Concordia Hospital

The "Concordia Society" was founded in 1928 as a maternity hospital in a private home on Machray Avenue in West Kildonan,[4] by the Mennonite Hospital Society.[5] The original facilities included five beds and the hospital had a staff of three people.[4] The first year saw 28 mothers admitted to the hospital, and by the second year the admissions had increased to 100.[4]

In 1930, the hospital was renamed "Mennonite Concordia Hospital" and was operated by a Board of Directors.[4]

On 26 March 1931, the hospital was granted official incorporation by the Government of Manitoba.[6]

On 13 July 1931, a new site was dedicated for the hospital, and 1933, the hospital purchased the Elmwood Sanitorium.[4]

Concordia Hospital began operating from the 400 DeSalaberry Avenue location in Elmwood in 1933.[7][5] The new hospital stood on the former location of the Elmwood Sanitorium. The institution was formally declared open on June 17, 1934.[8] During the first eleven months of operation at the new location, the hospital admitted 297 patients. Of these, 113 were maternity patients, 114 were surgical patients, 67 were medical and 3 were admitted for bone fractures.[4]

By 1938, the hospital had 50 beds and 12 staff.[9]

The hospital expanded in 1953 and 1958.[4] In 1957, the hospital added eight cribs and eight beds to the maternity wing.[10]

In 1964, the hospital purchased the land which became the current location of the hospital.[4]

By 1971, the hospital had 79 beds and 25 doctors.[7] As of 1972, the hospital operated on a budget of $950,000 per year, with 69 beds, and a staff of 112.[11]

In 1974 the location opened with 124 beds,[4] at a cost of $7.5 million.[12] In the same year, the hospital was investigated concerning possible medical, board and administrative irregularities surrounding incidents of patient deaths during 1973.[13]

Concordia hospital workers joined the 1980 CUPE strike which included 3,000 non-medical workers as well as workers at the Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg Cancer Foundation, and hospitals and nursing homes in Brandon, Dauphin, Selkirk, Gimli, Swan River, Portage la Prairie, and Pine Falls.[14] The three-and-a-half week strike was ended June 20, 1980.[15]

In 1983, the obstetrics unit at Concordia Hospital was closed, in order to centralize obstetrics services at St Boniface Hospital and Health Sciences Centre.[16]

In 1985 the Emergency Department of the location was expanded.[4]

In 1989, Concordia was Winnipeg's third-busiest emergency unit, despite being the smallest hospital in the city, and operating on a budget of only $19 million.[17]

In 1993, the hospital was considering closing the emergency department from midnight to 8am in order to save $280,000/year.[18]

In 1994, Concordia Hospital became the first in Canada to use laser treatment for prostate surgery, in a one-week trial which was the largest conducted at a single institution in North America.[19]

In 1997, the hospital suffered a funding crisis such that patients being referred for basic blood tests and ultrasounds were being turned away. At the time, the hospital had among the highest load of any city hospital with a 24-hour emergency room. The 136-bed hospital's budget was $27 million.[20]

In 1999, the hospital was struggling with overcrowding and regularly keeping numbers of patients on beds in the hallways, instead of in rooms. According to one nurse, it was the worst over-crowding in at least 14 years.[21] As of January, the Winnipeg Health Authority had a $70 million wish list of programs, but the government had only provided $31 million.[22]

In 2000, the hospital opened a new 26-bed unit. This unit included a 14-bed Orthopedic Post Acute Surgical Unit, which was the first of its kind in Winnipeg, and a 12-bed Rehabilitation Unit.[23]

In late 2001, the Manitoba Nurses Union sent notice to nurses in the province asking nurses not to apply for jobs at Concordia hospital, citing continued management violations of the collective agreement. This action, which the union referred to as "greylisting", was the first of its kind in the province.[24]

In 2005, the Manitoba government made the hospital a centre of excellence in hip and knee replacements.

The hospital's Emergency Room underwent a $3.6-million renovation in 2008,[25] increasing the size by nearly 2,000 square feet (190 m²).[4] The renovation included increased space for the triage area, minor treatment rooms and admitting desk, as well as the addition of counseling rooms and improvement of the medication rooms.[4] The upgrades included the addition of an Emergency Department Information System (EDIS) which tracks information on patients that visit the ER.[4]

In 2015, the hospital had the longest recorded ER waits of any hospital in Canada, with 90% of patients in the ER being seen by a doctor within 7 hours.[26]

In 2019, Concordia Hospital's emergency room was transitioned to an urgent care centre,[27] despite local protest.[28]