Hospital heroes
Twenty- five years from now when the capsule is cracked open, the little plastic rendit i ons of a Kryptonian and an Amazon warrior in tights might cause more than a few heads to be scratched.
Most of the objects placed inside the time capsule at the new St. Catharines hospital are connected in one way or another to health care.
A wooden apple to represent the adage “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” A brick to represent construction of the building. Newspaper articles about the hospital. A stethoscope and a cancer- care plan.
Anyone would be forgiven for thinking Superman and Wonder Woman action f i gures are more than a little out of place. But for Dr. Edgardo Perez, mental health chief for the Niagara Health System, including the pair of superheroes makes perfect sense.
“It’s the symbolism there,” said Perez, after a symbolic ribbon cutting ceremony at the new hospital Thursday morning. “When I was trying to decide what to put in the capsule and looked into these characters, the symbolism is very impressive.”
During his official remarks, Perez said both Superman and Wonder Woman have changed more than once over their publication history but their core remained intact.
“Through each of our lives, we have watched Superman and Wonder Woman re-invent themselves as their generations pass. Slight tweaking and improvements were seen, yet the goal was always the same — operating from a place of kindness and goodness,” Perez said.
For Perez, having the more than 980,000 square foot stateof- the- art hospital is only the beginning. Remembering medicine is about treating people, about operating from that place of kindness and goodness is what will make the new hospital more than bricks and steel.
He was one of more than a dozen NHS officials, politicians and dignitaries to speak before more than 100 invited guests at the hospital Thursday.
Each contributed something to the time capsule, which will be on display in the hospital lobby along with artifacts from the history of hospitals in the city dating back nearly to the foundation of the first St. Catharines hospital in 1870.
Although the ribbon cutting was a way for the NHS to celebrate the opening of the hospital, patients won’t arrive until March 24 with a singleday transfer of patients and equipment from the aging St. Catharines General Hospital on Queenston St.
NHS interim CEO Sue Matthews said more than 230 patients will be moved from one site to the other that day.
“That works out to one patient arriving every 1.5 minutes,” Matthews said. “So we’re not done yet.”