Valley Medical Heritage Museum
Valley Regional Hospital, Level 3
Annapolis Valley Health Foundation
150 Exhibition Street
Kentville, N.S. B4N 5E3
(902) 678-5414
fax (902) 678-1904
Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily

The construction of the Valley Regional hospital began on May 24, 1988. One of the planning objectives was to create a facility which would meet ever changing technology, as well as the growing needs and demands of the population. The hospital was opened on April 15, 1992.

Historical beginnings of the Valley Medical Heritage Museum can be attributed to the foresight of Dr. J. Earle Hiltz, Medical Superintendent of the Nova Scotia Sanatorium. In the early 1950's Dr. Hiltz assembled a collection of early hospital documents, artifacts and memorabilia which were proudly displayed in Miller Hall throughout the years.

Doctors Helen Holden and John Quinlan further developed this vision by collecting resources and advocating for a permanent historical presentation of health care in the Valley. The Valley Medical Heritage Museum is a memorial to a total of 125 years of remarkable medical care and services. The museum's intent is to preserve not only the history of the Sanatorium and Blanchard-Fraser Memorial (B.M.F.), but on-going achievements at the Valley Regional Hospital, as well as all health care institutions and their supporting organizations throughout the Annapolis Valley.

The B.M.F. closed April 15, 1992, 10 days after the opening of the new Valley Regional Hospital. It was demolished the following year. Today, the Miller Hospital is the only building left of the once huge complex of the Sanatorium.

The Valley Medical Heritage Museum opened on October 1, 1995. Exhibits are changed regularly. It features medical artifacts, photos, and documents. The photos are of important people who contributed to medicine in the Valley, superintendents of the Sanatorium, special events that happened at all three hospitals, and bird's eye views of the grounds. A huge, ancient x-ray machine stands in the corner. Cases that line the walls hold such artifacts as beautiful handicrafts made by the patients at the "San", numerous antique medical instruments, and medical charts. A display cabinet holds such bizarre objects as a Coolidge x-ray tube and a pneumothorax apparatus. Scrapbooks of Sanatorium and B.M.F. memorabilia sit on a plastic stand and table by the guest book.

The Valley Medical Heritage Museum preserves the rich past of the hospitals of Kentville.

"Works Cited"
"The New Valley Regional Hospital - Special Souvenir Publication." Newspaper.

The Advertiser. March 1992.

Valley Medical Heritage Museum Committee. Valley Medical Heritage
Museum, Valley Regional Hospital. Brochure. Kentville: Valley Medical
Heritage Museum Committee, 1995.