85th Anniversary – Archives

During the JGH’s early years, newborn babies were sometimes identified by bracelets whose lettered beads were strung by nursery staff.

Robot-assisted surgery, the most exciting and revolutionary form of surgery ever performed at the JGH, got under way in December 2007.

Page from a promotional booklet in 1955 highlighting the courses offered to students at the JGH School of Nursing.

In 1980, the JGH became the first McGill University teaching hospital to open a birthing room, in whose home-like setting mothers went into labour, delivered their babies and recovered.

After years of planning, the Child Psychiatry Program was launched at the JGH in 1967 to provide children with the same kind of compassionate treatment and care that adults had been receiving in the hospital since the mid-1950s.

In 2005, the world adopted the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a simple, yet refined, questionnaire that had been developed by Dr. Howard Chertkow, founding director of the JGH Memory Clinic.

A promotional booklet published during the 1950s touted recreational aspects of the JGH School of Nursing, including sunbathing on the roof of Pavilion A, swimming privileges at the YM-YWHA, dances and an elegant drawing room.

The JGH made national healthcare history in February 1973 with the appointment of Kathleen Margaret (“Peggy”) Lahaie as what is believed to be the first patient representative (ombudsman) in a Canadian hospital.

JGH News marked the hospital’s 75th anniversary by publishing the reminiscences of Bernard J. Finestone, a Past President of the hospital, about the opening ceremony in 1934.

When the JGH opened in 1934, it had two crucial, ongoing needs: a steady source of funding to purchase medical equipment and supplies, and a pool of dedicated volunteers. Both were delivered by the JGH Auxiliary.