Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal
Encyclopedia
The Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal is the oldest hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....

 in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

. Since 1996 it has been one of the three hospitals making up the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM).

"Hôtel-dieu," literally "hostel of God," is an archaic French term for hospital, referring to the origins of hospitals as religious institutions.

History

The origins of the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal date back to Paul Chomedey's arrival on the Island of Montreal
Island of Montreal
The Island of Montreal , in extreme southwestern Quebec, Canada, is located at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. It is separated from Île Jésus by the Rivière des Prairies....

 in 1642 to found the French colony of Ville-Marie. With him came Jeanne Mance
Jeanne Mance
Jeanne Mance was a French settler of New France. She was one of the founders of Montreal who secured its survival and was the founder and head of the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal.-Origins:...

, the first nurse in New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...

. She founded the hospital on October 8, 1645. This was confirmed by letters patent of Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...

 in April 1669. Guillaume Bailly
Guillaume Bailly
Guillaume Bailly was a Sulpician missionary to Canada from 1666 to 1691.During that period, Bailly was associated with the Congrégation de Notre-Dame. He spent some time directing the Sulpician mission, founded in 1676, at Mount Royal. He also taught there and wasa devoted teacher and skillful in...

, a Sulpician
Society of Saint-Sulpice
The Society of Saint-Sulpice is a Catholic Society of Apostolic Life named for Eglise Saint-Sulpice, Paris, in turn named for St. Sulpitius the Pious. Typically, priests become members of the Society of St. Sulpice only after ordination and some years of pastoral work. Uniquely, Sulpicians retain...

 missionary, is credited with drawing up the plans for the stone version built in 1688.

Although Jeanne Mance was a laywoman, her hospital would be later staffed by the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph
Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph
The Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph was a religious order founded in La Fleche, France by the Venerable Jerome le Royer de la Dauversiere and Venerable Marie de la Ferre...

 (Religieuses hospitalières de Saint-Joseph) order of nuns, which were founded in 1636 by a layman, Jérôme Le Royer de la Dauversière
Jerome le Royer de la Dauversiere
Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière was a Jesuit who was head of the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal.- Youth :...

 along with Mother Marie de la Fere, in La Fleche
La Flèche
La Flèche is a municipality located in the French department of Sarthe and the region of Pays de la Loire in the Loire Valley. This is the sub-prefecture of the South-Sarthe, the chief district and the chief city of a canton. This is the second most populous city of the department. The city is part...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

The hospital burned and was rebuilt three times between 1695 and 1734. After the conquest of New France by the British, it remained the only French-language
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....

 hospital in Montreal for two centuries. Around 1850, the hospital became affiliated with the Montreal School of Medicine and Surgery. It had an affiliated nursing school between 1901 and 1970. It continued to grow until 1861, when it was moved from Old Montreal
Old Montreal
Old Montreal is the oldest area in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, dating back to New France. Located in the borough of Ville-Marie, the area is bordered on the west by McGill St., on the north by Ruelle des Fortifications, on the east by Berri St. and on the south by the Saint Lawrence River...

 to its present site near Mount Royal
Mount Royal
Mount Royal is a mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the city to which it gave its name.The mountain is part of the Monteregian Hills situated between the Laurentians and the Appalachians...

.

In 1996, it became one of the three hospitals to make up the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), along with the Hôpital Notre-Dame du CHUM and the Hôpital Saint-Luc du CHUM.

The present site contains a museum of the hospital's long history.

Medical achievements

During its history, many medical milestones have been recorded at the Hôtel-Dieu, including the world's first removal of a kidney (1868), the world's first removal of a tongue and jaw (1872), the first femur transplant (1959), the first identification of an AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 patient in Canada (1979), the world's first successful recovery of a person with severe burns to 90% of the body (1981), and the world's first robotically assisted laparoscopic surgery (1993).

External links

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