The Montreal Children's Hospital and its healthcare professionals have achieved many medical breakthroughs throughout the hospital's history. Read on to learn more about these achievements (indicated in bold type) as well as some of the interesting milestones in the hospital's history.
If you are aware of any other medical breakthroughs by MCH health care professionals please let Public Relations and Communications know by calling ext. 23991.
1869- Reference to a proposed Children's Hospital first appears in the minutes of a meeting of "the Committee appointed to secure the establishment of a children's hospital," cited in The Montreal Gazette
1902- Committee of Organization of the Proposed Children's Memorial Hospital announces its intention to build a small hospital
1904- First patient is admitted to the Children's Memorial Hospital (CMH) on Guy Street.
1905- The Children's Memorial Hospital Training School for Nurses is founded.
1909- Children's Memorial Hospital moves to Cedar Avenue.
Typhoid fever epidemic causes acute shortage of hospital beds, leads to first expansion, and creation of isolation ward.
1916- Volunteer-run Social Services Department is established.
1918- The great influenza epidemic generates need for an additional isolation ward.
1920- Children's Memorial Hospital is designated a teaching hospital of the McGill University Faculty of Medicine.
1922- Dr. Alton Goldbloom, Montreal's first trained pediatrician, who went on to hold many positions at the Children's, co-founds the Canadian Pediatric Society.
Dr. Jessie Boyd Scriver is one of five women to graduate from McGill medical school; she later becomes Montreal's first female pediatrician. She spent most of her career working at the Children's.
1924- Western Hospital becomes the Western Division of the Montreal General Hospital; some of its facilities are later sold by the MGH to the Children's and become part of the Tupper Street complex.
1926- Department of Social Services is officially integrated into the hospital (a first for a children's hospital).
1927-1934- New laboratory facilities in biochemistry, bacteriology, and pathology enable widespread expansion of research into children's diseases.
1931- Serious polio epidemic occurs, one of the worst in Canadian history.
1932- Another serious polio outbreak inspires the development of a respirator at the CMH.
1933- First Speech Therapy Clinic in a Canadian pediatric hospital is established at the CMH.
Allergy/Immunology Department is created.
1936- Occupational Therapy Department is established.
First course in use of play activities for children hospitalized at the CMH is given to nurses and volunteers.
1937- McGill University establishes a separate Department of Pediatrics.
1938- First operation in Canada to repair a congenital heart defect is performed at the CMH.
1939- The Women's Auxiliary of the hospital is founded.
1940- Department of Anesthesiology is founded.
1944- Penicillin becomes available for general use.
1946- First pediatric cardiac catheterization in Canada is performed at the CMH.
Division of Neurology is founded.
First research fellowships are established in McGill's Department of Pediatrics.
1947- Cardiology Division is founded.
Hematology and Oncology Division is founded.
1949- CMH is first pediatric hospital in Canada to establish a Division of Medical Genetics.
1950- CMH is first pediatric hospital in Canada to establish a Psychiatry Department.
General Pediatric Surgery Division is founded.
Psychology Department is created.
1951- First hospital-based clinic in Canada for patients with genetic disorders is inaugurated at the Children's.
1952- Hospital appoints first full-time physician, Dr. Ronald L. Denton.
1954- Plastic Surgery Division is founded.
1955- Hospital name is officially changed to The Montreal Children's Hospital.
Ophthalmology and Dentistry divisions are founded.
Endocrine Division, Clinical Endocrine Laboratory, and Endocrine Research Laboratory are established.
1956- Hospital moves from Cedar Avenue to Tupper Street in December.
1957- Specialized clinics open: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Children's Care, Convulsive Disorders, Cystic Fibrosis, Nephrology, and Pediatric Gynecology.
Rheumatology and Respiratory Medicine divisions are founded.
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is established.
Camp Carowanis for diabetic children is established in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts thanks to Dr. Mimi Belmonte of the Children's and members of the community.
1958- First open-heart surgery on a child in Quebec is performed at the MCH
Orthopedic Surgery Division is founded.
1959- McGill-Montreal Children's Hospital Learning Centre opens, the first Canadian pediatric hospital-based centre for children with learning disorders.
Dermatology Division is founded.
Major polio outbreak occurs in the Montreal area, the most serious since the Second World War.
1961- Quebec Hospital Insurance Plan provides free public access to acute hospital care and laboratory and radiological diagnostic services.
The divisions of Neonatology, Adolescent Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Cystic Fibrosis, and Neurosurgery are established.
MCH establishes the first outpatient clinic in Canada specifically for adolescents
1962- Hospital appoints first full-time staff surgeon, Dr. J.M. McIntyre.
1964- Otolaryngology and Nephrology divisions are founded.
Home Care program is inaugurated.
1965- Pediatric outreach program is begun in the Baffin area of what is now Nunavut.
Three-year project to establish a pediatric service in Ludhiana (India) is begun by Dr. Isobel Wright.
Urology Division is founded.
1966- First therapeutic heart catheterization in Canada on a patient of any age is performed at the MCH.
The McGill University-Montreal Children's Hospital Research Institute is founded.
1968- MCH begins to establish a pediatrics program at University of Nairobi, Kenya, a project that will continue until 1978.
Pediatric Adolescent Gynecology Division is founded.
1969- Pediatric Intensive Care Unit is created.
1970- Emergency Medicine and Infectious Diseases divisions are founded.
Medicare is implemented in Quebec under the Health Insurance Act, providing free access to physician services.
Nursing training is transferred from hospitals to CEGEPs.
1971- Pediatric Burn Unit is created at the MCH, the first in Quebec.
Opening of first pediatric nephrology training program in Canada.
1972- MCH establishes Montreal's first family medicine unit for the training of McGill residents.
Medical Genetics Group is created, today, the longest-running CIHR-funded research program in Canada.
Quebec Public Health Protection Act establishes the right of teenagers aged 14 and over to make their own medical decisions.
1973- Montreal Children's Hospital Foundation is established.
Audiology Department is established.
1975- Gastroenterology and Nutrition Division is established.
1976- MCH is first hospital in Canada to establish a community pediatric research program.
1977- First CT scan in a pediatric setting in Canada is performed at the MCH.
Last case of smallpox is recorded.
1978- First Nursing Coordinator for Research in a Canadian hospital is appointed: Dr. Celeste Johnston.
1979- MCH institutes first intensive insulin management program in Canada for children with diabetes.
1980- Pediatric Critical Care Division is established.
One of the first evoked potentials labs in Canada devoted to pediatrics is created in the MCH's Neurophysiology Service, allowing mapping of the brain during surgery.
First bone marrow transplant in a pediatric setting in Quebec is performed at the MCH.
Ultrasound, a painless imaging technique based on sound waves, is first used at the MCH.
1985- First successful liver transplant to the youngest recipient ever in Canada is performed at the MCH, in collaboration with three other Montreal hospitals, under the Pediatric Conjoint Liver Transplant Program.
Molecular Genetics Diagnostic Service is established.
1986- First cochlear implant in a deaf child in Quebec is performed at the MCH.
First successful treatment of a Canadian child with Ondine's disease through implantation of a phrenic nerve pacemaker is carried out at the MCH.
MCH is first hospital in Canada to set up a hospital-wide multiculturalism program.
MCH is first pediatric hospital in Canada to open a comprehensive provincial centre for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the Jeremy Rill Centre.
1987- Pastoral Services Department is established.
MCH begins participating in the creation of a master's program in community health in Ethiopia.
1988- Heart transplant on the youngest recipient ever in Canada is performed at the MCH.
Child Development Program is established.
1989- Last major outbreak of measles occurs.
Kidney Transplant and Dialysis Program is established.
First Neurotrauma Program in Quebec is created at the MCH.
1990- First bone-anchored hearing device in a child in Canada is inserted at the MCH.
MCH becomes first hospital in Quebec to establish a pediatric injury prevention program, co-founding the Children's Hospital Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP).
Neonatal Transport Team is created.
Asthma Centre is established.
1991- First living-donor pediatric kidney transplant program in Quebec is established at the MCH.
MCH becomes first hospital in Quebec to offer extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
Palliative Care Program is established for hospitalized patients, the first such program in a Canadian pediatric hospital.
Polio is eradicated-last case is diagnosed.
1992- MCH enters into feasibility studies with four other McGill University teaching hospitals about joining forces for the future.
1993- MCH is first hospital in Quebec to develop a Pediatric Intermediate Care Unit.
MCH is designated a tertiary care Pediatric and Adolescent Trauma Centre for Quebec.
First successful infant renal transplant in Canada performed at The Children's.
1994- MCH becomes first pediatric hospital in Quebec to offer magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) service, installed in new construction on third floor of the B-Wing.
MCH is first pediatric hospital in Quebec to offer transesophageal echocardiography for young children.
1995- Gustav Levinschi Laboratory opens, the first pediatric voice and speech laboratory in Canada.
Formal planning begins for a new hospital centre (eventually, the MUHC).
1996- Transcultural Psychiatry Clinic opens-first in Quebec.
MCH is first pediatric hospital in Quebec to create a Short-Stay Unit.
1997- MCH merges with the Royal Victoria (including Montreal Chest), Montreal Neurological and Montreal General hospitals to form the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC).
2000- First Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Group is developed as part of an MUHC team.
MUHC team performs first delivery in Quebec of a baby using EXIT procedure (ex-utero intrapartum treatment) at the MCH.
2002- Mechanical heart device (Berlin heart) is used successfully for the first time in Canada at the MCH as a bridge to transplant on the youngest patient ever in North America.
2003- Speech and Language Pathology Department, in conjunction with Department of Otolaryngology, pioneers the use of telehealth to provide long-distance speech therapy sessions.
Autism Spectrum Disorders Program and associated clinic are established.
2004- Children's marks its centennial year with a variety of celebrations and events.
McCord Museum exhibition, Growing Up in Montreal, pays homage to the MCH's first 100 years.
Canada Post issues stamp commemorating MCH centennial.
Child, Youth and Family Health Network is inaugurated.
2005- Insulin Pump Therapy Centre is established, the first of its kind in Canada.
First hospital in North America to offer mini-med school devoted exclusively to pediatrics.
The first hospital in the world to use Botox to help a newborn who was drowning in his own saliva.