In 1917, Dr. Noël received his first twelve patients. In 1921, he reached a deal with the Soeurs de la Charité to officially care for patients, something they had been doing for years already, and in 1922, the clinic was renamed Hotel Dieu.
Over the years, the hospital grew with the addition of a sanitarium in 1944 and a nursing school in 1967. The nurses school is now the Pavillon Émile Noël which is home to mental health services .
Last Friday, the Hotel Dieu, now a part of the two-site Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke, inaugurated a modern, state of the art hospital wing that cost some $60 million to build. The building was inaugurated on Friday by Premier Jean Charest at an official launch that included the who’s who of the hospital, health, teaching and political communities. Staff was also invited to join in the celebrations that included a midday barbecue in the parking lot.
Premier Charest, who is the MNA for Sherbrooke, boasted the building was not only delivered on budget, it was also completed seven months early.
All in all, the expansion and reorganization of the Hotel Dieu will cost $112.2 million. Ninety-five per cent of that was funded by the provincial government.
Construction cost some $60 million, the fittings and reorganization of the Hotel Dieu site, which will be done gradually between now and 2011, will cost another $52 million.
The eight-story building, which was open for guided tours all weekend, will greet its patient services today.  Between now and December, the CHUS will expand from 299 to 347 beds.
“The population will benefit from a better access to health care and quality medical services in a milieu that is comfortable, pleasant and safe,” said CHUS board chairman Jacques Fortier, noting staff and doctors will also benefit from a work area that is better adapted to their needs.
Fortier said the new eight-story enlargement will house a new emergency room that is three times larger than the current one. An additional two dozen stretchers will help the hospital deal with overcrowding at the Hotel Dieu and Fleurimont sites.
As well as the brand new entrances and expanded emergency room, the new wing will soon house the psychiatric emergency, a burn unit, a new surgical ward, day surgery, intensive care, cardiology, neurology, as well as 48 new general medicine beds in private and semi-private rooms.
Many measures have been taken to prevent infection including automatic sliding glass doors for patient rooms and sinks that work with foot pedals.
There is an expandable isolation unit on the sixth floor for patients with superbugs and hospital acquired infections such as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known simply as MSRA, and C Difficile. The whole floor, and part of the emergency room, have also been designed to be transformed into into a huge isolation ward in case of a pandemic.

The new wing, increases the floor space at the Hotel Dieu by 40 per cent.
Furthermore, the building was designed with the principals of sustainable development in mind, said project manager Jacques Monette.
Monette, who notes more than 90 per cent of demolition and construction waste was recycled, said 40-some measures are now in place to reduce water consumption and the production of greenhouse gases by some 160 tonnes a year - the equivalent of emissions from 45 cars.
Among the measures are taps and toilets that reduce water consumption and a heating system that uses combustion gases produced by the central heating plant for the main building. The hospital has also taken measures to reduce light pollution, taking into account standards set by Astrolab on Mount Megantic.
With its private and semi-private rooms, large windows, ventilation, the new wing provides a healing environment for patients and a pleasant work environment for staff, said CHUS director-general Patricia Gauthier.
Chairman Fortier said the expansion of the Hotel Dieu will improve access to health care for the population adding 18,000 square meters on eight floors.
Dr. Réjean Hébert, Dean of Medicine at the University of Sherbrooke, said the new wing will provide an avant-garde teaching and research environmental that will benefit everyone including patients.
The synergy created by an environment where doctors, students and researchers work together will help transmit new discoveries in technology and medical practices and improve the quality of care for the population, Hébert said. 
Premier Charest said investments at the Hotel Dieu - which was billed as the largest construction project in Sherbrooke history - are part of the Liberal government’s commitment to health care and economic development.
“As well as having made considerable investments in health care since 2003, our government has taken the decision to bring our infrastructure up to date launching the biggest renovation project in in modern Quebec history,” boasted the Premier, explaining his government is spending a record $30 billion over five years on such priorities as hospitals, schools and roads.
By Rita Legault
Sherbrooke