The District of Bedford General Hospital, known as the Brome-Missisquoi-Perkins Hospital starting in 1930, first opened its doors in 1912 after a group of citizens, led by Doctor Follin Horace Pickel, recognized the need for a regional hospital for more specialized care. They took over an old hotel to provide important health services to members of the community that could not be provided by a doctor in the home. Over a century later, the Brome-Missisquoi-Perkins Hospital, with the support of the Brome-Missisquoi-Perkins Foundation (BMP Foundation), continues to expand, improve, and develop its services to provide quality healthcare to the region.
Mentions of opening up a hospital in Sweetsburg, now known as Cowansville, floated around at the end of the 19th century when there were breakouts of smallpox in the village and eventually across Quebec, but it didn’t come into fruition until Dr. Pickel pushed for it in 1910.
He practiced medicine in the village his entire career and treated people in their homes, but those that needed major surgery or specialized care had to go all the way to Montreal.
He eventually convinced a group of people, made up of Dr. George Fuller, two lawyers Arthur Giroux and George Boivin, and Claude Robb, a farmer, to open up a hospital in the village. They formed the first board of governors for the hospital.
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