From contentious beginnings to a community pillar: CHEO celebrates 50 years of care

It has been 50 years to the day since the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario first opened its doors.

It has been 50 years to the day since the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario first opened its doors.

CHEO is a major institution in the nation's capital, serving children and their families not only from eastern Ontario but also from northern Ontario, western Quebec and Nunavut. Over the last half century, it has grown into a major research institute, and it offers a full spectrum of care beyond emergency medicine, including schooling, autism services, mental health treatments, rehabilitation services, palliative care and training for health professionals. It now helps more than half a million children every year.

The hospital opened on May 17, 1974, treating patients through outpatient clinics. The first patient was hospitalized at CHEO on July 22, 1974. Over the course of that year, CHEO would expand with an emergency department and other facilities. It had three patient floors, 301 inpatient beds, eight operating rooms, a 10-bed PICU, and a a 20-bed NICU. Patients were accepted up to age 16. Today, patients as old as 18 are admitted to CHEO.

Countless community members pushed hard for the provincial government to establish a bilingual children's hospital in Ottawa. The Ontario government approved in principle the construction of CHEO in 1966, at an estimated cost of $10 million, which would be more than $92 million today. Since that time, CHEO has grown thanks to ongoing help from volunteers and community fundraising.

President and CEO Alex Munter said it was a contentious issue at the time.