Over 2000 people attended the Shriners Hospitals for Children®- Canada dedication ceremony this afternoon and watched as Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard and Shriners Hospitals for Children® leadership cut a huge red ribbon officially opening the Montreal-based facility. Also present were Quebec Health and Social Services Minister Mr. Gaétan Barrette, M.D., Mr. Denis Coderre, Mayor of Montreal, , Mme. Céline Doray, Administrator of the Shriners Hospitals for Children®-Canada, Mr. Normand Rinfret, Director General and CEO of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), Mr. Gino Beretta, Chairman of the Board of Governors, Shriners Hospitals for Children®- Canada, Mr. Dale Stauss, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Shriners Hospitals for Children, Mr. Jerry Gantt, Imperial Potentate Shriners International and many other dignitaries. Patient representatives helped make the grand opening and hospital tours poignant.  

The new hospital is modern, bright and spacious. The 207 000 sq. ft. facility allows the Shriners Hospitals for Children® – Canada to provide infants, children and young adults with state-of-the-art care and rehabilitation in a warm and friendly environment.  It features a realm of new services and technologies including 22 single-patient rooms, four surgical suites including one designed specifically for back surgery and a 200-seat education centre to enhance the teaching mandate as well as the care offered to current and future patients.

Highly specialized pediatric orthopaedic care 

The Shriners Hospitals for Children®-Canada provides full investigative, therapeutic and rehabilitation services on an inpatient and outpatient basis. The hospital treats patients in need of complex pediatric orthopaedic care for disorders such as osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease), scoliosis and spinal deformities. It also cares for patients with neuromuscular conditions such as cerebral palsy. In addition, the hospital’s highly skilled health care providers help children with limb length discrepancies and those who need reconstructive hand or plastic surgery. Other areas of specialization include the treatment of metabolic and heritable bone, rheumatology and urology diseases. 

The project was completed on time and on budget and was overseen by André Ibghy Architects Inc. and a construction committee composed of representatives of Shriners International and the Montreal hospital.  The conventionally financed facility was built by SNC-Lavalin. 

Home away from home

From the reception area to the recovery room, the hospital sets new standards in pediatric orthopaedic care, surgery, research and teaching.  The hospital includes numerous new features such as an ambulatory care infusion room in which children with osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease) can receive drugs intravenously and an operating room equiped with an O-arm surgical Imaging System for spine surgery. This system gives surgeons unprecdented two- and three-dimensional images of the patient’s anatomy making the placement of surgical rods and screws more precise.   

High tech with a human touch

The new hospital was designed with a deep understanding that it will be a home away from home for several of the children and families served. Many of them will have travelled from across Canada, the northeastern U.S. and from around the world for treatment. The overarching objective was therefore to make the facility welcoming and friendly. To this end, each floor features the colours and attractions of a different region of Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Artic. Whimsical touches are found throughout. In the reception area, iconic maple leafs float down from the ceiling. The inpatient rooms located on the fourth floor have a beach theme with huge murals of sand castles and lights shaped like portholes. Also on the fourth floor, the Child Life Department has an under-the-sea theme with a huge sea life mural and lights that look like bubbles lazyly floating to the ceiling.  The Child Life Department also features a classroom with a huge picture window and an impressive view of the Montreal skyline and Mount Royal. There is even an indoor zen garden bathed in light where parents can enjoy a few minutes of quiet respite. The building's interior design is bright and airy, with a generous amount of large windows and several skylights inviting natural light deep into the heart of the structure. Altogether, this creates a unique healing and caring environment.  

The six-floor building located on Decarie Boulevard punctuates the west end of the MUHC Glen site.  The Canada Shriners Hospital is linked to the Montreal Children’s Hospital on two floors, which will facilitate greater collaboration, operational efficiencies and ease of access for patients and families. 

Welcoming patients in October

On October 5, 2015, the first patient will be greeted in the ambulatory clinic, which has been designed to resemble a hockey rink, with a scoreboard to direct patients to their exam room and red hockey goal lights hanging from the ceiling. The walls are adorned with over 750 donated hockey sticks and pucks.  Between now and October 5, employees and physicians will get to know their new hospital as they receive training on new equipment and protocols, and start preparing the hospital to welcome the first patients and their families. 

The hospital is nearly three times bigger than the Cedar Avenue building and as a consquence, the new Shriners Hospitals for Children® – Canada is in the process of recruiting and hiring 40 full-time nurses, nurses aids, cleaners and other employees. 

Generous Community Support

Thanks to the incredible support of the community, the Exceptional Care for Exceptional Kids capital campaigned raised $130-millon ($127-million for the hospital and $3-million for the Francis Glorieux Chair in Pediatric Musculoskeletal Research). A huge thank you to the thousands of individuals and corporations who have made this hospital possible. Your generosity will allow our dedicated health care professionals to care to help our patients reach their full potential. 

About Shriners Hospitals for Children®- Canada

Established in Montreal in 1925, The Shriners Hospitals for Children® – Canada is the only Canadian establishment within the network of 22 Shriners Hospitals , the others located in the U.S. and Mexico. The bilingual, short-term, acute care hospital provides ultra-specialized orthopaedic care to children from coast to coast, the U.S. and around the world. The mission of the hospital is to promote health and provide treatment and rehabilitation to infants, children and young adults with orthopaedic and neuromuscular problems such as scoliosis, brittle bone disease, club feet, hip dysplasia, leg length discrepancies and cerebral palsy. The hospital is committed to excellence and innovation in clinical practice, research and education and to ensusuring patients and their families are treated in a caring, family-friendly environment. The hospital is affiliated with McGill University and provides clinical experience and teaching for residents and allied professionals. The hospital is present in communities across Canada thanks to telemedicine, outreach clinics and two satellite clinics located in Winnipeg and Halifax. Shriners Hospitals for Children®- Canada has been helping kids reach their full potential for 90 years and counting.