Foothills Hospital celebrating 50 years with giant group photo

It's a photo for the ages.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Foothills Medical Centre, officials are hoping to gather as many people born there as possible for a great big group photo on Saturday.

The shutter is set to click around 2 p.m. on the grassy slope next to South Tower and the event is open to anyone born at Foothills, along with their family members.

Participants are asked to arrive early.

"We've got the original, first baby born at Foothills who's going to join us," Dr. PeterJamieson, thehospital'smedical director, told the Calgary Eyeopener.

"I have three kids of my own that were all born in the hospital.They're going to be there, so we're inviting people in."

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And to make it a little easier for people to get to, parking will be free in Lot 3.

They might need a fairly wide angle lens to fit everyone in.

"We don't have an exact count but it would be in the hundreds of thousands," said Jamieson on how many babies have been born at Foothills.

The photo is part of a week-long celebration of Foothills' 50th anniversary, which included the opening of a time capsule on Thursday.

Inside they found newspaper clippings, blueprints and other items.

A new time capsule is now being prepared for a future generation to open.

"We thought we might focus on some things that would tell the story about the technology we currently consider to be cutting-edge and exciting innovations, different kinds of stents or devices," said Jamieson.

"We wanted to include something about the people who work there, that tells the stories of our lives."

The anniversary celebrations will continue through the weekend, with a photo display opening Sunday in the main lobby, showing the evolution of Foothills Hospital over the last half-century.

With about 1,100 beds, Foothillsis nowone of the largest hospitals in the country.

"The hospital opened in June 1966 with a single eye clinic," said Jamieson.

"Over the years they've added more and more services to the point where we now have 14 buildings on the site and we're clearing room for another one, that will be the new cancer centre.

"Pretty much anybody who lives in Calgary, sooner or later, either gets to be a patient or has a friend or family member who's been a patient of ours."

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener