About Us
Founding Partners

IODE

The IODE is one of North York General Hospital's four founding partners.

This Canadian women's volunteer organization has been helping children in Toronto since 1900. In 1913, a group of civic-minded IODE women in the city spearheaded the opening of the IODE Children's Hospital (Preventorium) to accommodate children who had been exposed to tuberculosis. In 1960, the organization joined forces with citizens' groups to raise funds to establish North York General Hospital. The new hospital included a 121-bed IODE Children's Centre, developed from the amalgamation with the IODE Children's Hospital.

Members of the IODE, in chapters located throughout the country, initiate and fund projects in health care, social services, education and citizenship, with a particular concern for the well-being of children. Learn more by visiting the IODE website.

The IODE has been steadfast in its commitment to making the life better for the infants, children and adolescents in our community. Over the years, Toronto IODE chapter members have donated millions of dollars to the IODE Children's Centre at North York General Hospital for critical life saving equipment in our neonatal intensive care, labour and delivery, and paeditric surgery facilities.

A Board of Management, made up almost exclusively of IODE members, supports the child and teen program of the IODE Children's Centre.

Today, as a regional children's health centre and a founding member of the Child Health Network of Greater Toronto, North York General Hospital offers one of the widest and most comprehensive ranges of medical and mental health services for children in the city. North York General Hospital is grateful for the help and support of the IODE in ensuring we can provide the very best care to newborns, children and teens in our community.

IODE Milestones
• $7 million proceeds from the sale of the Preventorium properties to date.
• Donating $3.5 million to the Stand By Me campaign for North York General Hospital.
• Over $2 million to purchase specialized equipment for the Tippet Foundation Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Maternal Newborn Program, paediatric surgery, labour and delivery rooms, hearing testing and genetics programs.
• Financial assistance for medical and nursing staff education.
• Annual awards for teaching excellence.
• Sponsors the annual ‘PeeWee’ picnic for graduates and their families of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
• Funding of the Maternal Infant Program from 1976 to 1983 until the Ministry of Health assumed responsibility for the program.
• Building and equipping the paediatric examination room in the Emergency department in 1990.
• Furnishing and decorating a child and teen waiting room for Day Surgery, Grace's Place.
• Helped furnish the Teen Clinic.
• $125,000 for a state-of-the art resuscitator for the newly expanded Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in 2003.