We're very fortunate we have almost a hundred years of pictures
our very earliest picture was from 1910 and our
most recent picture was essentially from 100 years later.
Our archivist Phil Gold did a wonderful job bringing the photos
to us with the special gloves that one has to use to
handle those photos. They know about the place but they don't know
that it's been around since
the 1940's. They don't know that our
Canadian veterans still live here. They don't know that so many other things that are groundbreaking
happened here. We were also fortunate that we had some very famous people
the Queen Mother, the Queen herself
Bob Hope and various other people that graced
the halls of Sunnybrook were included in that book,
as well as some of the more official pictures of leaders over the course of time.
I loved the pictures of the regular patients undergoing
various kinds of therapy and their daily activities because that
gave a glimpse of what the hospital was like. We didn't have many
single and double rooms. They were open wards that phone
on wheels was really amusing simply to show
mobile telephones were around. We're not quite sure how it got connected.
i was also impressed with the picture of Sunnybrook farm, because that
was our namesake, and it was the first we had seen the picture.
Life was a lot simpler, but it didn't mean we didn't have to
devote just as much time, effort and resources to the care
of our patients, which at that were veterans.
But the veterans were young. It was the first trauma unit in Canada
and it is presently the largest
for acute trauma, one of the largest in the world.
I can tell you, it's not been a dull time.
The idea of programs came
back to 1970-71. This is the way
we could change the image of this hospital. The new emergency
and innovative things like the one number to call was established
and in 1972 we decided on a helicopter. The PARTY program
was established here. One thing that is so memorable
was the beauty of Sunnybrook when it was new.
And that includes something that
most institutions don't have, the grounds.
The land that we had. We have over the course of the book
sprinkled in in chronological order various aerial shots
to show how the hospital has grown in its 60 plus
year history. It's a matter of honouring those who have come before us
I think this is a very worthwhile
book. I think it gives a pictorial of
and idea of the history of the hospital.
I think it will be an eye opener for
many people. It's a book that I hope that
many of the new and old employees of Sunnybrook read.
And the people in the community and people who are interested
in the history of medicine in Toronto and Canada.
It's been an important institution at all levels.
I certainly recommend that
every employee here buy a copy
and don't flip through it, pause and look
and think with every photograph that you are seeing.