HERITAGE FEATURE
THE HISTORY OF FERNIE ’ S HOSPITAL
Fernie was booming at the turn of the last century . The active mining , logging , and construction trades along with the everyday challenges of mountain life made adequate healthcare a high priority . Dr . S . Corsan saw this need and replaced the insufficient hospital on Baker ( 1st ) Ave with a new one on Victoria ( 2nd ) Avenue , along with a home for nurses on his property . Soon afterwards , he joined forces with Dr . Bonnell to build a new hospital on McEvoy ( 8th ) Street at Pellatt ( 3rd ) Avenue , which burned down in the Great Fire of 1908 .
The doctors immediately rebuilt the hospital with 25 beds at a cost of $ 20,000 , opening in 1909 , along with a new home for single nurses across the street . Miners paid $ 1 per month in an early form of healthcare premiums . In 1924 , this hospital was forced to close due to financial difficulty . Services were temporarily provided at the Nurses ’ Home , but the community quickly came together to formulate a plan to re-open the Hospital in 1925 . Following the Second World War , plans were put in place for a new hospital , to be Fernie ’ s war memorial . The 43-bed Fernie Memorial Hospital opened on
Remembrance Day , November 11 , 1949 , on Dalton ( 6th ) Avenue on the site of the current Park Place Lodge .
By the 1960s , capacity was once again at a maximum due to industrial expansion at the nearby mines and the community needed a large , modern hospital to accommodate projected population growth . Plans were slow to come to fruition , with the Minister of Health finally giving approval in principle for a 60-bed facility in 1967 , and the Elk Valley Hospital formally opening on June 22 , 1974 . All of the former hospitals have been demolished and replaced with new structures , but the Old Nurse ’ s Residence still stands and is now available for short term rentals .
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