Fonds - Salmon Arm General Hospital Society fonds

A proposal in June 1912 for the financing of a general hospital by the Women’s Auxiliary of the Salmon General Hospital Board to the “Men’s Hospital Board” resulted in securing temporary quarters in Mrs. McVicker’s house, to be run by a Victorian Order nurse. It was to take the place of the old cottage hospital run by Mrs. Campbell.

By 1913, The Salmon Arm General Hospital Society was formed, with a Board of Directors. A design for a new hospital building was submitted by architect W. Austin S. Richards, of Kamloops, for a site purchased from Nels Eckland and tenders were discussed but rejected in late 1913. However, by early 1915, the Salmon Arm General Hospital removed to the former bungalow of Canon Webb on Fourth Avenue.

A public meeting in 1915 was held and a provisional construction committee was formed. A new constitution, a $2.00 membership fee, and an annual board of directors was adopted with the objective of raising $25,000 with half to be obtained from Government and half by public subscription. However, in June 1921, authorization was given to purchase the existing hospital site from the Parish of St John.

Plans for a new hospital plans languished as new funding arrangements were discussed. A public meeting in 1926 discussed the change from the proposed brick building to a wood frame structure in the new architect’s plans, and changes were made by the Board to reduce costs. By November 1927 a sixteen bed hospital was completed by the contractor, William (Bill) Reader, who in 1929 also expanded a nurses’ residence, added a verandah, remodelled an unused laundry space to accommodate an “Indian ward”, and improved the sewer drainage.

Donations from organizations and individuals, as well as patient usage charges, financed the various hospital sites until provincial insurance came into effect in January 1949. Individual inability to pay resulted in a local hospital insurance scheme. Families paid twelve dollars a year to provide for a hospital stay no longer than three months in a public ward.

By the early 1950’s the old wooden building was operating beyond capacity and considered a firetrap. Salmon Arm Hospital Board trustees felt that forming a district in the new provincial Hospital Improvement scheme was the only means to finance a new structure. A massive task of contacting every taxpayer and landowner was undertaken and ultimately was supported by a majority vote in favour of forming a Hospital District and plans for a new hospital, to be called the Shuswap Lake General Hospital, were begun. A new organizational framework for the new hospital became the Shuswap Lake General Hospital Society.