Last Tuesday (November 30), the Lachine Hospital launched its centennial celebrations at the Camille-Lefebvre Pavilion on 16th Avenue in Lachine.
Speakers included Normand Rinfret, director general and CEO of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) and two honorary co-chairs of the Lachine Hospital Centennial Committee, François Ouimet, the MNA for Marquette, and Claude Dauphin, the mayor of Lachine. They highlighted the hospital’s $66 million expansion, the installation of magnetic resonating imaging equipment for morbidly obese or claustrophobic patients, and more than a century of caring service.
“I am very pleased to be part of this celebration of our remarkable hospital,” said Ouimet. “The Lachine Hospital is expanding and modernizing for the benefit of the entire community. The hospital’s continued success is assured as it is increasingly recognized as a centre of excellence in many areas of medicine, and of this I’m extremely proud.”
The Lachine Hospital began life as the Saint Joseph Hospital, a project by parish priest Joseph-Télesphore Savaria. While founded in 1913, the building on Saint Louis Street officially opened on March 19, 1914, the Feast Day of Saint Joseph. The new building on 16th Avenue opened as a 128-bed long-term care pavilion in 1992. It became known officially as the Camille-Lefebvre Pavilion four years later.
Dauphin and Ouimet will co-chair a committee that will organize centenary celebrations to take place throughout the coming year in both Lachine and Dorval. A highlight will be a fundraising gala by the hospital foundation. The “Bal du Centenaire” will occur on Saturday, May 4, 2013 at 6 p.m. at the Montreal Airport Marriott Hotel, 800 Place Leigh Capreol, Dorval.
For information about other centennial activities and the history of the Lachine Hospital, visit their website at muhc.ca/lachine100.
