For the Least of My Brethren: Centenary History of St Michael's Hospital

Peter Strathy is Vice-President Planning, Doctors’ Hospital, Toronto.

Irene McDonald is well qualified to author a centenary history of St.
Michael’s Hospital. She enrolled in St. Michael’s School of Nursing
in 1947 and was thereafter closely associated with St. Michael’s for
more than 30 years. During her career, she undertook advanced graduate
studies in the United States, earning a M.A. in nursing administration
and a Ph.D. in psychiatric nursing. She also served a 10-year term as
assistant administrator and concurrently was a member of the
hospital’s board of directors.

For the Least of My Brethren traces the development of St. Michael’s
Hospital from its founding in 1892 to its centennial in 1992. From
humble origins in providing care to the sick poor of Toronto, St.
Michael’s rose to become a major tertiary-care teaching hospital
providing a broad range of services and programs. Owned and operated by
the Sisters of St. Joseph, the hospital has embodied the Catholic
principles of health care and emphasized the values of compassion, human
dignity, and social responsibility.

The 100-year period covered by the book was witness in Ontario to
dramatic changes and advances in the diagnosis and treatment of illness
and disease, as well as in the organization and funding of health
services. This history of St. Michael’s illustrates the many changes
and developments that were taking place during this period. A signal
control of health services development was the growing role of
government in the funding, organization, and control of health services.
Tremendous expansion and growth during the post–World War II decades
were followed by financial restraint, crisis, and increased provincial
government intervention and control during the 1980s and early 1990s.
St. Michael’s experienced a major financial crisis from 1989 to 1991,
the resolution of which entailed the imposition of a 10-year recovery
plan, substantial cutbacks in services, the disposal of significant
assets, and a reorganization of the structures of ownership and
governance.

This history chronicles with great precision and detail the
hospital’s history. It is well organized and coherent. Its chief
failing is an absence of amusing anecdotal material, which would have
served to increase the reader’s level of interest and enjoyment. While
the book will be of interest to those persons who have been closely
associated with St. Michael’s, it is not likely to be read by a wider
audience. It will serve as a useful reference on health care and
hospital developments for the historical period covered.