School Name History

Thomas Alfred Swift was born in Granby, Quebec in 1880. He received his medical degree from McGill University in Toronto in 1906. He earned money for his education by selling coffee door to door.

In 1908 he came to Abbotsford. He served as the chief medical officer for all the Abbotsford, Matsqui, and Sumas regions. He was known as the “Horse and Buggy” doctor. To make house visits to his patients, he travelled by horse and buggy in all weather and over rough roads. Once he even rowed across Sumas Lake before it was drained to reach a patient. Sometimes he performed “kitchen table” operations at the patients’ homes.

His first office was a small building at the foot of the Essendene hill. He established the first hospital in a house on Hazel Street. It had no plumbing or running water. There were small surgical and maternity wards upstairs. Newborn babies were kept warm in an apple crate near the wood-burning stove in the kitchen. The hospital was staffed by one nurse and a housekeeper.

Because this facility was not adequate for the needs of the area, he asked the Board of Trade to pay for a new hospital.  He contributed two thousand dollars towards building it. The Cottage Hospital opened in 1922. It had fifteen beds and a small operating room.

Dr. Swift is remembered for his dedication to his patients. He was known to charge poorer patients less than his regular fees. He was so busy that he sometimes didn’t have time to send out bills. His steadiest source of income was his salary from the Abbotsford Lumber Mill, which paid him to provide care for its employees.

Despite his heavy workload, he found time to fish and golf. His other favourite hobby was listening to the radio, which in those days was a squeaking, squawking thing. His wife didn’t want the noisy machine in the house, so he listened to it in his office.

From his childhood, Dr. Swift suffered from asthma. Despite this breathing problem, he smoked heavily.  He chewed gum frequently to help cut down on his smoking. His heavy workload made his health worse. On a rare vacation to visit his brother back east, he fell ill and died at age forty-seven. His obituary said, “He loved humanity and, in its service, wore his life away.”