Sherbrooke then and now: The CHUS Fleurimont
My favourite photos in the Record’s archives are the ones where there is a structure or place that is clearly recognizable and yet noticeably different, and I think this photo of the Chus-fleurimont is a perfect example.
Still under construction in the older shot, the hospital stands alone among fields and much younger forest, with the only other structure visible the small hint of the Beauvoir Sanctuary on the left-hand side. Today, that same basic structure exists, now covered in antennae and the vents from countless laboratory spaces, but it is surrounded by more secondary structures and expansions than can fit into the frame. The emergency department blocks the view of the church in the background, and the vast parking lot has consumed much of the field in front of the building.
As is, unfortunately, too often the case, there is no date on the older photo. Based on a description of the shot, Sherbrooke Historical Society Archivist Karine Savary estimated that the image was likely taken in the early 1960s. She pointed out that the structure that became one of the province’s leading university hospitals was originally supposed to be a psychiatric institution and said that a changing outlook on institutionalization and medical treatment meant that the facility’s purpose changed several times before it was fully built.
Today the hospital is one of many facilities that make up the regional establishment known as the CIUSSS de l’estrie – CHUS, which was created as an administrative amalgamation by the current provincial government as one of its first actions in office. Although the work is not visible in the newer image, as it is taking place on the other side of the hospital, both of these shots show a building under construction. In the case of the modern-day photo, the hospital is currently in the process of expanding its emergency department and services to women and children.