West Park Healthcare Centre
Hospital in Ontario, Canada
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
West Park Healthcare Centre is a hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
| West Park Healthcare Centre | |
|---|---|
| University Health Network | |
| |
 | |
 | |
| Geography | |
| Location | 170 Emmett Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Coordinates | 43°41′20.54″N 79°30′29.82″W |
| Organization | |
| Affiliated university | Temerty Faculty of Medicine (University of Toronto) |
| Network | University Health Network |
| Services | |
| Beds | 316 |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Lists | Hospitals in Canada |
Founded in 1904 as a tuberculosis sanatorium, the facility was renovated in 2023 and reopened as a rehabilitation and continuing care hospital.
Overview
West Park Healthcare Centre is a six-story, 1,250-square-foot (116 m2) facility with 316 patient beds.[1] The hospital specializes in rehabilitation and continuing care for patients recovering from severe health conditions such as stroke, amputation, lung disease, and life-changing illnesses.[1]
Two wings of the hospital are dedicated to inpatient care, and one wing is for outpatient services.[2] There are two 10-bed tuberculosis inpatient wards.[1]
History
In 1896, William Gage, a Toronto businessman and philanthropist interested in tuberculosis prevention, helped found the National Sanitarium Association in an effort to build a tuberculosis hospital in Toronto and fund research into the disease.[3]
Toronto residents—believing tuberculosis was a hereditary "disease of the poor"—opposed building a tuberculosis facility near local neighbourhoods, and enacted bylaws to stop the hospital.[3]
In 1903, Gage purchased Buttonwood Farm near Toronto, a 40-acre (16 ha) property next to the Humber River, and established the Toronto Free Hospital for the Consumptive Poor.[3] The farmhouse was converted to a doctor's quarters, chapel, and patient's dining room; old streetcars were used to house patients.[3][4]
By 1910, three new buildings had been erected, and in 1913, Queen Mary Hospital for Consumptive Children opened at the site, the first hospital in the world dedicated to tuberculosis in children.[5][6]
Gage—knighted for his philanthropic efforts in 1918—spoke of the “purity of the air” at the riverside location, and "fresh-air" treatment was provided for patients, who tended a vegetable garden and a farm containing 50 pigs and 1,000 hens (the animals were swept away during Hurricane Hazel in 1954).[3][4]
The combined facility received patients from across Ontario, and at one time had 667 patient beds.[5]
Additions to the hospital include the Ruddy Building in 1938, and the Gage Building in the early 1980s.[2]
The facility was renovated in 2023 and reopened as West Park Healthcare Centre.[1]
