Vancouver General Hospital

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**Vancouver General Hospital**
Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre
Location
Place	Vancouver British Columbia, (Canada)
Organisation
Care System	Public Medicare (Canada) (MSP)
Hospital Type	Teaching
Affiliated Med.Sch.	UBC Faculty of Medicine
Services
Emergency Dept.	Yes
Beds	955
Speciality	Bone Marrow Transplant and Leukemia, Burns and Plastics, Epilepsy Surgery Program, Organ Transplant, Spinal Cord Injury
History
Founded	1906
Links
Website	Homepage
See also	Hospitals in Canada

Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) is a medical facility located in Vancouver, British Columbia. VGH is part of the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre (VHHSC) the second largest hospital in Canada. The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCH) is responsible for the VHHSC, the largest component of which is the VGH.

1 History
2 Facilities and amenities
3 Divisions
4 External links

[edit] History

Vancouver Hospital first opened in 1886 as a nine-bed tent, its primary use to treat injured railway workers. In 1888 a 35-bed hospital opened as the tent infirmary becomes too small. Vancouver General Hospital was formed in 1902 by a Special Act of the Legislature. In 1906 a new facility, the Heather Pavillion, opened in Fairview Slopes.

In 1959, VGH opened the “Centennial Pavilion” (named in commemoration of the centennial of the founding of British Columbia as a British Crown colony, in 1858), which at the time was the largest part of the VGH facilities.

In 1993, VGH merged with UBC Hospital to become the VHHSC. GF Strong Rehab Centre and George Pearson Centre merged with VHHSC in 1995. Later, in the spring of 1997, VGH merged with the BC Rehab Society and the clinical component of the Arthritis Society of BC & Yukon.

In 1996, VGH opened the first three floors of its newly constructed Laurel Pavilion. In 2000, the Laurel Pavilion was renamed to the Jim Pattison Pavilion and construction of the final 12 floors began in 2001. The Jim Pattison Pavilion opened in 2003.

In 2004, the ground-breaking for new Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre began. This new building, adjacent to the Jim Pattison Pavilion, opened in August 2006 to provide acute day care services in a variety of areas.

In 2006, part of the Willow Chest Centre was torn down to make way for a future as-yet-unnamed health care facility.

[edit] Facilities and amenities

Vancouver General Hospital's main pavilion, the Jim Pattison Pavillion.

VGH is the largest hospital in British Columbia. Besides providing specialized and tertiary medical services, VGH is also a teaching hospital in affiliation with the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine. Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre is composed of four sites: VGH, UBC Hospital, GF Strong Rehab Centre and George Pearson Centre. The VGH site of the VHHSC has 955 beds.

VGH's main cafeteria, known as Sassafras Cafeteria, is not set up like traditional hospital cafeterias of the past, but more like a shopping mall food court with a variety of food kiosks. Sassafras is located on the second floor of the Jim Pattison Pavillion. The Pattison Pavillion also has a café at its main entrance called Café Ami, and VGH has coffee and snack kiosks located at the Heather Pavillion and in the Emergency Department. [1]