Image: SPRA Fonds 436
Today’s “From the Vault Friday” features a poster (circa 1983) from the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital Auxiliary Association fonds (Fonds 436). The Queen Elizabeth II Hospital Auxiliary Association is a volunteer group whose aim is to support the work of the Hospital and associated care facilities and to increase the comfort of patients by volunteering, participating in events, and fundraising to purchase equipment.
The first Hospital Aid society in Grande Prairie was established at a January 29, 1922 meeting attended by 35 ladies. The Aid society supported the work of the hospital by sewing and repairing items such as pillow cases, sheets, towels, diapers, gowns, and pneumonia jackets, providing reading material to patients, hospital visiting, and helping finish and furnish the Nurses’ Residence. The Aid society also engaged in fundraising efforts. The Hospital Aid disbanded in December 1936.
A new group, the Grande Prairie Municipal Hospital Auxiliary, was organized at an Open Meeting held October 28, 1949. After being known variously as the Ladies Auxiliary to the Grande Prairie General Hospital (ca. 1960s), the Ladies Auxiliary to the Grande Prairie Municipal and Auxiliary Hospitals (ca. 1960s-1970s), and the Ladies Auxiliary to the Grande Prairie Hospital Complex (ca. 1970s-1980s), the Auxiliary was officially incorporated as a society in 1983 under the name of the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital Auxiliary Association.
Read more about the Ladies Auxiliary to the Grande Prairie Hospital fonds (fonds 436) here.
From the Vault Friday is a social media campaign that highlights interesting materials from the collections of the South Peace Regional Archives. This project was made possible by an Access to Holdings Grant from the Archives Society of Alberta.