Hospitals then and now

In one of my blogs there was a posting about a new book about hospitals that sounded interesting. I borrowed it on interlibrary loan from my local public library. It was about the history of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal from the point of view of the patients, the nurses and the doctors.

Then I became more interested in learning more about my local hospitals. I read a couple of short histories. Hospitals are always changing and growing - just walk by any hospital in Ottawa these days.

The Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal cannot be updated to modern standards. I wonder what will happen with the buildings - they are so distinctive on the Montreal skyline.

“Resources within the hospital continue to be strained.” This is a quote from the 1970s but it could have been written yesterday.

There was a small hospital next door to us in Lachute. My first and only visit there for medical attention was when I fell off the neighbour’s slide and cut my nose. I took my doll - Joey - with me and he got a Band-Aid on his nose. I had to have a couple of stitches. The mark stayed on my nose for many years later.

My more recent visits to the hospital with injuries have been because of falls, bumps, etc. from horses. The worst injury I had was a hairline fracture. I got too close to another horse when I was riding and the other horse kicked mine. I needed a cast as a result of this misadventure.

I had this accident in the winter and many times I had to tell folks that I had the injury with a horse rather than skiing. This was the worst winter for snow in Montreal - 1971 - and the civic workers were on strike. It was quite tricky getting around with crutches and a cast in all that snow.

I did recover easily and I went back to riding as soon as I could. A few years later I was in England and the ankle did not feel right. That was because of the damp English weather.