Women's College Hospital

Women's College Hospital

Women's College Hospital from Elizabeth Street
Geography
Location 76 Grenville Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Organization
Care system Public Medicare (Canada) (OHIP)
Hospital type Teaching
Affiliated university University of Toronto
Services
Emergency department No
Speciality Women's Health
History
Founded October 1, 1883
Links
Website www.womenscollegehospital.ca
Lists Hospitals in Canada

Women's College Hospital is a teaching hospital in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the north end of Hospital Row, a section of University Avenue where several major hospitals are located. It currently functions as an independent ambulatory care hospital. The Chief of Staff is Dr. Sheila Laredo and the physician-in-chief is Dr. Gillian Hawker.

Women's College Hospital maintains a focus on women's health, research in women's health, and ambulatory care. It was recognized as the only collaborating centre in women's health the Western Hemisphere designated by the World Health Organization.[1]

Women’s College Hospital is associated with Women’s College Research Institute, Women’s College Hospital Foundation and Women’s Health Matters, a bilingual consumer website on women’s health and lifestyle issues.

History

Women's College Hospital began as Woman's Medical College in 1883. On June 13, 1883, Dr. Emily Stowe (1831–1903)[2] the first Canadian woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada – led a group of her supporters to a meeting at the Toronto Women's Suffrage Club, stating "that medical education for women is a recognized necessity, and consequently facilities for such instruction should be provided." The motion was seconded adding "that the establishment of such a school was a public necessity and in the interests of the community."[2]

Less than six months after this meeting, on October 1, 1883, Toronto Mayor A.R. Boswell formally opened Woman's Medical College.[2]

Women's College Hospital leaders

Ontario Medical College for Women

In 1895, the College amalgamated with its sister institution in Kingston, Ontario, and changed its name to the Ontario Medical College for Women. A practical experience clinic called the Dispensary was opened in Toronto in 1898. The clinic allowed female patients to obtain the services of women doctors in a field dominated by men. At the time, services were provided regardless of the patient's ability to pay and medical advice was always free.[2]

In 1906, the University of Toronto opened its doors to permit women to study medicine, and the Ontario Medical College for Women closed. The Dispensary remained open and continued to prosper in the city.[2]

Recent history

Women's College Hospital moved to its current location in Toronto in 1935, and became a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto in 1961. Later, the hospital merged with Sunnybrook Hospital and the Orthopedic and Arthritic Hospital in 1998 under the provisions of Ontario Bill 51, becoming Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre. In 2006, they de-amalgamated and Women's College Hospital reverted to its original name. During the SARS outbreak of 2003, while still part of the erstwhile "Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre", the Women's College site housed the first ambulatory SARS clinic in Canada. Meanwhile the Sunnybrook site housed both the first in-patient SARS unit and Intensive Care Unit for SARS in Canada.

The hospital was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1995.[3][4] A plaque was erected by Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada at the Women's College Hospital, Grenville St., Toronto.

“ Women's College Hospital has earned a distinctive place in Canadian medical history. From its beginnings as a small out-patient clinic in 1898 to its development as a modern teaching hospital, the institution symbolizes the struggle of women to claim their place in the medical profession. It offered them opportunities in teaching and in hospital practice, which were often unavailable or extremely limited elsewhere in the country. The hospital has made innovative contributions to the treatment and diagnosis of disease through its vital focus on health issues affecting women and families. ”

About

Women's College Hospital collaborated in the invention of the simplified Pap test, opened Ontario's first regional Sexual Assault Care Centre and was the first hospital in the province to use mammography as a diagnostic tool to detect breast cancer. As of 2012, it is Ontario’s first and only independent ambulatory care centre. Ambulatory care refers to surgeries, diagnostic procedures and treatments that do not require overnight hospitalization. That means patients can be released within 18 hours, and can recover at home.

Complex

WCH consists of three wings built in 1935, 1956 and 1971 with the later two completed demolition and the former to be demolition as part of the rebuild to be completed in 2015.[5]

The 1935 wing was as 10 storey Art Deco building that is being torn down despite historical designation for WCH.[5]

Education

Women’s College Hospital is a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto. Research at the hospital, university and research institute are focused around sex and gender differences in physiology and social roles, which cause women to have different health-care needs than men.

Research

The Women’s College Research Institute (WCRI) is the only one of its kind at a Canadian hospital devoted to women’s health. International researchers study breast cancer, musculoskeletal health, older women’s health and the impact of violence on women’s lives.

WCRI scientist Dr. Steven Narod was part of the team that discovered the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes as breast cancer risks– one of the most important breakthroughs in cancer research. He has changed the way international health professionals understand and test for genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer.

Treatment/clinics

Women's College Hospital timeline

Date Event
1883 Woman’s Medical College opens
1911 Women’s College Hospital and Dispensary opens: a seven-bed hospital where medically trained women could practise medicine.
1947 Collaborated in the development of the simplified Pap test for detecting early symptoms of cancer, particularly of the cervix.
1948 Opening of the first Cancer Detection Clinic in Ontario
1963 WCH became the first hospital in Ontario to use mammography as a diagnostic tool to detect breast cancer.
1971 WCH partnered with the Tri-Hospital Diabetes Education Centre, Canada’s first comprehensive teaching program in an ambulatory setting for people with diabetes.
1971 The first Perinatal Intensive Care Unit in Canada opens at WCH.
1973 Opening of the Bay Centre for Birth Control, the first hospital-supported walk-in clinic.
1976 Psoriasis Education and Research Centre opens – the first centre in Canada to place emphasis on self-care treatment.
1977 Henrietta Banting Breast Centre opens – a treatment, education and research centre for breast disease.
1981 Perinatal Intensive Care Unit was declared the Regional High-Risk Pregnancy Unit - The first of its kind in Canada.
1984 WCH opens the first regional Sexual Assault Care Centre in Ontario.
1987 Urgent Care Centre opens – the first of its kind in Ontario.
1987 Established the Brief Psychotherapy Centre for Women, the first outpatient therapy program in Canada.
1988 Regional Women’s Health Centre opens.
1988 WCH delivered the first test-tube quintuplets in Canada.
1991 Ricky Kanee Schachter Dermatology Centre opens – Centre opens to pursue dermatological research, education and patient care.
1991 The first colorectal cancer clinic in Toronto was launched by WCH (U of T Jessie Gray Colorectal Clinic)
1994 Opening of the first multidisciplinary osteoporosis clinic of its kind in Canada.
1995 WCH was designated a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in Women’s Health, the first in the hemisphere.
1996 Opening of the Environmental Health Clinic, the only one of its kind in Ontario.
1996 Establishment of Canada’s first cardiac prevention and rehabilitation program designed exclusively for women (Women’s Cardiovascular Health Initiative).
2000 Creation of www.womenshealthmatters.ca, the first hospital-based consumer health information website for women.
2001 Response Centre and the 23-Hour Day Unit open.
2002 Labyrinth opens – Canada's first and only hospital-based labyrinth.
2003 The first SARS Assessment Clinic in Canada opens (Women’s College ACC).
2006 WCH became Ontario’s only academic ambulatory hospital with a primary focus on women’s health as it begins operating independently under the Public Hospitals Act.
2008 Completed Canada’s first breast implant reconstruction in a single stage.
2009 Opening of the Centre for Headache, Ontario’s only hospital-based headache centre.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Question from Dalton McGuinty, Leader of the Opposition of Ontario, to Premier Mike Harris, 6 March 1997.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Stowe Gullen, Augusta (1906). 'A Brief History of the Ontario Medical College for Women'.
  3. ↑ Women's College Hospital, Directory of Designations of National Historic Significance of Canada
  4. ↑ Women's College Hospital, National Register of Historic Places
  5. 1 2 Jack Landau (October 10, 2013). "Demolition Clearing Art Deco Wing of Women's College Hospital". Retrieved October 29, 2013.

External links

Coordinates: 43°39′42″N 79°23′15″W / 43.661686°N 79.387497°W / 43.661686; -79.387497

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