Since we began in 1911, Women’s College Hospital has been dedicated to a single goal: groundbreaking advances in women’s health.
Just look at our track record. We opened the first cancer detection clinic in Ontario to screen healthy women for early signs of cancer. We were the first hospital in Ontario to use mammography. We led the invention of the Pap test and delivered the nation’s first test-tube quintuplets. We established North America’s first cardiac prevention and rehabilitation program designed exclusively for women. And the list goes on.
After a century of providing the most innovative research and care in women’s health, Women’s College Hospital is not slowing down. Now, we’re creating a hospital that delivers care in unprecedented ways. We’re creating a hospital designed to keep people out of hospital.
We’re calling it the Hospital of the Future.
In fact, we’re doing what no other facility in Ontario has done. We’re providing the most advanced care for women living with the diseases and conditions that affect them throughout their lives – diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, mental illness, migraine and cancers. And we’re doing it all without overnight hospitalization.
It’s called an ambulatory approach to care, and it’s the best response to women’s health needs.
So what is ambulatory care, exactly? It’s surgeries, diagnostic procedures and treatments that do not require overnight hospitalization. That means patients can be released within 18 hours, and can recover in the comfort of their own home.
In a phrase, it’s a new kind of care that helps women prevent and manage diseases and conditions so that they can live healthier and more independent lives.
That takes a new kind of facility.
In 2015, an astonishing new structure will rise in downtown Toronto, on the current site of Women’s College Hospital. This state-of-the-art glass and concrete building will be dedicated to ambulatory care and to groundbreaking advances in women’s research, care and education.
This new facility will be designed differently than any other hospital. It will be a place where clinics, centres and interprofessional teams of care providers will help our patients manage their conditions and diseases – all in one location. It will be an easily accessible hub of programs and services designed for the way women live their lives.
This site will show you what that will look like. It is intended for patients, staff, physicians, volunteers, community members and the media to help you understand and navigate the development of our new hospital building.