Our History

The Saint John Regional Hospital Auxiliary

Established by Mrs. A. C. Skelton in 1919, the Women’s Hospital Aid Association came together out of an obligation to public service:

“Service to an understanding that we are caretakers, caretakers responsible for the world as we shape it “

The Women’s Hospital Aid Association remained active at both the Saint John General Public Hospital (pictured) and the Saint John Tuberculosis hospital until 1960, when it was renamed the Women’s Hospital Auxiliary.

Our name changed again in 1982 to the Saint John Regional Hospital Auxiliary, with the opening of the new hospital, before changing our name one final time in 2015 to the Brighten Group.

The Gift Shop

Today, you know us as the Gift Shop - or, you might know us as the “Old General Store”. Long before that, the Auxiliary first expanded to retail service by opening “The Gift Case” on the main floor of the old General Hospital in 1969.