Date of issue: September 15, 2004
Printer: Lowe-Martin Company
Design: Guénette + Delisle Design
Montreal Heart Institute
The Montreal Heart Institute was founded by Dr. Paul David in 1954 and has since developed into one of the largest cardiology centers in the world. David was born in 1919 in Montreal and earned his medical degree from l’Université de Montréal in 1944. He specialized in cardiology in Boston and Paris, following which he returned to Montreal to work at Hôpital Notre-Dame. There, he devised a plan to build a facility dedicated exclusively to the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. With support from the Sisters of Charity (the Grey Nuns), the Institute opened in Hôpital Maisonneuve in 1954. Twelve years later, it moved to its own specially constructed building in east-end Montreal. Under David’s leadership, the Institute became one of Canada’s most illustrious medical institutions. He died in Montreal in 1999.
The Stamp
The stamp commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Institute. Its stylized heart is divided into four chambers, with oxygenated blood represented by the red color of the left ventricle and unoxygenated blood (blue) in the right ventricle and atrium. David is seen in the left ventricle and the Institute in the right. A normal electrocardiograph tracing is faintly visible in the background beneath the heart. The first-day cover illustrates open-heart surgery, with blue-gowned surgeons and assistants in the center and anesthetists to the right. A cardiopulmonary bypass machine is evident at the left.
