March 2025 will mark the 5th anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a pandemic.
During this challenging time, the hospital quickly mobilized and staff took on new roles to respond to the global crisis. WCH worked alongside the other Toronto Academic hospitals and Ontario Healthcare system to collectively fight this worldwide pandemic. WCH opened one of Toronto’s first COVID-19 assessment centres and ramped up its virtual care to continue providing service to patients. WCH mobile testing teams were deployed into the community and our staff helped to launch a variety of innovative initiatives such as Long-Term Care Plus and COVIDCare@Home.
To ensure that this unique period in WCH’s history is documented for future generations, we are launching Courage in Crisis: Reflecting on WCH’s COVID-19 Response – a project to capture the experiences and memories of staff members during WCH’s response to COVID-19 Pandemic.
Over the next few months, Heather Gardiner, WCH Archivist and Debbie Childerhose, Manager of Professional Practice, will be reaching out and inviting WCH staff members to participate in our oral history project. Staff will be interviewed onsite or virtually about their experiences at WCH during COVID-19. The interviews will be recorded and preserved in the WCH Archives. The interviews will also be used as part of a project to mark the 5th anniversary of WCH’s response to COVID-19 in March 2025.
We are looking to collect historical material that reflects staff members’ experiences at WCH during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Archives welcomes photographs, documents, objects, and hospital memorabilia. If you have material that you would like to donate to the Archives, or would like to volunteer to participate in our oral history project please reach out to Heather at: heather.gardiner@wchospital.ca