Huronia District Hospital

Description

About Us
Georgian Bay General Hospital is a 122bed hospital with sites located in the municipalities of Midland and Penetanguishene serving the communities of Midland Penetanguishene Township of Tiny Township of Tay Christian Island Georgian Bay Township and Springwater Township Located in historic Huronia on the shores of beautiful Georgian Bay just 90 minutes north of Toronto Georgian Bay General Hospital offers services comparable to other community hospitals in the province supporting the general health care needs of our patients As well Telehealth video conferencing services are available for consultation and education

Georgian Bay General Hospital serves a population base of 55000 swelling to more than 150000 for six months of the year

At our Midland site services include 24hour emergency department inpatient medicine obstetrics general surgery outpatient day surgery diagnostic imaging radiology ultrasound and CT scan pharmacy respiratory therapy inpatient physiotherapy and ambulatory care

Our Penetanguishene site is a regional complex continuing care centre serving patients from Simcoe and Muskoka palliative care and is also home to a regional rehabilitation program and an 8station dialysis unit

History

Huronia District Hospitals roots are deep dating back to 1905 when the first Midland hospital was opened The MidlandPenetanguishene Marine and General Hospital was located across the bay in Sunnyside at the top of the hill on the south west corner The hospital had 12 beds and the daily cost per patient was 70 Later in 1911 Penetanguishene built its own hospital and the name was shortened accordingly

In the little isolated hospital building in Sunnyside cows and chickens were kept and a large garden helped supply the kitchen The nurses not only put in a twelve hour day they were expected to do all sorts of chores in their spare time such as kitchen duty gardening and milking the cow The hospital auxiliary was formed in 1906 by a group of enthusiastic women willing to offer support Their chief responsibilities were supplying and sewing linens gowns layettes table cloths and aprons

In 1918 the hospital moved to the Manley Chew home on Bay Street which was purchased as a gift to the town by Mr James Playfair He stipulated that it be named St Andrews Hospital Mrs Playfair past president of the Auxiliary donated the house next door as a nurses residence In 1937 the west wing was added and named in honour of Miss Emma Baker superintendent of nurses from 19121942

A new addition was opened on St Andrews Day Nov 30 1955 The older portion was closed for renovations and reopened in October 1956

St Andrews Hospital remained home to Midlands hospital services until 1976 In the early 1970s funds were made available by the government and the County of Simcoe to plan the building of a modern stateoftheart hospital for residents of Midland Tay Township and surrounding areas

Huronia District Hospital opened to the public in October 1976 The old hospital was purchased and became a nursing home keeping a portion of the old name as St Andrews Manor In the late 1980s planning began to improve the hospital through expansion of the emergency department obstetrics program and laboratory services A capital campaign began in 1988 managed by the newly formed Huronia District Hospital Foundation The campaign raised over 2 million to make the necessary changes to HDH to meet volume increases

In 1992 the North Simcoe Hospital Alliance was formed and in 1996 HDH became the acute care hospital for the area focusing on emergency services ICU medicalsurgical and obstetrical care A 13 million renovation to the diagnostic imaging department in 1998 included the purchase of the CT Scan