If you were a child of the ’80s, chances are you owned a Cabbage Patch Kid. They were cloth dolls with plastic heads that were highly sought-after toys for Christmas. While they were mass marketed, Victoria Peters’ Cabbage Patch Kid truly was one-of-a-kind. It was named Dolly and went everywhere with Victoria.
Victoria’s mother, Diane Moore, worked at the Civic Hospital from 1969 to 1986, first as a medical secretary and then in public relations. Victoria explains that her mother, along with the Ottawa Civic Hospital Foundation, came up with a fundraising campaign in 1986 to sell children’s sized scrubs in the hospital gift shop. They needed a model, so Victoria donned the scrubs along with “Dolly” who wore a preemie-sized set.
During her two decades as a hospital employee, Diane was an integral part of the Civic Hospital’s history, helping organize the Frank Sinatra and Rich Little concert (see moment #26) and doing public relations for the first Jarvik-7 heart transplant (stay tuned for an upcoming moment on this historic event!)
Sadly, Diane passed away in February, but Victoria says that as an advocate for the advancement of medicine, she would have been thrilled about plans for our new campus.
Photo Credit: Victoria Peters
