Shouldice Hospital (formerly Shouldice Hernia Centre) is a private hospital at 7750

Bayview Avenue Bayview Avenue is a major north–south route in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario. North of Toronto, in York Region, Bayview is designated as York Regional Road 34. History Bayview Avenue follows the first concession line, laid east of Yong ...

in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada. The hospital specializes in hernia care. Its location is the former estate of

George McCullagh Clement George McCullagh (March 16, 1905 – August 5, 1952) was an influential Canadian newspaper owner between 1936 and 1952. He created ''The Globe and Mail'' by merging the Liberal-allied '' Globe'' and Conservative-allied '' Mail and Empire ...

, a publisher who created ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'' newspaper in 1936.

History

The hospital was founded in 1945 by Dr. Earle Shouldice. While private hospitals are not allowed under Ontario's ''Private Hospitals Act'', Shouldice Hospital is one of seven private hospitals in the province grandfathered under the Act. The hospital has been continuously family run from its inception but is partially publicly funded. In the 2020s, Liberty Development planned to build five residential towers on the property. In September 2022, the City of Markham purchased the Shouldice property for million, to transform the lands into a public park, while continuing the lease for the hospital.

Work

Shouldice Hospital is a private hospital that operates in a public health care system. It works solely on hernia repair. It uses a natural tissue, tension free, technique developed during World War II by Dr. Shouldice. The hospital performs hernia repairs on over 6,500 patients a year. Everything in the hospital is designed toward hernia repair. Shouldice's rooms do not have telephones or televisions, which it says is to encourage patients to walk around while recovering. The hospital is laid out like a "country club." According to the hospital, it has the lowest rate of complications and recurrences of hernias in the world. The success of its method has been cited to the fact that Shouldice surgeons solely do hernia operations.

Harvard Business School business case

The facility was the subject of a 1983 business case by the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

. Written by James Heskett, the report is the school's fourth-best-selling business case, selling over 259,000 copies. The case study focuses on Shouldice's unique three-day hernia repair process. The popularity of the business case is responsible for the hospital's process becoming known outside of Canada.

References

External links

* {{authority control Hospitals in the Regional Municipality of York Hospitals established in 1945 Buildings and structures in Markham, Ontario