Celebrating Civic’s centennial as a community – Ottawa Business Journal

Before the Ottawa Hospital (TOH) Civic Campus first opened 100 years ago, medicine was much different than it is today.

Pain medication and vaccines were rare. Antibiotics, cancer and dialysis treatments were non-existent. Many people were born at home. And the influenza pandemic of 1918-1920 had just cut its destructive path across the globe.

Since then, TOH’s Civic Campus has evolved with the city to host countless critical moments in the community and the city’s business community.

That’s why The Ottawa Hospital Foundation (TOHF) launched its 100 moments campaign: Commemorating 100 unique moments from the past century to celebrate 100 years of the Civic.

A pillar of the community

1924 Ottawa Mayor Harold Fisher believed the community had a right to world-class health care. “And that was the vision to build the Civic Hospital at that time,” explains Dr. Virginia Roth, TOH’s chief of staff and infectious disease specialist.

Since then, the Civic Campus has hosted a number of community landmarks, from being one of the first hospitals in Ontario to offer radiation therapy for cancer in 1933, to Dutch Princess Juliana giving birth to her daughter, Margriet, in 1943 until the site was provided. the first heart transplant in Ottawa in 1984.

Provided a variety of care to trauma patients, heart/stroke patients, birthing patients and more. And over the years, the staff at Civic has been here to provide that care.

More recently, the Civic Campus has played a vital role in the community’s response to significant events or tragedies. It was the trauma center where critically ill patients were taken after Westboro bus crash since 2019 and provided vital critical care during the Covid-19 pandemic.

An economical engine

The Ottawa Hospital is one of the largest employers in the region, with more than 17,000 doctors, nurses, clerks, technologists, researchers, scheduling coordinators, maintenance staff and others working at the hospital.

Since 2001, research at the Ottawa Hospital has had an economic impact of $2.2 billion on the Ottawa economy and has resulted in more than a dozen spin-off companies.

High-level medical research and clinical care at the Civic Campus are not just economic factors; along with Ottawa’s reputation as a great place to live, they are also a magnet for world-class talent.

“We bring in trainees from all over the world who often come to stay,” explains Dr. Roth, “and we’ve also been able to attract internationally recognized researchers who then hire research teams and support staff. And our community, I think, can be very proud that people come to visit, explore, and many of them choose to stay here and contribute in return.”

But the past economic impact of the Civic Campus pales somewhat in comparison to the plans for a new state-of-the-art medical facility and academic research center near Dow Lake.

According to a 2021 Deloitte report, the project will inject more than $2 billion into Ottawa’s economy, contribute more than $1.2 billion in labor income, create more than 4,000 full-time jobs and generate a total economic value of over 3.75 billion dollars.

The Ottawa Hospital: The Next 100 Years

The Civic Campus has evolved considerably since it was just a single building on the outskirts of the city back then. It has added numerous specialty care offerings such as the Trauma Services Center and Regional Stroke Center, offers best-in-class surgery and is a leader in conducting clinical trials to determine the safety and effectiveness of treatments.

As the facility approaches its 100th birthday, Dr. Roth says the hospital is ready to enter a new era, thanks in part to the construction of the new hospital campus equipped to meet the challenges of tomorrow. It will mean world-leading innovation and research that will accelerate improvements in care and reshape how patients are treated in the future.

“We have an opportunity as a city and as a community to build for the future, just as Mayor Fisher did 100 years ago, also in the wake of a pandemic. The Ottawa hospital will be known as a premier healthcare centre,” she explains.

“It will be a completely different reality in 10, 20, 30 years from now. And the new campus will give us the opportunity to design a physical space that will enhance both our ability to deliver world-class care and what patients and families experience when they enter the building.”

Were you or a family member born in Civic? did you work there From now until November 27, 2024 – the Civic’s 100th birthday – the TOH Foundation will look back at 100 unique moments from the past century. We want to hear your best civic memories and you can submit your memory and photo Here.