Until 1930, residents of the Sechelt Peninsula had to rely on a Columbia Coast Mission hospital ship or be transported to Vancouver for their major medical needs. Plans were made to barge buildings to a site in Garden Bay to house the first local hospital.
A savage January storm that year swept one of the buildings into the sea, high jacking it to Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island, where it still sits today.
In spite of this setback, August 16, 1930, marked the official opening of the original Sechelt Hospital, located in Garden Bay, British Columbia.
As the population grew on the Lower Sunshine Coast, it became evident that a more centrally located hospital facility was necessary. In 1962, for a sum of one dollar, the Sechelt Indian Band donated 11.2 acres of land for the new hospital to be built in Sechelt. This is the site where the hospital stands today.
It was a long time coming but on March 25, 2013, the new Sechelt Hospital tower opened for business. The move of patients and equipment went smoothly for such an enormous and sensitive undertaking, and physicians, staff, patients and visitors are settling in to the new facility, procedures and systems. In 2015 the hospital’s name was changed from St. Mary’s Hospital to Sechelt Hospital.
Thanks to the tremendous efforts of so many people – and the generous support of our community — Sechelt Hospital now has state-of-the-art medical technology, superior standards of infection control and almost double the amount of space, enabling staff and physicians to provide the best quality patient care and better meet the growing needs of the community.
Throughout 2016 – 2017, donor funds supported the equipment and furniture requirements of two renovated spaces for patient care.