Growth of the Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston

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View of Kingston in 1875 by H. Brosius showing the Hotel Dieu Hospital on Brock St. and Regiopolis College

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Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston - architects aerial view of the hospital site, including proposed new wing (the Jeanne Mance Wing) in 1977

The move into the Regiopolis College building provided the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph with a larger hospital building and, perhaps more importantly, a full city-block worth of property which gave them the room to grow in the future.

The Sisters took advantage of this space and the century following the move into the new hospital saw major building projects being undertaken in every decade, sometimes with multiple projects being worked on simultaneously.

By 1984, with the completion of the Jeanne Mance Wing, the Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston, filled the entire city block.

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Sisters' Monastery, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston

The RHSJs had desired a monastery that was built according to their Customary since their arrival in Kingston. As the needs of the sick continued to expand so, in order to free up space in the hospital, following the completion of the Chapel the next priority was building a new residence for the Sisters.

The plans for the building were prepared by Toronto architect Joseph Connolly and Archbishop Cleary laid the cornerstone on July 14th, 1897.

The Monastery was situated behind the hospital building on Johnson St.

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Plans for the Surgical Theatre (1899)

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Surgery in the operating theatre (1917)

A modern surgical theatre, designed by Henry P. Smith, was begun in May 1899. Located on the south-side of the hospital, at the corner of Sydenham and Johnson Streets, when completed it was described as being "very complete and sanitary."

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Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston, from the corner of Johnson & Sydenham Streets, showing the surgical theatre and monastery

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Brock St. Wing of the Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston, built 1909-1910.

In October 1909, a new five-story wing was begun on Brock Street, with private and semi-private rooms. This first twentieth-century addition featured telephones, electric lights, and bells on each corridor.

The first floor was ready for patients by the following October and by the end of the year it was full and the Sisters "have to again contrive for more spacious accomodations."

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Nurses' Residence before 1926

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Completed Nurses' Residence

The Hospital's School of Nursing, founded in 1912, intially housed its students in the ground floor of the hospital and, from 1918, in the old hospital building at 235 Brock St. that was built in 1869. As the number of students enrolled increased, larger accomodations were needed.

Funds were limited, so the new Nurses' Residence was built in two stages: the ground floor and two stories being built first and then addtional floors added when money was available.

The sod was turned in April 1923 and the residence was officially opended on October 16th, 1923.

An additional two floors were added in 1926. The completed residence could house 50 students and also contained a sacristy and a hall for the Ladies Auxiliary.

Following the construction of the Jeanne Mance Residence, it was used to house interns and, in 1959, it became the Sisters' Residence. In 1982 it was dedicated the Mary Alice Wing.

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Groundbreaking ceremony for the St. Joseph's Wing (April 17, 1929)

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St. Joseph's Wing, opened 1931.

On April 17, 1929 the groundbreaking ceremony for a major extention to the Brock St. Wing was held, with the cornerstone being laid on October 10th of that year.

The St. Joseph's Wing opened on 1931, housing new operating rooms, X-ray department, Emergency Room, along with space for various departments and private rooms able to accomodate an additional fifty patients.

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First two floors of the Jeanne Mance Residence (opened 1948)

Enrollement at the St. Joseph's School of Nursing continue to increase and a new residence was planned to accomodate the larger classes. Construction began on the Jeanne Mance Residence, located on Brock St. beside the St. Joseph's Wing, on August 2nd, 1947. Like the previous nurses' residence, it was constructed in two stages. The first two floors were opened on September 12th, 1948. The first floor provided rooms for first year students and the second floor housed class rooms.

In March 1953 plans were made to complete the residence with the addition of four floors. Construction was completed in March of 1955 then the first floor was renovated. The official opening of the residence was held on May 29th, 1955.

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Brochure for the Centenary Campaign for New Wing (1945)

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Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston, from the corner of Johnson and Sydenham Sts., showing the newly constructed Centennial Wing.

As part of the centennial celebrations of the hospital in 1945, a fundraising campaign was begun to build a new wing on Johnson St. to house a new Paediatrics Department and Maternity Ward. This was the first public appeal for financial assistance the Hotel Dieu Hospital conducted in its 100 year history.

Construction began in 1948 and the new wing was officially opened on National Hospital Day, May 12th, 1950.

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Aerial view of Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston, showing the Jeanne Mance Residence and the Centennial Wing under constuction (1948)

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Dignitaries at the laying of Johnson Wing cornerstone on June 12th, 1964

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Johnson Wing and auditorium, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston

In 1958, work began on the most ambitions expansion of the Hotel Dieu to date: the seven-story Johnson Wing. The planning, fundraising, and construction of this wing, which included an auditorium and new Emergency Department, would occupy the majority of the 1960s. Construction would take four years and the cost would total $5.5 million.

Funding would be received from the City of Kingston and Frontenac County and 90% of hospital staff members contributed to the building campaign.

With funds in place and government approvals received, work began in February 1964 with the demolition of the Sisters' Monastery. The cornerstone was laid in a ceremony on June 12th, 1964.

The new wing opened in stages, with the new Emergency Department opening on January 4th, 1965 and the kitchen and dietary departments ready in November of that year. The remaining areas of the Johnson Wing were completed the following year, with the official opening being held on September 28, 1966.

This new wing featured 148 patient beds, outpatient departments, updated radiology facilities, a new laundry, and a new powerhouse.

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Family Medicine Centre, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston (1976)

The Hotel Dieu Hospital acquired the Canadian Register building, which was located on the corner of Bagot and Johnson Streets, in 1971. The building was demolished in 1974 and work began on the construction of the Family Medicine Centre.

The new Centre was opened in June of 1976.

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Murray Building, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston

In 1976, the Hospital purchased the Public Library building on the corner of Bagot and Brock Streets, giving the Hotel Dieu ownership of the full city block bounded by Sydenham and Bagot Streets and Johnson and Brock Streets.

After undergoing extensive rennovations, the building, named the Murray Building after Mother Cecelia Murray, the first Superior General of the English Generalate of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph, opened on November 21, 1981.

It became home to otolaryngology, audiology, and the Human Communications Unit.

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Jeanne Mance Wing, Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston (1984)

In 1974, one year after nursing education was tranferred to St. Lawrence College, plans were announced for the construction of new building on the site of the Jeanne Mance Residence.

The planned eight- to ten-story building would house new operating suites, emergency and ambulatory care units, critical care units, medical imagaging facilities, and it would allow for the consolidation of paediactric services in the city at the Hotel Dieu, with a new in-patient unit as well as new children's centre and outpatient clinic.

Demolition of the nurses' residence occured in the spring of 1978 and construction kicked off with a groundbreaking ceremony held the following year. The exterior of the building was completed in May of 1982. The interior took two more years to finish and the official opening was held on May 17th, 1984.

The Jeanne Mance Wing increased the hospital's facilities by 80%. At the time of its opening, only the lower level and the first three floors were put into use.

The lover level of the new wing housed a new Emergency Department, the Regional Ambulance Services, and provided space for a new radiology department along with new spaces for receiving, stores, material management, and central supply and sterilization.

The first floor featured a new main lobby and entrance off Brock Street, a new Volunteer coffee shop and gift shop, a children's outpatient centre and children's development centre, the admitting office, physiotherapy facilities, and Speech Pathology.

Level 2 was the new surgical floor comprised of eight operating rooms, day surgery, surgical intensive care unit, a step-down unit, recovery rooms, and the cardiology unit.

Paediatric units were centred on the third level, with an inpatient children's unit, a children's intensive care unit, an adolecent unit, and play therapy facilities.

Construction and renovation has continued in the wing, with the last major project adding clinic space to floors 4 & 5 being undertaken between 2010 and 2013.

Growth of the Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston