May 18, 2023
The year was 1972. "The Godfather" was the top grossing movie, Roberta Flack topped the pop charts with "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", miniskirts were on their last legs, and London’s University Hospital (UH) opened its doors for the first time.
Now, marking its 50th year of teaching, research and providing world-class patient-centred care for people from London, across Southwest Ontario and beyond, UH’s president is confident the decades to come will be just as incredible.
“When University Hospital first opened, it quickly became known as a world leader in innovative surgery for brain aneurysms and a national leader for pioneering a team approach to nursing,” says Cathy Vandersluis, who started her career as an occupational therapist at UH in 1985. “And our medical teams, researchers and staff have been leading ever since.”
In addition to neurosurgical innovations and its approach to nursing, UH quickly established a reputation for advances in orthopaedics, cardiac surgery and transplantation. In less than 10 years UH surgeons performed the world’s first heart operation to correct life threatening right ventricular dysplasia and UH was named the Canadian Centre for Transplant Studies.
The creation of this research and teaching hospital in the heart of Southwestern Ontario was initiated by the London Hospital Association (LHA). The LHA worked with the University of Western Ontario (now Western University) and others to plan and develop the nearly $39 million facility that saw its first patient in November 1972. The history of the development of the hospital is outlined in the 1990 book, "A Heritage of Healing: The London Health Association and Its Hospitals 1909-1987", by J.T.H. Connor, then curator and archivist for the hospital’s Medical Museum and Archives.
Connor writes that the new hospital had a capacity of 451 patients, a building the size of 22 football fields, and an oddity in today’s world – 45,000 square yards of carpet – which was then seen as “an innovation for hospitals that resulted in a quieter, safer and more pleasant environment.” By the end of 1973, more than 34,000 patients had been treated.
In addition to the medical advances and scientific achievements over the years, Vandersluis says it is the people – the nurses, physicians, staff, learners and volunteers – who have been the driving force behind UH’s success.
One such volunteer, who has been there almost since the beginning, is Diane Kincaid. She started in UH’s outpatient lab testing centre more than 47 years ago when her two young children had both started school full time.
“My husband didn’t want me to go back to work and I didn’t really want to either, but I had to do something,” says Kincaid, now a grandmother of two. “They hired me right away and I’ve been there ever since. They can’t get rid of me,” she laughs.
While much has changed over the years, she still enjoys giving her time to the hospital and says it helps keep her sharp. “I really enjoy it and I hope to continue for another couple years.”
For Vandersluis, UH – which is now part of London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) – has been home for much of her career. “I have a fond personal connection to UH and its people as I was one of them for many years before it merged with Victoria Hospital,” she says. “As much as I am a very proud and passionate member of Team LHSC, I have been a UHer at heart for almost 38 years.”
There will be a series of web features published on lhsc.on.ca in the coming months celebrating the employees, the volunteers and some of the significant achievements over the last 50 years. While Vandersluis says there’s no question there have been many changes over the decades, she adds, “The one constant, however, is the excellent care that has been provided to the community and the region.”
Help us celebrate
We want to hear your memories of University Hospital! If you are a former or current employee, volunteer or patient, please share a favourite memory and/or photo with us by emailing UH50@lhsc.on.ca.
University Hospital Achievements
- 1972: Starts to achieve international renown for its innovative surgery for brain aneurysms.
- 1972: Pioneers the “team approach” to nursing which was quickly adopted by hospitals throughout Canada
- 1981: Performs the world’s first heart operation to correct life threatening right ventricular dysplasia.
- 1981: Becomes site of Canadian Centre for Transplant Studies.
- 1985: Announces success in a trial using cyclosporine to arrest the progress of Type 1 diabetes.
- 1987: Inserts the world’s first pacemaker cardioverter defibrillator (PCD).
- 1988: Performs the world’s first successful liver/small bowel transplant.
- 1989: Conducts the world’s first invasive inner ear surgery for vertigo in normal hearing ears.
- 1990: University Hospital takes over the management of the J.C. Kennedy Athletics Injuries Clinic.
- 1991: Study begins on the safety and efficacy of using detachable platinum coils to treat brain aneurysms.
- 1992: University Hospital, John P. Robarts Research Institute and Agriculture Canada create the Siebens-Drake Research Institute.
- 1993: Victoria and University hospitals collaborate on Canada’s first living-related paediatric liver transplant.
- 1994: Performs the world’s first 3D ultrasound-guided cryosurgery
- 1995: The Boards of Directors of Victoria Hospital and University Hospital unanimously approve the merger of the two hospitals and become London Health Sciences Centre.
View more of LHSC's medical breakthroughs.
Photo credit: London Free Press Collection/Western Archives