 The parent company of St. John Providence is Ascension in St. Louis.The organization had more than 18,000 employees and operates 2,033 licensed beds.The system started in 1999 with the merger of the Providence Health System and the St. John Health System into the St. John Health System due to the merger of the two systems' respective Roman Catholic congregation sponsors, the Daughters of Charity and the Sisters of St. Joseph, into Ascension Health.