Born October 28, 1837 in Carrying Place, Upper Canada, Sarah Hannah Roberta Grier (Hannah) appeared to have an ordinary upbringing. She was the sixth of 13 children born to the Reverend John Grier and his wife Eliza Lilias Geddes. At the age of 21, she married a young English engineer, Charles Horace Coome, who was helping to build the Grand Trunk Railway in Belleville. In 1862, they moved to England. It was there that Hannah had a life-changing accident that not only shaped her future, but the future of health care in Toronto.

Hannah fell. The fall cost her the life of her unborn child and five years of suffering and invalidism. From those years of pain came her determination that other women should be spared such suffering. This was the inspiration for the founding, in later years, of Toronto’s first hospital for women.

A community of supportIn 1878, one year after the couple’s return to North America, Charles passed away. Now alone, Hannah set out to go back to England and devote her life to the Anglican Sisters of St. Mary – whose work she was drawn to years earlier. Before departing, she stopped to visit her family in Toronto. There she was approached by a small group

of women who were eager to see a religious community founded in Canada.

On September 8, 1884, Hannah made her vows and founded Canada’s first Anglican women’s religious order: The Sisterhood of St. John the Divine.

Compassionate caringWithin one year, the small group of Sisters were dispatched to Moose Jaw under the request of Lt-Col Darby Bergin, Canada’s first surgeon general. Their mission was to nurse the soldiers of the second Riel Rebellion. As part of their nursing care, the Sisters gave psychological support to the men who were homesick and traumatized by war. Their pioneering work earned them a service medal from the Canadian Government.

The Sisters returned to Toronto months later to find that friends and benefactors had readied a building on Euclid Avenue. The building would be home to the work that the Mother Foundress and Sisters had to put on hold: Known as St. John’s Hospital, it was the first institution in Canada exclusively for the treatment of women.

CO M M E M O R AT I V E I S S U E M AY 2 2 , 2 012

Our journey begins on the next page...

She was an

health care in Toronto.

In the wake of a devastating fall, her mission

revolutionizedordinary woman.

Responding to a needDuring World War I, the hospital quickly evolved from treating surgical gynaecological patients to a General Hospital, treating women, men and children. In the 1920s, Canada was hit with the first polio epidemic. Ontario alone reported 671 polio cases. After the second and most severe wave hit, numbers grew to about 2,500 cases and 119 deaths. Many war and polio survivors required physical therapy and convalescent care, but at the time there were few options available.

By 1933, the Sisters recognized how their unique care could help fill the void: With preventable disability growing, it was becoming more apparent that the medical act of saving lives wasn’t enough. They wanted a convalescent hospital where rehabilitation attended to the physical, mental, social and spiritual needs of the person.

For the past 75 years, that has been the focus at St. John’s Rehab Hospital.

Architect’s drawing of the new St. John’s Convalescent Hospital: Mathers & Haldenby, 1935

For the first time, the head of a cloistered

order of women spoke into the microphone in

Toronto. It was Reverend Mother Superior of

the Sisters of St. John the Divine appealing

to citizens for support in their campaign for

funds for a convalescent hospital. The cam-

paign opens to-morrow.

“We have caught a vision now of what can

be accomplished by loving ministry to the

convalescent,” was her simple confession. “We

propose to build a convalescent hospital for

adults, both men and women, to provide for

those patients who can be restored to health

more quickly by the special treatment that

such a hospital is best able to furnish.”

Convalescent Care

Declared Essential

Hon. Vincent Massey and Mayer

Stewart Also Heard Over Air

IS THE WORTHIEST CAUSE

JOBLESS OFFER FREE HELP TO BUILD HOSPITAL

Toronto Star, 1933

A crowd of 500 gather as St. John’s Convalescent Hospital opens its doors. With 64 beds, the hospital is the first Toronto-area facility to offer rehabilitative care. The hospital quickly fills and outgrows its capacity, treating pre-operative and post-operative patients, ones recovering from pneumonia or fatigued by stressful times.

M AY 2 2 ,1953

The chapel is built and opens to all faiths and creeds. Its services, along with the

counselling of the Sisters, helps patients heal mentally and emotionally.

In 1962, volunteers raised $5,000 to build our first therapy pool. Nearly 50 years later, they reinvest with a

$750,000 pledge to name our new therapy pool – built in 2011.

1975

The Agnew Wing opens and provides additional space to house and treat inpatients. Large areas are allotted for occupational therapy, activities of daily living and recreational therapy.

1983The Foundation is established as a separate corporation to support the hospital through fundraising.

1960The Auxiliary is

founded (known today as the Volunteer

Association). These volunteers raise

funds for numerous facility and landscape

improvements and provide support to staff and patients.

1994Rather than being served by separate departments spread throughout the hospital, patients receive interdisciplinary, customized care on their own units grouped by common-diagnosis programs.

1995Renamed the Beatty Wing, the Physical Medicine Department expands services to become an interdisciplinary ambulatory care program. Patients can now return to their homes and communities sooner while still accessing the holistic care they need.

2008St. John’s Rehab partners with North York General Hospital to close a gap in health care: The Short Term Active Reconditioning (STAR) program provides rehabilitation for people who are deconditioned after general surgery or a medical condition that results in a lengthy acute care hospital stay.

The Sisterhood of St. John the Divine

steps away from day-to-day administration of the hospital with the retirement of Sr. Philippa Watson, Administrator since 1969. The Sisters continue to provide spiritual care and sit on the Board of Directors. In 2004, they donate $5 million to the hospital through the Ashforth Trust.

1996

To ensure fast, accurate information sharing across the

healthcare system, St. John’s Rehab joins University Health Network and the Toronto Community Care Access Centre as one of the first partners in Shared Information Management Services (SIMS).

The hospital launches Canada’s first organ transplant rehabilitation program of its kind.

2004

A third floor to the original building and the Goodwin

Gibson Wing opens, increasing inpatient beds to 172. The wing

has walls made of glass, bringing into wards and rooms the superb country scenery. It was eventually

replaced in the 1970s by the Gibson Garden, which itself made

way in 2010 for the construction of the John C. and Sally Horsfall

Eaton Centre for Ambulatory Care and therapy gardens.

1952

Formally becoming a teaching site

for medical and rehab therapy students, the hospital signs its first affiliation agreement with the University of Toronto.

The hospital begins its tradition of preventing falls with exercise and education for North York seniors. In 1999 and 2011, falls prevention programs are introduced for inpatients and community members respectively.

1997

Patients living outside of Ontario’s major urban areas are able to receive specialized rehabilitation assessment, treatment and education from hospital experts using videoconferencing technology.

A patient transferred between our site and North York General Hospital is the first patient in the second-wave of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). St. John’s Rehab responds by launching the All Systems Go SARS rehab program in partnership with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

2003

“On the mend,” after a siege with

pneumonia, the young man is cutting a

pair of book-ends with a fret saw. The

bicycle-operated saw is declared just

the thing for bringing strength back to

youthful limbs after a long lay-up.

MANUAL OCCUPATIONS HELP

CONVALESCENTS AT NEWTONBROOK

Toronto Star, 1938

71%of major injuries to seniors are caused by falls.

2001 The hospital launches Canada’s first rehab program for severe burns. Since then, burn programs across the country have been developed based on the St. John’s Rehab model.

LIFE AFTER SARSSylvia’s strength grows with rehab after contracting SARS in 2003. Still optimistic, she is helping our researchers discover the long-term physical and psychological effects – one, four and seven years after infection.

Intravenous therapy is introduced,

making it possible for patients to begin specialized rehabilitation at an early stage in their recovery while still receiving intensive medical treatment.

As a founding member of the Ontarians with Disabilities Commission, St. John’s Rehab breaks down barriers by shaping provincial accessibility legislation.

1998

Following life-saving cancer treatment, survivors now have

access to a one-of-a-kind rehabilitation program that supports their physical, social, emotional, and psychological needs to confidently return to their lives.

The Foundation publicly launches the $15-million Rebuilding Lives Campaign. In 2009 we achieve our goal, marking the close of the largest campaign in our history, and the first since 1937.

The hospital develops an inpatient wound care program to help people recover from serious, chronic bedsores.

2006

It was the vision of Sisters who saw hope for the ill and injured.

It was the answer to the calls from survivors of war and polio.

It was the act of a community who knew that saving lives wasn’t enough.

It is St. John’s Rehab Hospital.For 75 years, we’ve been responding to the needs

of our patients – body, mind, and spirit.

1962

A modern Physical Medicine Department opens, providing a well-equipped gymnasium, therapy pools, facilities for activities of daily living, and rooms for speech, woodworking and ceramics. In 1975, the area is devoted solely to physical therapy to facilitate the establishment of an outpatient department.

Don’s left arm was amputated in a farming accident in late 1997. After rehab, he and four other hospital alumni formed Canada’s Standing Amputee Hockey Team. They won the gold medal at the First World Championships in a heart-stopping match against Team U.S.A.

ACHIEVING A GOAL

1 2ofOntarians are affected by disability, either personally or within their family circle.

During the Northwest Rebellion of 1885, Sisters of St. John the Divine were the first women in history to serve for the Canadian Military. The hospital has since tended to veterans of World War II and Afghanistan, including training Canadian Forces physiotherapists to care for civilians and Coalition soldiers with traumatic injuries and amputations. The Canadian Forces and past patients give back each year at our annual 5K Run.

An Honourable Tradition

Sister Beatrice, superintendent of St.

John’s Convalescent hospital, received a

letter today. The letter was written in a

heavy, unformed hand, but its contents

brought a smile to Sister Beatrice’s face.

“I hop in and out of bed myself now,”

the letter said, “and get about like a kitten.”

Sister Beatrice read those 15 words again

and again and her smile became broader

each time.

“The man who wrote this letter had

been a big man,” Sister Beatrice said. “But

when he came here, he was a crushed

man, mentally and physically. A heavy

car had turned over on him in the steel

plant where he worked, breaking his

legs and mangling one arm so badly

that it had to be amputated. When he

came here, he couldn’t walk. After seven

years in bed, his legs were withered. He

had no hope left.

Eighteen months after he entered St.

John’s Convalecent hospital, the man was

discharged. He could walk. His legs were

still a little shaky but they were growing

stronger. But equally important, he had a

new outlook on life. He had hope. And he

felt he had a friend in Sister Beatrice.

LEARNING TO WALK AGAIN

Mary MacDonald Aids Steve Pala

Toronto Star, 1947

During warm months, patients are

wheeled outside to spend hours

benefitting from the natural healing

powers of sunshine and fresh air.

Natural Healing

Toronto Star, 1952

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With our support, people return to their lives. We help the healthcare system meet the challenges of increasing injuries, complex chronic diseases and an aging population. As people survive more conditions than ever, we help them return home in better health and thrive in their communities.

Over the years, St. John’s Rehab Hospital has moved towards the forefront of specialized rehabilitation care. To advance people’s recovery, we have developed

our patient care programs, strengthened healthcare partnerships, developed electronic health records and modernized our building. We teach and learn rehab science and develop tomorrow’s techniques to help people rebuild their lives – everywhere.

We’re taking the Next Step. Visit www.stjohnsrehab.com to learn how we plan to respond to the needs of our patients and the healthcare system into 2014.

Published by Strategic Communications, St. John’s Rehab Hospital.

285 Cummer Ave. Toronto, ON M2M 2G1Phone: 416-226-6780 | Fax: 416-226-6265

E-mail: info@stjohnsrehab.com

Were you inspired by the stories in our Community Report?St. John’s Rehab has been your community’s rehabilitation hospital for 75 years. Help us continue to rebuild lives by making a donation today.

Call 416-224-6945 or visit foundation.stjohnsrehab.com

OUR VISION: TO BE AT THE FOREFRONT

Researchers at the hospital prove that survivors of low-voltage electrical injuries experience

invisible, but lasting pain, depression, insomnia and weakness. Studies also show that these effects can be decreased by participating in rehabilitation.

2010

During their lifetimes, Stephan and Sophie Lewar were philanthropic leaders. Their legacies live on through their visionary contributions to local charities. The Lewars’ gift of $1,061,700—the hospital’s largest estate gift to date—is essential to the hospital’s financial viability and sustainability.

You too can help shape the future of St. John’s Rehab. Through our planned giving options, we can help you achieve your financial and philanthropic goals and ensure that your dollars have the greatest impact in rebuilding the lives of those who need it most.

Planning Ahead: Investing in the future of St. John’s Rehab

St. John’s Rehab Hospital and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre discuss becoming a single health care provider from acute care to recovery.

Editor: Katherine NazimekContributors: Sister Wilma Grazier SSJD,

Audrey Kim, Nicole Mailman, Marcus Staviss

At the hospital, a ground-breaking study on the benefits of using

the Nintendo WiiTM for therapy leads to its adoption in rehabilitation settings around the world. It has since led to the exploration of Xbox Kinect and virtual reality.

Patient care doesn’t stop on the weekends: St. John’s Rehab becomes the first rehab hospital in Toronto to extend all inpatient rehabilitation to seven days per week. Outpatient care hours are also extended.

Following an extensive education program, Registered Practical Nurses take on additional patient care duties such as assessing patients and administering medications.

The John C. and Sally Horsfall Eaton Centre for Ambulatory Care opens, providing the modern space we need to treat the 40,000 plus outpatient visits we see each year. The day of its opening, the new wing’s namesakes announce an additional $3-million gift to establish a Chair in rehabilitation research – the first in the hospital’s history. The Eatons are long-time hospital supporters and donors of our largest private-citizen gift, now totalling $5 million to the new wing and ongoing rehabilitation research and education.

2011In 1938, a typical patient stayed

at the hospital for 41 days. In 2011, with expanded therapy services, the average inpatient

length of stay is 19.3 days.2009

With its curtain of windows, the design of the new ambulatory care centre was inspired by the

Gibson Wing of 1952.

Visit www.stjohnsrehab.com for more of the hospital’s historical milestones and key players.

OF SPECIALIZED REHABILITATION CARE