looking back 1943–1965
She remembers riding her bike down a gravel road now known as the Barnett Highway. She might have been about 12, and her grand-father, Fred Mason, waved goodbye from across the street. She describes him as an “original agitator”—one of a handful of people who championed the establishment of a hospital for Burnaby, British Columbia, population 33,000. His passion must have imprinted on her, though; her goal from the start of nursing school was to work at Burnaby Hospital. In 1959, Nurse Marion Heritage began a lengthy career at the hospital and in the community—a place that continued to be intertwined in her life in many ways. From dramatic treatment for colon cancer, a heart concern and a detached retina, to extraordinary care for her husband Bill, with advanced Parkinson’s, and her grandson for childhood injuries, Marion cannot remember a time when Burnaby Burnaby General admits its Centennial Wing, built at a cost first patient. Two days later, million, is opened by Hospital was notthepart ofof$1.9her family.
1953
1959
first baby is born at the hospital. Within a year, Burnaby Hospital is operating at full capacity.
Health Minister Eric Martin. The new wing doubles Burnaby Hospital’s capacity to 250 beds.
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burnaby hospital foundation | annual report 2012–2013
A new mother with the first baby girl born at Burnaby Hospital, 1952. Photo: Auxiliary to Burnaby Hospital
1962
Orthopaedic surgical capabilities are recruited and added to Burnaby Hospital’s services. Previously, patients had to travel to Vancouver to receive this type of surgery.
1965
As Burnaby grows, so do demands on its hospital. By 1965, bed occupancy is 98%, and 500 patients are in queue for elective surgery.