Vancouver General Hospital

Vancouver General Hospital
Operated by Vancouver Coastal Health
Vancouver General Hospital's main pavilion, the Jim Pattison Pavilion
Location in Vancouver
Geography
Location	899 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Coordinates	49°15′40″N 123°07′23″W / 49.2612°N 123.123056°W / 49.2612; -123.123056Coordinates: 49°15′40″N 123°07′23″W / 49.2612°N 123.123056°W / 49.2612; -123.123056
Organization
Care system	Public Medicare (Canada)
Hospital type	Teaching
Affiliated university	UBC Faculty of Medicine
Services
Emergency department	Yes , Level I Trauma Center
Helipad	TC LID: CBK4
Beds	1,000+
Speciality	Bone Marrow Transplant and Leukemia, Burns and Plastics, Epilepsy Surgery Program, Organ Transplant, Spinal Cord Injury, Quaternary-level Trauma Care
History
Founded	1906
Links
Website	www.vch.ca
Lists	Hospitals in Canada

Vancouver General Hospital (locally known as VGH, or Vancouver General) is a medical facility located in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the largest facility in the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre (VHHSC) group of medical facilities. VGH is Canada's second largest hospital, after The Ottawa Hospital.

Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) is responsible for all operations at Vancouver General Hospital.

The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) first opened in 1886 as a nine-bed tent, its primary use to treat railway workers. On June 13, 1886, a fire destroyed the tent hospital and by July, a new, one-storey building was built. In September, the City of Vancouver took over the facility, which became the City Hospital. In 1888, located at the southern edge of the original Gastown settlement, a 35-bed hospital opened, as the tent infirmary becomes too small. The upstairs ward was for female patients, the downstairs ward for males. In 1899, the Vancouver City Hospital Training School for Nurses was opened. In 1902, British Columbia provincial legislature transferred control from the city's board of health to a board of 15 directors. Vancouver City Hospital was renamed to Vancouver General Hospital. In 1906, in Fairview Ridge, overlooking False Creek, a new building, the Heather Pavilion, began housing staff and patients. The University of British Columbia Medical School opened clinical facilities at VGH in 1950.

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 the 1960s, VGH build Canada's first intensive care nursery, equipped with the first effective apparatus used for natural breathing in infants with respiratory failure.

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.