NGH celebrates 100 years

Elizabeth Burnie, 94, who worked in admitting at Norfolk General Hospital from 1971-1996, and Mary Burnie, who worked in the NGH X-ray department as a student from 1975-1980, attended the June 7 anniversary for Norfolk General Hospital and Norfolk Hospital Nursing Home.

By Chris Abbott

Honouring 100 years of excellence at Norfolk General Hospital and 50 years of dedication at the Norfolk Hospital Nursing Home, an anniversary celebration was held June 7 at the Norfolk County Recreation Centre in Simcoe.

“Just really humbled to have the opportunity to be part of these two incredible organizations that have such a rich heritage in excellence, and to have the opportunity to help offer the next chapter in their proud history,” said Todd Stepanuik, President and CEO of Norfolk General Hospital for the past two-and-a-half years. “It’s been great to lead these two incredibly dynamic organizations. I will be looking forward to… the next generation.”

More information on the future ‘campus of care’ is coming soon, he said.

Greetings, congratulations and speeches were presented by politicians and Lois Craig, president of NGH and NHNH Volunteer Association; Dr. Robin Martin-Godelie, NGH Chief of Staff; Kim Mullins, NGH VP Clinical and Chief Nursing Executive; and Susan Pajor, Director of Care.

“Today we are really celebrating 100 years of excellence at the hospital and five remarkable decades at the nursing home,” said Stepanuik. “Both organizations, even though they are starkly different, each has their own unique story. They are unified by a shared legacy, and that, from my perspective, is grounded in service.”

Norfolk Hospital Nursing Home, since it opened in 1975, has been a home, he said.

“It’s not a ‘place,’ it’s not a ‘destination,’ it’s a home for people to live with dignity and respect, in an environment where there is warmth, there is laughter, there is companionship, there is friendship.”

He said Norfolk General Hospital has been a beacon for healthcare for 100 years.

“While we are here to celebrate the anniversary – a time to reflect upon its history – it’s also a time to recognize the extraordinary people that have shaped our history. Our success is really a testament to the thousands of people that have dedicated their careers to the hospital and the nursing home. And they really are the hands and the hearts of our organizations.

“When I reflect back on how far we’ve come – on 50 years and 100 years – from an era when the average life expectancy was 50 years of age… from a time in 1925 when the leading causes of death were flu, pneumonia, and TB (tuberculosis)… diseases that at one time were terminal are now chronic… the development of antibiotics, the development of vaccines… It has not been incremental, it has been exponential advances in medicine and healthcare. When I think about the advances in medical imaging, what we can do today versus what we could do back then, and what we can do in diagnosis, it’s absolutely incredible. If you could transplant somebody from 1925 to today, they would not believe it.”