History

The Mississauga Hospital

In 1952, the tragic death of a 16-year-old high school student enroute to a Toronto hospital for treatment, focused attention on the need for a hospital to serve the residents of South Peel.

In 1952, the Port Credit Rotary Club and the Credit Valley Lions Club joined forces to lay the groundwork for a $500,000, 55-bed hospital.

1952	Local groups raise money for what was to become South Peel Hospital and, later, The Mississauga Hospital.
1953	Area residents vote 'yes' on December 12, 1953 to agree to debentures to guarantee the building of a local hospital. The board reconsiders an earlier proposal for 55 beds and a new 115-bed proposal was presented to the government.
1954	The Ontario government approves a 115-bed hospital in South Peel. The board hired its first employee, Ray Copeland, to be the South Peel Hospital's first administrator.
1955	The Hospital Auxiliary formed with Augusta Adamson as the first President. A $2 membership fee draws 1,700 members and a sewing group formed, supplying all linens to the hospital.
1956	The sod-turning took place on Friday, April 13, 1956 at a farm field at Centre Road and Upper Middle Road. Forty-four students representing all the schools in South Peel participated in the sod turning.
1957	Lt.-Gov. L.O. Breithaupt lays the cornerstone for the hospital on May 30, 1957. Board Chairman Gordon Jackson announces that the hospital is two-thirds completed.
1958	During the weekend of May 3 and 4, 1958, about 10,000 people have their first look at the South Peel Hospital. The South Peel Hospital admitted its first patient, Ann Beatty, on May 19, 1958, under the care of Dr. Lionel G. Brayley. The hospital's first baby, Bruce Richard Garrett, was delivered to Mary Garrett on May 22, 1958, by Lionel Brayley's son, obstetrician Dr. Jim Brayley.
1964	The first addition to the hospital was completed in October 1964 at a cost of $6.5 million raising bed capacity to 395.
1968	A second addition, consisting of 59 continuing care beds and 41 psychiatric beds, was opened in January 1968 at a cost of $2 million. In the same year, South Peel Hospital became one of the first community hospitals in Canada to introduce a Nuclear Medicine Department.
1970	January 2, 1970 the name of the hospital was changed to The Mississauga Hospital, in anticipation that other hospitals would be established in this rapidly-growing area.
1972	A 12-member foundation, the Friends of The Mississauga Hospital, was created to be the main fund raiser for the hospital. One of its first major campaigns was to fund the hospital's Computerized Tomography Scanner.
1979	On Sunday, November 11, 1979, the hospital's disaster plan is tested as a train derailment and evacuation of the City of Mississauga forces the evacuation of all patients to nearby health facilities.
1983	The Mississauga Hospital officially opens its latest expansion on May 6, 1983, marking the end of the hospital's first quarter century. The addition brought the number of beds up to 628. The expansion included a Coronary Care Unit, a second Orthpaedics Unit and a Continuing Care Unit. The Emergency Department was redesigned to separate urgent emergency care from walk-in emergency care.
1987	The Regional Neurosurgery Centre opened at The Mississauga Hospital in July 1987.
1991	A new Labour, Delivery, Recovery and Post Partum Birthing Suite was introduced. The Short Stay Unit was created to care for patients who were in hospital for fewer than three days. The new 735-space parking garage opened. The facility received a citation from the City of Mississauga for excellent design, way-finding and safety features.
1992	The Auxiliary changed its name to The Mississauga Hospital Volunteer Association. A multicultural program begins with the help of the Volunteer Association. A new surgical technique – known as laparoscopic surgery – is introduced. The Psychiatry Department introduces a Day Hospital program.
1993	The hospital positions itself for future outpatient services enabling the hospital to reduce the number of beds to 519 while still caring for the same volume of patients.
1996	The Mississauga Hospital is selected from among the three hospitals in Peel to provide Advanced Cardiovascular Services to the region. The planned services include cardiac catheterization, pacemaker implantation and cardiac surgery.
1997	The Mississauga Hospital opened its Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Unit in April 1997 – the first community hospital in Ontario to have this high technology equipment available for patients.
1998	On April 1, 1998, The Mississauga Hospital and The Queensway General Hospital merged, and on an interim basis, the new organization was called 'The Mississauga-Queensway Hospital'.
1998	At ceremonies on October 6, 1998, the hospital's new name 'Trillium Health Centre' was unveiled at events at both the Mississauga and West Toronto locations. The West Toronto location becomes the Ambulatory Care Centre for Trillium Health Centre.