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Dr. Charles E. Parsons was the first Superintendent and Medical Director of Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital. Having received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins Medical School in 1919, he began serving the Grenfell Mission in 1913. Dr. Parsons worked as a teacher at Wilfred T. Grenfell School, St. Anthony, and also as an employee of the Mission Office. |
| The following summer, he served as Dr. Grenfell’s secretary onboard the hospital steamer Strathcona. Later, with Grenfell’s recommendation, Dr. Parsons travelled to Twillingate where he led the construction of Twillingate Hospital and took charge of medical services. Despite the original plans for building a cottage hospital, Dr. Parsons insisted on a larger institution – a complete hospital for Twillingate and the surrounding areas offering as wide a medical service as possible. | |
| He worked at the hospital for 10 years until ill health led to his resignation. Despite previous medical treatment, Dr. Parsons suffered a fatal heart attack in 1941 while delivering a paper to a medical conference in Philadelphia. | |