May 2019

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.

Amid singing and celebration, as well as a few moments of solemnity, a Torah scroll that has been associated with the family of Dr. Lawrence Rosenberg for at least 80 years was dedicated to the JGH chapel on May 19.

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.

Rates have risen dramatically in our push to screen elderly hospitalized patients for delirium. This means their underlying medical conditions can be diagnosed more quickly, with better odds of lowering their risk for functional or cognitive decline.

A ground-breaking new study has succeeded in compiling an “atlas” of genetic factors that are associated with estimated bone mineral density, one of the most clinically relevant factors in diagnosing osteoporosis.

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.

An underdeveloped area in the brains of people with schizophrenia is the first clear anatomical signature for the disease, says a study by Dr. Hyman Schipper, a researcher at the Lady Davis Institute. This might lead to diagnosis of schizophrenia with an MRI scanner.

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.