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In September 2022, William Osler Health System (Osler) celebrates the 50-year anniversary of Etobicoke General Hospital. The opening of Etobicoke General in 1972 marked the beginning of a long-standing legacy of delivering exemplary care to those living, working and raising families in north Etobicoke and the surrounding regions.
Since the day it opened its doors, Etobicoke General has proven to be more than bricks and mortar for the community. It’s been a trailblazer for innovation and historic milestones, with over 50 years of providing patient-inspired health care without boundaries.
Read on to learn some interesting facts you may not know about our beloved community hospital.
1. Local community members raised funds to build the original hospital
In the mid 1960s, a group of local citizens in the Town of Etobicoke mobilized under the umbrella of the Etobicoke General Hospital Auxiliary to raise funds to build a hospital to improve access to much needed health care services for their growing community.
Auxiliary members, working alongside the hospital’s Board of Governors, successfully recruited close to 300 residential canvassers to promote the hospital building fund and held a series of community-based fundraising events. Thanks to their tenacity and determination, the community successfully raised $4.7 million, leading to the $20 million construction of Etobicoke General, and the realization of a dream to bring hospital services closer to home.
2. Etobicoke General has a legacy of innovation
Etobicoke General attracted a stellar team of staff, physicians and volunteers who chose it as the place to showcase their skills, making it home to many ‘firsts’ in health care. The hospital successfully completed the first finger implantation in Ontario in the late 1970s and performed world-renowned breast tissue surgeries for mastectomies in 1976. Canada’s first laparoscopic hysterectomy was performed at Etobicoke General in the late 1980s.
Throughout its history, the hospital has continued to attract top health care professionals, and to evolve and grow its programs and services in response to the ever increasing health care needs of one of the fastest growing and most culturally diverse communities in Canada.
3. Etobicoke General was a leader during SARS
During the SARS pandemic of 2003, Etobicoke General was selected as one of only four hospitals in the Greater Toronto Area to be designated as part of a SARS Alliance. The purpose of the SARS Alliance was to concentrate the treatment and expertise of SARS to four key hospital locations – Etobicoke General supported other hospitals in the west GTA.
In just eight days, the hospital converted its Emergency Department, fracture clinic, 10th floor and a garage into fully operational isolation facilities able to handle all types of patients with SARS or SARS symptoms.
4. Etobicoke General is Toronto Pearson International Airport’s crisis response hospital
When Etobicoke General opened its doors in 1972, it was named at the time as ‘Canada’s most modern community hospital’. The 241-bed hospital achieved worldwide attention for its innovation and design, and quickly became the primary hospital for local, national and international travellers given its close proximity to Toronto Pearson International Airport, a designation that remains today.
The hospital was also one of the designated hospitals to receive patients from the Air France Flight 358 crash at Toronto Pearson International Airport in 2005.
5. Etobicoke General opened a new patient tower and wellness centre
Forty years after the hospital first opened, Osler called upon the community to contribute to the next phase in Etobicoke General’s transformational journey. The community answered the call, raising $25 million towards construction of a new patient tower and wellness centre, marking the first hospital expansion since its opening.
Built with an eye towards the future, Etobicoke General’s new Etobicoke Wellness Centre opened in 2018, and its new four-storey patient tower in 2019. Adding approximately 250,000 square feet to the facility, the patient tower encompassed an expanded Emergency Department, Critical Care Unit, modern birthing suites, Ambulatory Procedures Unit, medical clinics, and a combined Cardiac, Respiratory and Neurodiagnostic Outpatient Unit.
Today’s Etobicoke General Hospital
Our roots, combined with today’s realities and tomorrow’s possibilities, have inspired us to be courageous in our thinking, and they continue to inspire us to deliver state-of-the-art health care for generations to come. Thank you to the people both within and beyond the walls of Etobicoke General who have helped shape its past and present, and who will continue to shape its future.
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