Hospital Staff

Dr. Lyall Hodgins, (1890-1953)
DR. G. LYALL HODGINS, O.B.E., aged 63, former chief of medical staff at Vancouver General Hospital, died on April 2 (1953) in Phoenix, Arizona. Born at Lucan, Ont., Dr. Hodgins graduated from University of Toronto in 1911. He interned at Norwegian-American Hospital, Chicago, after which he was certified as a specialist in internal medicine with the H.C.P.S.[C.]. Before coming to Vancouver in 1920, Dr. Hodgins practiced six years in Toronto and a year in Regina. In 1926 he went into practice here and later pioneered in the medical clinic field in western Canada, establishing Vancouver’s first clinic. Dr. Hodgins was named chief of medical staff at Vancouver General Hospital in 1946 and resigned this post late in 1950. During his association with Vancouver General, Dr. Hodgins took a keen interest in occupational therapy and the Women’s Auxiliary and is credited with much of their advancement. He was on the council of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada for a number of years, a member of the C.M.A. Besides his widow, Dr. Hodgins is survived by a son and a daughter.
(Obituary published in the Canad. M. A. J. June 1953, vol. 68, page 625)

Trenna Hunter
In 1942, Trenna Hunter was appointed nurse in charge of the Hastings Park (Vancouver) Camp for 3,200 Japanese Internees after the invasion of Pearl Harbour in World War II. She was responsible for the establishment and supervision of the hospitals, including the100-bed TB hospital, and for the hiring of senior staff to care for patients. A graduate of the Vancouver General Hospital (1939) and of the baccalaureate program at the University of B.C. School of Nursing in 1944, she was director of nurses for the Vancouver Metropolitan Health Services from 1944 to 1966. She also served in many executive positions and was president of the Canadian Nurses Association (1956-1958).
(Sources: CRNBC Biographical Files, CRNBC Oral History Tape and Transcript)

Irene Anderson
In spring of 1942, Irene Anderson, age about 25, was recruited by the B.C. Securities Commission to administer two hospital units at the Hastings Park Camp for Japanese who were being interned because of a perceived threat to national security during World War II. Previously she had five years experience in supervisory and teaching positions in the B.C. Mental Health Services at Essondale. She was expected to administer the Internment hospital units, one of which was for TB patients, and to keep records, supervise patient care, supervise staff, and train aides to supplement the professional nursing staff. Irene Anderson grew up in Kamloops. After she left the internment camp, she graduated from the Teaching and Supervision Certificate Course offered at the University of British Columbia School of Nursing. After she graduated, she moved to Victoria and married Howard (“Howie”) Smith. Miss Anderson donated a number of photographs and personal memorabilia to the Nikkei National Museum.