Foothills Medical Centre (FMC) is the largest hospital in Alberta, Canada and is located in the City of Calgary. It is one of Canada's most recognized medical facilities and is one of the leading hospitals in Alberta, providing advanced healthcare services to over two million people from Calgary, Southern Alberta, southeastern British Columbia, and southern Saskatchewan. Formerly operated by the Calgary Health Region, it is now under the authority of Alberta Health Services.
The main building of the hospital was opened in June 1966. It was originally named 'Foothills Provincial General Hospital' and later known simply as Foothills Hospital. With the addition of other medical facilities, it became known by its present name.
Foothills Medical Centre is an accredited tertiary Level 1 trauma centre by the Trauma Association of Canada and is the largest regional trauma centre in Southern Alberta. In addition, FMC is accredited by Accreditation Canada for stroke rehabilitation. FMC works in conjunction with the nearby University of Calgary for the purposes of educating students as well as providing facilities for medical research.
FMC includes the University of Calgary Medical Centre (UCMC) as well as the Special Services Building (where most other medical services are provided) and the Tom Baker Cancer Centre, which was renamed the "Cancer Centre", and is a leading centre in Alberta for cancer treatment and research. The large site also features Grace Women's Health Centre, which specializes in women's health, the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, as well as both the North Tower and South Tower, which offer many outpatient services. The head office of Libin Cardiovascular Institute of Alberta is located on the 8th floor of the Foothills Medical Centre. The TRW Building was also added to the Health Sciences building, which was completed in late 2005. In addition, the new McCaig Tower opened in October 2010 with 93 inpatient beds, 36 bed intensive care unit (only 25 funded by the Government of Alberta), 21 short-stay beds (a total of 150 additional beds), as well as 8 operating rooms. In November 2011, the newly designed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was awarded the 2012 Design Citation for being "one of the best in the world". The neighbouring Alberta Children's Hospital and west side of the University of Calgary campus are accessible from FMC via West Campus Boulevard.
Apart from these distinctions, FMC boasts the world's first and most powerful movable MRI machine, which was introduced in January 2009. It will help patients at the Foothills Medical Centre (FMC) receive the world’s safest, most accurate surgery possible. In addition, the world's first robotic surgery was also performed on a patient at the FMC for a removal of a brain tumour, which also created a landmark in Canadian medical history. In June 2010, the Calgary Stroke Program, an initiative of the Foothills Medical Centre, was awarded the "Stroke Services Distinction" and is recognized as one of two leading stroke centres in Canada, the other in Toronto, by Accreditation Canada.
Read more about Foothills Medical Centre: Current Description, Chronology of Hospital Projects
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