History of the Hospital

The Past

In the winter of 1959, the first meeting of the nine-member Lakeshore General Hospital Study committee took place. It was responsible for determining the most efficient way of getting the facility built. The Lakeshore General Hospital was incorporated the following summer and the site shown below, on which the facility stands, was purchased with a gift from private donors.

Aerial view in 1963 of the hospital construction site.

In the spring of 1961, a capital campaign was launched to help cover the cost of the planned 182-bed hospital and by the winter of 1961, the campaign was completed. Some $2.5 million from corporate and public donations was raised. The construction of the hospital cost approximately $6.5 million and began in the spring of 1963.

The Lakeshore General Hospital first opened its doors to the public in 1965. In 1988, the hospital undertook a capital campaign to raise $7 million. This objective was reached in January 1992 and in December 1992 the Quebec Government announced its approval of an expansion and renovation project. Construction was due to begin in 1993 but was postponed due to health care reform.

Looking Forward

After extensive lobbying, in 1995, the government acknowledged the need for increased services in the West Island and designated the hospital as the first of five Ambulatory Care Centres (ACC) on the Island of Montreal. The new ACC is designed to treat 75,000 patients annually and to redefine how health care is delivered to the West Island community. The ACC makes acute care services more easily accessible to West Islanders, maximizes the effectiveness of advances in health care technologies and enables the Hospital to treat many more patients than was previously possible. Major differences include:

• Day patients being treated in specialized outpatient clinics, in departments like cardiology, intravenous antibiotics, endoscopy, oncology, haemodialysis or orthopaedics.
• Pediatric Clinics specializing in asthma, allergies, dermatology and autism - run in partnership with the MUHC. 
• The Diabetes Day Centre, previously located outside of the hospital, was relocated in the new ACC Centre.
• In the Diagnostic Imaging Department (nuclear medicine, CT scanner, ultrasound, echography, and radiology):
• • A Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine (an “MRI”) was an important addition.
  • Test results are obtained the same day to accelerate patient care.
  • Increased convenience and cost-efficiency.

Pediatric Clinic

Day Surgery Preparations