Quinte Healthcare Belleville General

Description

Quinte Health Care Belleville General currently provides primary and secondary care with a total of 192 beds and offers a full range of clinics diagnostic services support services and outreach programs

History

The wife of the Headmaster of Albert College in Belleville Mrs Harriet Lyon Jacques first proposed a hospital for the town in 1879 At the time there was no hospital between Kingston and Toronto Mrs Jacques organized the women of Belleville into the Womens Christian Association WCA of Belleville which held its inaugural meeting on November 18 1879 By 1880 a Constitution was drawn up and a Charter was obtained to build quotThe Belleville Hospital and Home for the Friendlessquot Community fundraising spearheaded by the WCA provided the necessary funds to build the hospital The cornerstone was laid on September 25 1884 and a formal opening followed on July 20 1886 The Belleville Hospital run by the WCA began with 8 beds and 3 nurses
The hospital grew with several additions to the original building By 1948 it had 194 beds and a School of Nursing which had been established in 1893 with 45 students At this point the hospital was too large and complex for the Womens Christian Association to manage They donated it as an outright gift to the City of Belleville

In 1963 under the Belleville General Hospital Act joint ownership between the City of Belleville and the County of Hastings was set up The management operation and maintenance of the hospital was entrusted to a newlycreated Corporation called quotThe Board of Governors of the Belleville General Hospitalquot This reorganization resulted in the decision to build a new hospital on the present site retaining only the west wing of the old hospital which is now named the WCA Wing

The new hospital consisted of the WCA Wing which had been expanded through the addition of the South Wing in 1909 then again with the addition of the West Wing in 1956 the Quinte Wing completed in 1969 and the Hastings Block completed in 1972 In 1994 an area was constructed for a CT Scanner the purchase of which was funded by a community fundraising campaign

In 1983 ownership of the hospital in Bancroft was assumed by Belleville General Hospital

The hospital became known as quotQuinte Health Care Belleville Generalquot upon the amalgamation of the hospitals in Bancroft Belleville Picton and Trenton in November 1998