St. Michael's Hospital (Toronto) - History

History

St. Michael's Hospital was founded in 1892 by the Sisters of St. Joseph, who operated the Notre Dame des Anges, a boarding house for working women. Originally an old Baptist church, the hospital on Bond Street was created in response to care for the poor population in the south end of Toronto.

The hospital opened with a bed capacity of 26 and a staff of six doctors and four graduate nurses. Within a year, it was expanded to include two large wards and an emergency department.

As early as 1894, St. Michael's Hospital started receiving medical students. It negotiated a formal agreement with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto in 1920 that continues to this day.

By 1912, bed capacity had reached 300, and a five-room operating suite was added. Ongoing physical expansion, most prominent in the 1960s, increased the original 26-bed facility to a high of 900 beds.

Between 1892 and 1974, St. Michael's school of nursing graduated 81 classes, totalling 5,177 graduates. The school was closed in 1974 when nursing education was moved into the province's community college system. Thereafter, the hospital opened a school for medical record librarians, the first in Canada, and also participated in the preparation of dietitians and X-ray and laboratory technologists.

In March 2010, the hospital re-branded itself simply as St. Michael's to reflect its growing moment into medical research. At the same time a new motto: "Inspired Care. Inspiring Science." was also revealed.

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