History of Health Care: Transformation of the Hospital

Figure 1. Original building. Image: KGH Archive

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 of sick and destitute immigrants and other transients and the mariners of the lake” (Figure 1).

There were a dozen doctors in Kingston, at that time a community of 8,000. One physician per month provided free medical services at the Kingston Hospital. The initial staff included a housekeeper/nurse and her daughter as a helper, both of whom died caring for patients during the 1847 typhus epidemic. In 1851 a steward was appointed and in 1854 the staff included a matron, two male orderlies and the steward.

History of Health: Why is it important?

Jane and John Smith born in Portsmouth Village, now a neighbourhood of Kingston, Ontario, in 1810 and 1812 respectively had a life expectancy of forty years.

Jane and John Jones born in Kingston in 2009 and 2011 respectively look forward to a life expectancy of eighty years.

What accounts for this striking difference?

The Book of a Life

MHC Collection

While doing a long overdue sorting and clean-up of the Museum’s small research library recently, I came across a fascinating little publication entitled The Book of a Life, From Generation to Generation by James C. Connell, M.D., published in 1935 by the Ryerson Press. This slim volume is a form of medical diary, where an individual writes down his or her health history from birth until old age (presumably, the book would be started by the parent!). It’s sort of the “full life” version of those baby books where parents record their child’s early development and paste in photos and locks of hair.