Montreal Chinese Hospital

The Montreal Chinese Hospital (French: Hôpital chinois de Montréal) is a former hospital and current long-term care facility (CHSLD) on Viger Avenue, just east of Le Quartier Chinois.

Montreal Chinese Hospital
Hôpital chinois de Montréal
CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-L’Île-de-Montréal
Montreal Chinese Hospital is located in Montreal
Montreal Chinese Hospital
Location in Montreal
Geography
Location189, avenue Viger Est
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H2X 3Y9
Coordinates45°30′34″N 73°33′29″W / 45.509505°N 73.557954°W / 45.509505; -73.557954
Organisation
Care systemRAMQ (Quebec Health Insurance Board)
Services
Beds128
History
Opened1920
Links
Websitemontrealchinesehospital.ca/home_en.html

Despite no longer being an active hospital or having an emergency room, it maintains its historic name and primary mandate to serve the Chinese Canadian community residing in the province of Quebec. It is the only Chinese hospital in Canada.[1] The Montreal Chinese Hospital has 128 beds.[2]

History

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Wall at the entrance of the hospital on Avenue Viger.

The Montreal Chinese Hospital traces its history to the 1918 flu pandemic. The Venerable Delia Tétreault (Mother Mary of the Holy Spirit) set up a 7-bed emergency shelter on Clark Street serving 55 Chinese men during the 1918 flu pandemic.[2][3]

This temporary shelter closed its doors in 1919, and the Nuns returned to their convent. In 1919 or 1920, the Chinese community in Montreal acquired a former synagogue, to serve as their permanent hospital, located at 112 De la Gauchetière Street (it is now a commercial building), in present-day Chinatown. Health care would be provided at this location for the next 45 years.[3] The city of Montreal declared the location unfit to serve as a medical institution in 1962, and the following year the Chinese community raised CAD$1,000,000 toward constructing a new facility.[3] A new 65-bed hospital opened in 1965 located at 7500 Saint-Denis Street, corner Faillon Street East, in the borough of Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension. The Montreal Chinese Hospital joined the Quebec Hospital Association in 1966, and from then on, its operating expenses were covered by the Quebec government.[4] [5][6]

The current location of the hospital was constructed from 1997 to 1999. The new location on Viger Street opened its doors in April 1999, following a successful fund-raising campaign.[3]

See also

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Other Chinese hospitals and health care serving local Chinese communities:

References

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  1. ^ "About us: Introduction — Preamble". about: Montreal Chinese Hospital. 2009. Archived from the original on 5 July 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  2. ^ a b Turcotte, Huguette (1 January 2004). "Hospitals for Chinese in Canada: Montreal (1918) and Vancouver (1921)" (PDF). Canadian Catholic Historical Association (CCHA) Historical Studies. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  3. ^ a b c d "History of the Hospital". Montreal Chinese Hospital. 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
  4. ^ David Chuenyan Lai, Chinatowns: Towns within Cities in Canada (Victoria: U. of British Columbia Press, 1988), pp. 101, 149, 154.
  5. ^ Les Urbain culteurs website, at http://urbainculteurs.org/en/chinese-hospital-of-montreal Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine .
  6. ^ CanadaHelps.org website, at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/women-s-auxiliary-montreal-chinese-hospital-dames-auxiliaire/ .
  • Lewis Hong Chow, Engineering a Successful Life (Victoria, Br. Col: Trafford Publishing, 2005).
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