Meet Dr. Horace Wrinch...			...Hazelton pioneer

Dr. Wrinch served as a Justice of the Peace from 1903 until 1923 and in 1924, he was persuaded to run for election to the Provincial legislature as a Liberal. He served for two terms, introducing health insurance legislation which eventually was enacted into law in 1945. Dr. Wrinch retired in 1936, at the age of 70, and died three years later. In 1940, the facility was re-named Wrinch Memorial Hospital in his honour. The present building, opened in 1977, was designed by Victoria architects Wagg and Hambleton. The plaque was unveiled by Major-General Arthur E. Wrinch, the son of Horace and Alice.

left to right, Mrs. Alice Wrinch, Ralphena, Leonard, Cooper, Dr. Wrinch

The modern facility has more than thirty beds and there are eight physicians on staff. The hospital is accredited as a teaching hospital in the family practice programme of the University of British Columbia. In addition to the hospital, the building also houses the doctors' clinic, a dental clinic with two dentists and a hygienist on staff and X-ray facility, a laboratory and facilities for the visiting ophthalmologist and podiatrist. There is still a garden, although the cows and chickens are no longer in evidence. Wrinch Memorial Hospital, under the auspices of the United Church of Canada, continues to serve the needs of the community, in the tradition begun almost a century ago by the extraordinary Dr. Wrinch.

Jessie Gould, pioneer

One of my sources for this story was Mrs. Jessie Gould, aged 90, who arrived in Hazelton as a small child on the first train. Her late husband worked at the hospital for many years, and she still lives in a small house in the hospital grounds. She was the first May Queen of New Hazelton, and she received her crown from Dr. Wrinch. Her eyes shine when she talks about him and Mrs. Wrinch. "They were wonderful people," she says. (January 28, 2000)

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