Holy Cross Home as a Health Care Centre was established in 1932 in a tin shack clinic that served Lady Selborne township and surrounding areas in the West of Pretoria.  It developed into the well-known Holy Cross Nursing Home, a maternity hospital where thousands of Pretorians were born and cared for.  Pretoria University obstetrician students as well as midwives from all over South Africa and beyond the borders were trained at Holy Cross Nursing Home.

Holy Cross Home was established in 1984 with the closure of the Holy Cross Nursing Home (Maternity Hospital).  The establishment of Holy Cross Home came as a response to the need for an old age home for the Holy Cross Sisters, however, from the onset Holy Cross Home has been a home to many lay elderly, sick and destitute people.  It was registered as an old aged home for 64 white persons, an NGO subsidised by the Department of Social Welfare.  Alongside this service was a training programme for Student Nursing Auxiliaries, a service that provided a foundation and opportunities / stepping stones for many young, black women.

In 1994, being true to the Gospel, the teaching of the Catholic Church, and the spirit of our Founders, the Home changed its admission policy: Our doors opened to all those who were in need of our services, irrespective of colour, culture or religious beliefs. The Home changed from being an old aged home to being a Frail Care Centre.  On 10 October 1994 the first Black person was admitted to the Holy Cross Frail Care Centre.

With the HIV / AIDS pandemic and the communities surrounding the Home being in need of palliative care of this sort, Holy Cross Home was again challenged to respond. Motivated by Holy Cross Charism, our Founders’ motto “The need of our time is the will of God”, a Hospice for AIDS patients was established. In May 2004 the Home rolled out the treatment of ARV drugs and from July 2004, parallel to the Hospice programme, a two-day a week ARV clinic for outpatients was run. The Hospice was closed in 2013 and the space is now used for additional frail care and sick patients.

Holy Cross Home is registered as a Non-Profit Organisation. Registration number: 001-76NPO (14/6/2000).  Holy Cross Home is governed by its Constitution. The Board of Management, its membership, responsibilities and meetings are described within the Constitution. The Home is managed and run on a day-to-day basis by the Matron and a full complement of qualified staff.

Holy Cross Home aims at providing holistic, comprehensive, quality health care to all clients.

We, the Sisters of the Holy Cross, with our co-workers, commit ourselves to the provision quality, basic and specialised nursing care, respecting, protecting and promoting life from inception to death.  We uphold the dignity of every person and stand in solidarity with the disadvantaged, especially women and children.

Promotion of a therapeutic environment with adherence to Gospel values of:

Respect, Compassion, Tolerance, Honesty and Accountability.