Vancouver General Hospital
Vancouver General Hospital (locally known as VGH, or Vancouver General) is a medical facility located in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the largest facility in the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre (VHHSC) group of medical facilities. VGH is Canada's third largest hospital by bed count, after Hamilton General Hospital, and Foothills Medical Centre.[1]
Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) is responsible for all operations at Vancouver General Hospital.
History
The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) first opened in 1886 a nine-bed tent, its primary use to treat railway workers. On June 13, 1886, a fire destroyed the tent hospital and by July, a new, one-storey building was built. In September, the City of Vancouver took over the facility, which became the City Hospital. In 1888, located at the southern edge of the original Gastown settlement, a 35-bed hospital opened, as the tent infirmary became too small. The upstairs ward was for female patients, the downstairs ward for males. In 1899, the Vancouver City Hospital Training School for Nurses was opened. In 1902, British Columbia provincial legislature transferred control from the city's board of health to a board of 15 directors. Vancouver City Hospital was renamed to Vancouver General Hospital.[citation needed]
In 1906, in Fairview Ridge, overlooking False Creek, a new building, the Heather Pavilion, began housing staff and patients. The University of British Columbia Medical School opened clinical facilities at VGH in 1950.[citation needed]
In 1959, VGH opened the "Centennial Pavilion" (named in commemoration of the centennial of the founding of British Columbia as a British Crown colony, in 1858), which at the time was the largest part of the VGH facilities.[citation needed] It was renamed for Leon Judah Blackmore in 2017.[2]
In the 1960s, VGH built Canada's first intensive care nursery, equipped with the first effective apparatus used for natural breathing in infants with respiratory failure.[citation needed]
In 1996, VGH opened the first three floors of its newly constructed Laurel Pavilion. In 2000, the Laurel Pavilion was renamed to the Jim Pattison Pavilion and construction of the final 12 floors began in 2001. The Jim Pattison Pavilion opened in 2003.[citation needed]
In 2004, construction of the new Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre began. This new building, adjacent to the Jim Pattison Pavilion, opened in August 2006 to provide acute day care services in a variety of areas.[3]
The Lung Centre specializes in the treatment of pulmonary conditions such as asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis, lung cancer, occupational and environmental lung diseases, sarcoidosis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, pulmonary hypertension and interstitial lung disease.[citation needed]
The Blusson Spinal Cord Centre, the world's largest, most advanced and most comprehensive facility devoted to spinal cord injury research and patient care was opened in November 2008. The six-storey, $45-million centre is home to ICORD (International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries), the Rick Hansen Institute and the Brenda and Davide McLean Integrated Spine Clinic and is a partnership of the University of British Columbia, the Rick Hansen Foundation, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, and the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation.[citation needed]
The Robert H.N. Ho Research Centre, opened in September 2011, is a seven-storey, 69,350 sq ft (6,443 m2) facility that houses three of VGH's key research programs: the Vancouver Prostate Centre at VGH; the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility; and the Ovarian Cancer Research Initiative.[citation needed]
Facilities and amenities
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/BCEHSHeli2017.jpg/220px-BCEHSHeli2017.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/VGH-2.jpg/220px-VGH-2.jpg)
VGH is the largest hospital in British Columbia, offering specialized and tertiary services to adult patients (18 and above) in Vancouver. The hospital accepts patients referred from other parts of the province requiring highly specialized services. Approximately 40% of the hospital's cases come from outside the Vancouver region. Vancouver General Hospital is an internal medicine hospital, with pediatric and maternal care services in the Vancouver region being offered by BC Children's Hospital and BC Women's Hospital & Health Centre, located roughly 2.5 km south of Vancouver General.[citation needed]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/VanGenHospitalBroadway.jpg/220px-VanGenHospitalBroadway.jpg)
In addition to providing specialized and tertiary medical services, VGH is also a teaching hospital in affiliation with the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine, providing training and advanced education to students from all disciplines. Unique in Canada is the Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre at VGH which includes the UBC Faculty of Medicine facilities. The facility houses teaching space for about 250 third and fourth year medical students and 500 postgraduate residents, and nine Faculty of Medicine programs as well as the UBC medical school library.[citation needed]
VGH's main cafeteria, Sassafras Cafeteria, is located on the second floor of the Jim Pattison Pavilion. The pavilion also has a café at its main entrance called Café Ami.[citation needed]
Facts and figures
- One emergency department
- 24 operating rooms
- 40 outpatient clinics
- 27,400 inpatient (overnight) visits per year
- 294,300 clinic visits per year
- 94,348 emergency department visits per year (15/16 fiscal)
- 23,000 outpatient and inpatient surgical cases per year
Divisions
- Respiratory Medicine and Thoracic Surgery
- Alzheimer Clinic
- BC Injury Prevention Centre[4]
- Centre for Cardiac Rehabilitation and Risk Factor Management
- Domestic Violence
- Eye Care Centre, established in 1983 with funds raised with the help of Stephen M. Drance
- Leukemia/Bone Marrow Transplant Program
- Mary Pack Arthritis Centre
- Trauma Services/Orthopedic Trauma Service
- Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic
- CIBC Centre for Patients and Families[5]
- Vancouver Prostate Centre[6]
- Short Term Assessment and Treatment Centre (STAT)
- Skin Care Centre[7]
- Work Adjustment Program
- Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute[8]
- Centre for Hip Health
Emergency Room documentary series
In 2014, Knowledge Network premiered "Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH" a six-part documentary series directed by Kevin Eastwood which follows several VGH emergency department staff and patients over a period of 80 days between February and May 2013. The series won twice at the 2014 Leo Awards, taking home Best Documentary Series and the People's Choice Award for Favourite TV Series.[9]
The second season of Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH began on April 12, 2016.[10]
Notable deaths
- Errol Flynn, Australian-American actor
References
- ^ Healthcare, Definitive. "Top 25 Largest Canadian Hospitals by Bed Count". www.definitivehc.com. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
- ^ "VGH wing renamed in honour of Leon Judah Blackmore after $18M donation". CBC News. May 24, 2017. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
- ^ Bellett, Gerry (October 21, 2006). "$95-million VGH health centre opens". Vancouver Sun. p. B5. Retrieved June 25, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "BC Injury Prevention Centre". Archived from the original on October 6, 2016. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
- ^ CIBC Centre for Patients & Families Archived September 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Vancouver Prostate Centre Archived October 22, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Skin Care Centre Archived October 22, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute Archived October 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Leo Awards, All Winners 2014". Retrieved June 11, 2014.
- ^ "Emergency Room: Life and Death at VGH". April 3, 2018.
External links
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- Official website
- VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation
- v
- t
- e
- Faculties and Schools
- Law
- Department of Computer Science
- Liu Institute for Global Issues
- Medicine
- UBC Sauder School of Business
- School of Library, Archival and Information Studies
- Green College
- St. John's College
- Vantage College
- Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies
- Faculty of Land and Food Systems
- University of British Columbia Press
- Institute of Asian Research
- Vancouver School of Economics
- Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre
- British Columbia's Children's Hospital
- Carey Theological College
- Corpus Christi College (Vancouver)
- UBC Farm
- Global Reporting Centre
- UBC Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
- Kelowna General Hospital
- Providence Health Care
- Regent College
- Royal Columbian Hospital
- St. Mark's College
- St. Paul's Hospital
- Surrey Memorial Hospital
- UBC Press
- TRIUMF
- GNWC
- Vancouver General Hospital
- Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre
- Vancouver School of Theology