William Passavant Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois. His church was in Pittsburgh, so how did he establish so many institutions in other parts of the U.S.? He got help from deaconesses, who were often trained in hospital settings. William Passavant Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois. More than a century later there are still Passavant clinics, senior centers and social service agencies, and many hospitals named Deaconess; Methodist deaconesses were nurses before they began ministry training. *** William Passavant Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois. More than a century later there are still Passavant clinics, senior centers and social service agencies, and many hospitals named Deaconess; Methodist deaconesses were nurses before they began ministry training.