Several accounts of the hospital state that at the world’s convention of hospitals in Toronto in September 1931 the Hazelton Hospital (as Wrinch Memorial Hospital was called until renamed after Dr. Wrinch’s death in 1939) was chosen as one of the ten best hospitals in Canada. A nice story, and one that I would like to be true in all particulars. I have not, however, been able to find anything that authenticates it.
What I have found out, though, is that a report in the Omineca Herald of October 14, 1931 did state that at the world’s hospital convention in Toronto in September the Hospital Days celebrations at Hazelton Hospital were mentioned (the paper’s word) among the top ten most successful in Canada. (The first prize was awarded to a hospital in Brantford, Ontario) It is unclear what this competition was, or who awarded the prize. No world’s hospital convention was held in Toronto that year.
The American Hospital Association was, however, holding its thirty-third annual convention in Toronto then and it seems probable that this was the convention being referred to. Dr. Wrinch had been a member of the American Hospital Association since 1908, one of the two members from British Columbia at that time. By chance, because he and his wife May were visiting his son Arthur, who was dangerously ill with typhoid fever, Dr. Wrinch attended this convention and doubtless made his usual useful contribution to discussions. He reported that he did learn there much about new medical procedures and equipment. Could it be that the original story changed over the years?