Barrie's Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre celebrates 120 years
By Ian McInroy, Barrie Examiner
Her Royal Highness Queen Victoria was part of the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre's (RVH) 120th anniversary celebrations on Monday at the Southshore Centre with the RVH Auxiliary Victorian Tea. The event was a fundraiser in support of the auxiliary's $2-million pledge to the hospital's Hearts and Minds campaign. IAN MCINROY/BARRIE EXAMINER/POSTMEDIA
Royalty paid a visit to Barrie on Monday to celebrate Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre's (RVH) 120th anniversary.
Her Royal Highness Queen Victoria took part in the RVH Auxiliary Victorian Tea event, a fundraiser for the auxiliary's $2-million pledge to the hospital's Hearts and Minds campaign.
Her highness sipped tea and nibbled on desserts with auxiliary ladies along with members of the RVH foundation, hospital staff and members of the public who are supporting the Hearts and Minds campaign.
Approximately 100 guests, some dressed in formal attire from more than 100 years ago, took in displays reflecting the hospital's history.
Starting as a simple cottage, when Canada was just 30 years old, Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre has transformed into an almost one-million square-foot, state-of-the-art regional health centre.
RVH - or the Barrie General Hospital as it was originally called - got its humble start back in 1891 when a group of women banded together to build the town's first hospital. With $1,100, raised through donations and a bazaar, a four-bed cottage hospital was built on Duckworth Street. In 1897 the 13-bed Royal Victoria Hospital - named to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee - was built on High Street in downtown Barrie.
Soon that hospital was too small for Barrie's growing population, and in 1903 a new 35-bed hospital was built on Ross Street, across from Queen's Park where it remained, but grew, until moving to the current location on Georgian Drive in 1997.
The hospital completed a massive expansion - one of the largest capital projects in the region's history - in 2012 with a price tag of $450 million which included the Simcoe Muskoka Regional Cancer Centre and changed its name to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre.
"Despite the staggering changes in our 120 year history, RVH has never lost sight of its top priority: our patients," hospital president and CEO Janice Skot. "It's not just about delivering safe, high-quality care. It's about ensuring we deliver patient-centred care."
(with files from RVH)
imcinroy@postmedia.com
Barrie