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Responding to a marked increase in the incidence of venereal disease in the late 1960s and early ’70s, the JGH launched its Social Diseases Clinic in February 1972, the first full-time facility of its kind in a Montreal hospital.

On October 15, 1934, one week after the JGH officially opened, Dr. A. O. Freedman admitted the first patient to the hospital.

Even as it welcomes patients from all backgrounds, the JGH remains proud of its Jewish heritage. Sometimes you’ll even see signs of that legacy peeking out from the most unexpected corners.

On September 22, 1929, more than 3,000 members of the Jewish community gathered at the Mount Royal Hotel to launch the $1 million campaign to build the JGH.

Only the modest personality of Taube Kaplan kept her from being celebrated during her lifetime as a “rank-and-file” founder of the Jewish General Hospital. Today she is remembered as one of the JGH’s earliest and most important grass-roots fundraisers,

Launched in June 1912, the Herzl Dispensary—a forerunner of the JGH—provided vital healthcare services to Montreal’s growing Jewish community.

An iron lung is used to treat a JGH patient in the 1950s.

In March 1984, Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau unveiled a plaque marking the 50th anniversary of the Jewish General Hospital.

Extensive growth was among the most notable features in the term of Dr. Samuel O. Freedman, who served as Director of the Lady Davis Institute from 1991 to 2000. Under his stewardship, the LDI emerged as one of Quebec’s premier medical research facilities.

During the early 1940s, the JGH Auxiliary’s Honourary Patroness was Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, who was the wife of Canada’s Governor-General, the Earl of Athlone.