15 years later… Remembering Nancy Malloy

As the recently appointed Assistant Curator at the Museum of Health Care, I am constantly finding out new and fascinating things about the objects in our collections and the broader history of health care that underpins them.  I also have the privilege of learning about the men and women who forged careers in medical science [...]

History of Health Care: Transformation of the Hospital

The Main Building of the Kingston Hospital was built between 1833 and 1835, however due to lack of operating funds did not open until 1845, with incorporation in 1849 when a lay board was appointed. They had a mandate to operate the hospital as a charitable institution required to “supply necessities and relieve the condition [...]

History of Health Care: Quarantine and Isolation

Before the nineteenth century, quarantine and isolation had been practiced in an effort to protect the community from contagious diseases such as plague and smallpox in the absence of specific treatment. Such diseases were considered contagious even though the cause and method of transmission were not known. Two important developments occurred during the last half [...]

Weekly Photo Challenge: Comfort

To open up the Museum of Health Care’s artefact collection we are participating in WordPress’ Weekly Photo Challenge. Based on WordPress’ randomly chosen themes, we’ll offer a serendipitous peek into our collection. Check in each week for a new curiosity.  Click here to search the Museum’s collection online.

A Brief History of Isolation and Infectious Disease

Contagious disease has challenged society throughout human history. Quarantine and isolation was practiced in response to the pandemics of bubonic plague and cholera, beginning in the Middle Ages. In the 18th and 19th centuries, smallpox led to smallpox hospitals in some large urban communities. At the same time, citizens lived with the fear of outbreaks [...]

Thank you for your Patronage to our Hall of Honour Exhibits at Kingston General Hospital

Curator’s Blog guest post written by Collections Intern Tanya Szulga:Over the past twenty years the Museum of Health Care has created exhibits for the Kingston General Hospital’s Hall of Honour. Recently KGH staff is working on a new redesign of this area and as part of that design process asked the museum to remove the [...]

Fenwick Operating Theatre: a life-saving surgery in Edwardian Kingston

Bennie S., age 10, on the 17th of September last was accidentally shot by his brother, a lad about two years his senior . . . The arm was nearly severed from the body . . . The patient’s father ascribes the arrest of the hemorrhage to the fact that there was an old man [...]