100 Years of Hospital Care
- September 2007
- Français
It only happens once in a lifetime, and on Sept. 23, almost 400 people from Niagara Falls gathered at Greater Niagara General Site for a 100th anniversary celebration Open House to mark the 100th anniversary of hospital care in Niagara Falls. Visitors enjoyed hearing NHS and elected officials speak about their own personal experiences and learned more about our proud past. Retired nurses were a big hit, wearing uniforms from the 1910’s, 1940’s, 1960’s and 1970’s, complete with nursing caps and Niagara Falls Nursing School pins. Tours of Diagnostic Imaging, Laboratory, Cardiorespiratory and Trillium areas were popular, as were interactive displays, such as the handwashing test, blood pressure testing, and a mini-ECG test. Children enjoyed the thumb-casting (no bones were broken in the making of the casts!) and the Teddy Bear Clinic where soft toys were given a thorough examination and treatment, if necessary. Commemorative Programs will be handed out.
Our Proud History
The hospital first opened its doors when the newly-built Niagara Falls General Hospital on Jepson Street started taking patients in January 1907. The 20-bed hospital was welcomed by the community of about 7,000 and was a necessity, particularly in light of industrial accidents happening as the power plants were being built.
In those days, the cost of hospital care was billed directly to patients or through the municipalities the hospital served for the indigent or poor patients. The costs were as follows:
Adult Patient Care – Daily
Ward - $3
Semi-private - $4
Private - $5 - $10
Newborn Care - $1
Use of Operating Room or Delivery Room - $15
Doctor’s Fees
Office Call - $2
House Call - $3
General Assessment - $5
Obstetrical
Prenatal care, Delivery and Aftercare - $25 - $50
Caesarean Section Operations - $100
Assistant - $15
Anaesthetic - $15
Major Operations - $100 - $150
Minor Operations - $25 - $35
Graduate nurses on the hospital staff received $5 plus one meal for a 12-hour shift, six days per week. The Superintendent received $250 per month. The Assistant Superintendent and Head Nurses in the different departments received $200 per month and assisted with the teaching program for nursing students.
Over the years, Niagara Falls General Hospital was expanded many times to add patient beds and medical services in their infancy, such as X-ray, Laboratory and Pharmacy departments. By the 1940’s, these departments and hospital support services such as Laundry, Food Services and Engineering were bursting at the seams, providing support in conditions that hadn’t been expanded or improved to cope with the 156 inpatient beds, 1,052 births, 3,456 surgeries and 5,419 admissions per year in 1947. There was simply no more room on the five-acre property to handle the volumes the hospital was seeing.
The 1950’s saw the community rally behind the urgent need for a newly-built hospital on former parkland and in 1956, construction began for a 239-bed facility on Portage Road, with room to grow. Greater Niagara General Hospital officially opened its doors in July 1958 providing care in a state-of-the-art facility. Inpatient Mental Health, Chronic care, Paediatric beds, two ICU’s and expansion of the Emergency Department were all major construction projects from the 1960’s to today, along with ever-growing Diagnostic Imaging, Laboratory and Pharmacy departments.