In front of Kingston General Hospital on Stuart ST. There are 4 plaques here.
Commemoration
An enduring witness to the evolution of public health care, Kingston General is one of Canada’s oldest functioning hospitals. Most of its early buildings have survived, notably the Main Building and the Watkins Wing which date to a time when hospitals were places for care of the poor. Expansion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries matched the transformation of this charitable hospital into a centre of scientific medicine. The Nickel Wing for patients with infectious disease, the Doran Building for the care of women and children, and the Fenwick Operating theatre all date to the 1890s. They show the gradual shift away from treatment in the home in favour of the hospital, which offered new surgical techniques and an antiseptic environment. The new nurses’ home, completed in 1904, acknowledged the advance of nursing as a profession critical to the institution. Opened in 1914, the empire Wing with its private and semi-private rooms demonstrates the hospital acceptance by the well-to-do. These early buildings for an integral part of a larger hospital complex that continues to reflect new approaches to medical treatment.
Background
Before the 19th century, hospitals were used mostly by those who could not afford care at home. Well off or influential people were visited int heir homes by doctors and, for longer care, employed private nurses. Hospitals were often associated with religious institutions in colonial Canada.
The mid-19th century was a time of significant change for hospitals and health care. At this time, hospitals started to become teaching institutions and doctors spent the early parts of their careers in hospitals before striking out on their own. Nurses also became more of a profession and less of a religious charity organization although the change was evolutionary and carried on well into the 21st century.
By the later part of the 19th century, the hospital was becoming a place of specialization.