In helping put together Memory Lane, Sr. Barbara Grozelle relived one of the first experiences she had as a St. Joseph novice. She sewed the old white habit the Sisters wore for hospital work before the Second Vatican Council. In those days novices all had to sew their own habits.
After a long career nursing at St. Michael's Hospital, Grozelle now teaches sewing to immigrant and marginalized women at The Mustard Seed on Queen Street in Toronto's downtown.
The challenge for Grozelle, who remembered exactly how to sew the habit she had made many times for herself and other sisters, was starching the headpiece.
"You can't find starch any more," she complained.
For Sr. Susan Davey it was thrilling to see the constancy of the order's commitment to the most vulnerable people in Toronto.
"It ties into who we are as the Sisters of St. Joseph," she said.
Providence Healthcare traces its history back to 1851, when Sr. Delphine Fontbonne and three other sisters arrived from Philadelphia at the invitation of Bishop Armand-François-Marie de Charbonnel. Charbonnel wanted the Sisters to serve immigrants, the elderly, disabled and destitute in a "House of Providence."
Though Fontbonne died of typhus before the House of Providence could properly open its doors, the project grew and grew. By 1938, in the depths of the Great Depression, the House of Providence slept 700 and served 59,000 meals out on the street that year.
The Sisters moved the institution to farm land in Scarborough, east of Toronto, in 1962. By 1990 Providence Villa and Hospital were renamed Providence Centre. Even though it changed names again in 2004, there are plenty of older Torontonians who still call it Providence Villa.
At its Scarborough campus, Providence Healthcare has expanded long-term care for 288 residents with the Cardinal Ambrozic Houses of Providence, which opened in 2000. Since 2009 Providence has pioneered a nationally recognized Adult Day Program serving people with dementia and Alzheimer's.
The Memory Lane display of history received a $300,000 boost from BMO Financial Group.
"It's unique to have a dedicated place to share our past and build a new future," said Providence Healthcare president and CEO Josie Walsh.
Providence Healthcare takes walk down Memory Lane
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterTORONTO - It's a hallway and a museum and an innovative therapy all at the same time. Providence Healthcare unveiled its Memory Lane to three dozen Sisters of St. Joseph, benefactors and friends Nov. 30.
The hallway is full of memorabilia from the history of the Toronto hospital and the Sisters who built it up from nothing in 1851 to one of Canada's leading rehabilitation hospitals. Providence Healthcare patients battling memory loss are often encouraged to spend time with the Memory Lane's interactive displays to discover what memories old typewriters, nuns' habits, furniture, etc. will stir up.
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