
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.
Clinical Ethicist Dawson Schultz joins the MCH in 1984, making him the first full-time
clinical ethicist at a Canadian hospital.
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.