavioral health inpatient unit, cardiac rehab, outpatient dialysis, endoscopy, a sleep diagnostic lab and much more. Avera St. Luke’s is a regional hospital with related facilities, including Avera Cancer Institute and other locations around town.

Avera St. Luke's History

A diphtheria epidemic at the turn of the century in Aberdeen, SD, led to the beginning of what is now Avera St. Luke's Hospital.

The Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary were fulfilling their calling as teachers by operating a school. When the epidemic struck, they converted their classrooms to sick wards and served the community until the epidemic subsided. Doctors and Aberdeen citizens then asked the Sisters to establish a hospital.

• October 18, 1901: St. Luke's Hospital, a 15-bed facility, was dedicated as the first health care facility of the Presentation Sisters. In the next 10 years, the Sisters established hospitals in Mitchell and Sioux Falls, SD, and Miles City, MT.
• 1903, 1907 and 1913: The hospital was expanded to allow for more hospital beds.
• 1928: An expanded facility grew capacity to 159 beds.
• 1940s: In response to a polio epidemic in the region, St. Luke's became the Center for the National Foundation for Polio.
• 1963: The hospital was the focus of national and international headlines when the Fischer quintuplets were born. Guards were posted to protect the family from swarms of reporters.
• 1972: The south wing was added to the 1928 building, creating a new entrance with a large lobby, admissions and business office areas, cafeteria, as well as new patient rooms.
• 1988: St. Luke's consolidated with Dakota Midland Hospital.
• 1993: A new east wing was constructed to house emergency, admissions, surgery, outpatient services, dialysis, cardiac rehab and cardiac/angiography lab, MRI exam room and laboratory.
• 1994: The hospital merged with the long-term care facilities at Mother Joseph Manor.
• 1997: Davis Court Apartments were completed adjacent to Mother Joseph Manor, offering retirement living facilities with health services.
• 1998: St. Luke’s announced a merger with United Clinic, a primary care physician clinic.
• 2000: Nano Nagle Village, an assisted living facility adjacent to Mother Joseph Manor, was completed.
• 2000: St. Luke’s Hospital became Avera St. Luke’s Hospital with the formation of Avera Health.
• 2005: Avera St. Luke's physical and aquatic therapy center opened, including the region's largest warm water therapy pool.
• 2006: Construction was completed on a four-story, 70,000-square-foot hospital addition to house the intensive care unit (ICU) and Women's Center, as well as physician clinics. A free-standing imaging center and medical office building also opened.
• 2008: The new State Street Medical Square, a medical office building, opened near the hospital.
• 2009: A surgical remodeling project included seven new operating suites and same-day surgery area.
• 2012: A 14,000-square-foot addition to Avera St. Luke’s therapy center opened, combining all outpatient rehabilitation therapy services in one centralized location near the hospital.
• 2015: The Don & Carmen Meyer Center of Excellence was dedicated as the new home of Avera Cancer Institute in Aberdeen.
• 2024: Avera announces it will expand access to behavioral health services, which includes creating a new unit to improve upon existing inpatient behavioral health care at Avera St. Luke’s.