Health

Hastings Health Care

Hospital care in Hastings is administered by Quinte Health Care (QHC) which consists of four fully accredited hospitals. Before amalgamation under one central administration in 1998, these had been Belleville General in Belleville, North Hastings in Bancroft, Prince Edward County Memorial in Picton and Trenton Memorial in Quinte West.

QHC was incorporated in November 1998 as a result of directions from the provincial Health Services Restructuring Commission (HSRC) to amalgamate the four hospitals.

Corporate headquarters are located at the Belleville General site. Quinte Health Care provides primary and secondary services to a catchment area of approximately 140,183 people in Hastings and Prince Edward counties and the southeast portion of Northumberland County. The corporate district covers 7,000 square kilometres and is made up of both urban and rural areas. The majority of the population is located in the southern part of the district near the Bay of Quinte and adjacent to the 401 corridor. The east-west settlement belt runs parallel to highway 401 between Deseronto to the east and Quinte West to the west and accommodates 61 per cent of the population of Hastings and Prince Edward counties. The district includes Canadian Forces Base Trenton.

QHC consists of 219 acute care beds, 26 psychiatric/mental health beds, 17 rehabilitation beds, and 71 complex continuing care beds (for a total of 333 beds). There are four active emergency departments; surgical operating rooms at three sites; a rehabilitation day hospital; a children's treatment centre; diabetes education centres; and a full range of ambulatory care clinics (e.g. oncology, orthopaedic).

Legacy of a train wreck

A passenger train wreck near Belleville in the 1870s proved the need for a hospital in the town. The Women's Christian Association (WCA) of Belleville held its inaugural meeting on November 18, 1879, and obtained a charter to build "The Belleville Hospital and Home for the Friendless". Community fundraising, spearheaded by the WCA, provided the necessary funds. The cornerstone was laid on September 25, 1884, and a formal opening followed on July 20, 1886. The Belleville Hospital, run by the WCA, began with eight beds and three nurses.

By 1948, the hospital had grown to 194 beds and a School of Nursing with 45 students. Unable to manage it any longer, the Women's Christian Association donated the hospital to the City of Belleville. In 1963 joint ownership was set up between the City of Belleville and the County of Hastings. A new hospital was built on the present site, retaining only the west wing of the old hospital.

In 1983, ownership of the hospital in Bancroft was assumed by Belleville General Hospital. The Bancroft hospital was renamed "The North Hastings District Hospital ".

The north Hastings community raised $10,000 in 1924 to pay for a building for a hospital. The building was opened in 1927. Many of the same citizens rallied to provide the next hospital building which opened in 1949 under the auspices of the Red Cross Society. The Red Cross Hospital was subsequently merged with Belleville General Hospital. On April 17, 2002, a new hospital building opened at 1-H Manor Lane in Bancroft. It is colocated with the Hastings Centennial Manor, run by Hastings County in what is known as the "North Hastings Health Centre".