The Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal (founded in 1645) was the first hospital established in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada. ''

Hôtel-Dieu In French-speaking countries, a hôtel-Dieu ( en, hostel of God) was originally a hospital for the poor and needy, run by the Catholic Church. Nowadays these buildings or institutions have either kept their function as a hospital, the one in Paris b ...

'', literally translated in English as ''Hotel of God'', is an archaic French term for hospital, referring to the origins of hospitals as religious institutions. Its emergency room and function as an active hospital ended in 2017, and as of 2020 serves as a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

test site during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Montreal The COVID-19 pandemic in Montreal is part of an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Until April 2021, Montreal was ...

History

The origins of the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal date to the arrival in 1642 of Paul Chomedey and a small party of French settlers on the Island of Montreal to found the French colony of Ville-Marie. Among them was

Jeanne Mance Jeanne Mance (November 12, 1606 – June 18, 1673) was a French nurse and settler of New France. She arrived in New France two years after the Ursuline nuns came to Quebec. Among the founders of Montreal in 1642, she established its first hospit ...

, the first nurse in

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

. She founded the hospital on October 8, 1645, as confirmed by letters patent of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ver ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in April 1669. In addition to returning to France to seek financial support for the hospital, in 1657 Mance recruited three sisters of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph (Religieuses hospitalières de Saint-Joseph) order of nuns to serve with her as staff. Their order was founded in 1636 by a layman,

Jérôme Le Royer de la Dauversière Jerome (c.347–420) was a priest, confessor, theologian and historian from Dalmatia. Jerome may also refer to: People Given name * Jerome (given name), a masculine name of Greek origin, with a list of people so named * Saint Jerome (disambiguat ...

, along with Mother Marie de la Fere ( fr), in La Fleche, France. Guillaume Bailly, a

Sulpician The Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice (french: Compagnie des Prêtres de Saint-Sulpice), abbreviated PSS also known as the Sulpicians is a society of apostolic life of Pontifical Right for men, named after the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris ...

missionary, is credited with drawing up the plans for the stone structure that was built in 1688. The hospital burned and was rebuilt three times between 1695 and 1734. After the conquest of New France by the British, for two centuries, it was the only French-language hospital in Montreal. Around 1850, the hospital became affiliated with the

Montreal School of Medicine and Surgery Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

. It continued to grow until 1861, when it was moved from

Old Montreal Old Montreal (French: ''Vieux-Montréal'') is a historic neighbourhood within the municipality of Montreal in the province of Quebec, Canada. Home to the Old Port of Montreal, the neighbourhood is bordered on the west by McGill Street, on th ...

to its present site near

Mount Royal Mount Royal (french: link=no, Mont Royal, ) is a large intrusive rock hill or small mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The best-known hypothesis for the origin of the name Montreal is the ...

. It had an affiliated nursing school between 1901 and 1970. In 1996, it became one of the three hospitals to make up the

Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal The Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM, translated as University of Montreal Health Centre) is one of two major healthcare networks in the city of Montreal, Quebec. It is a teaching institution affiliated with the French-lang ...

(CHUM), along with the

Hôpital Notre-Dame Hôpital Notre-Dame ( en, Notre Dame Hospital) is a hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on Sherbrooke Street East in the borough of Ville-Marie, across from La Fontaine Park. It was established in 1880, and has been at its prese ...

du CHUM and the

Hôpital Saint-Luc Hôpital Saint-Luc was a hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, at the intersection of Saint Denis Street and René Lévesque Boulevard in the borough of Ville-Marie. It was named in honor of Luke the Evangelist, who is the patron saint of doctor ...

du CHUM. With the completion of the CHUM megahospital campus adjacent to Hôpital Saint-Luc in 2017, the Hôtel-Dieu's patients were moved to the new facility as of November 5, 2017. The Hôtel-Dieu was initially slated for closure, but ultimately remained open as a large-scale urgent care clinic until 2020. In 2020, amid the

, the former hospital became home to one of Montreal's largest testing sites. The present site also contains a museum of the hospital's long history.

Medical achievements

During its history, many medical milestones have been recorded at the Hôtel-Dieu, including the world's first removal of a kidney (1868), the world's first removal of a tongue and jaw (1872), the first femur transplant (1959), the first identification of an AIDS patient in Canada (1979), the world's first successful recovery of a person with severe burns to 90% of the body (1981), and the world's first robotically assisted

laparoscopic Laparoscopy () is an operation performed in the abdomen or pelvis using small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) with the aid of a camera. The laparoscope aids diagnosis or therapeutic interventions with a few small cuts in the abdomen.Medlin ...

surgery (1993). Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal

References

External links

354 years of history (Réligieuses hospitalières de Saint-Joseph)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hotel-Dieu De Montreal Hospitals in Montreal Defunct hospitals in Canada Hospital buildings completed in the 17th century Hospital buildings completed in 1861 Hospitals established in the 17th century Société Notre-Dame de Montréal Le Plateau-Mont-Royal 1645 establishments in the French colonial empire 1861 establishments in Canada COVID-19 pandemic in Canada

History

Medical achievements

References

Further reading

External links