December 7, 2023 · 0 Comments
By Brian Lockhart
A community town hall series presented by Stevenson Memorial Hospital and the Stevenson Memorial Hospital Foundation provided local residents with the opportunity to learn more about the planned hospital redevelopment and the project’s current stage.
Town hall meetings were held in Beeton, Alliston, Tottenham, and Rosemont.
The current hospital was built in 1964 and was designed to receive around 7,000 patients at the emergency department. The hospital now has between 35,000 and 40,000 emergency room visits annually.
The hospital’s catchment area includes surrounding municipalities that don’t have a hospital. Their population totals approximately 70,000.
The hospital facility is outdated and needs to expand to accommodate a growing population.
“We are building a hospital for the future,” explained Mary Thomas, CEO of the Stevenson Memorial Hospital Foundation, at the Tottenham information session held at the Tottenham Community Centre on Tuesday, Nov. 28.
The Foundation is promoting its “Because of you, we can” campaign, which is its most ambitious fundraising project in history and is raising funds for the hospital’s redevelopment.
“Hospitals in Ontario source community funding for equipment and redevelopment needs,” Ms. Thomas explained. “It is a community hospital, we’re not a regional centre. The Foundation exists to raise money for the hospital. We want to educate the community as much as we possibly can about the hospital’s needs and try to inspire giving.”
Jody Levac, president and CEO of Stevenson Memorial Hospital, gave a presentation on the current status of the redevelopment project, including a rendering of the proposed new addition.
In addition to a new emergency room, the redevelopment project includes a new building that will be constructed around the existing facility. The design is based on construction that will take place without disrupting operations at the current hospital.
The project is moving forward in three stages – early planning, detailed planning, and construction – with several more stages within those main planning areas. Early construction projects have already begun, starting with the demolition of the Mary McGill Mental Health Centre building, which was situated on the north side of the property.
Getting funding for a hospital in Ontario is a difficult and time-consuming process.
There are currently 122 hospitals in the province.
“Of those 122 hospitals, how many do you think are asking for redevelopment?,” Mr. Levac asked the audience at the Town Hall meeting about hospitals seeking funding from the provincial government.
He answered by saying pretty much all of them are.
“There’s only so much money to spend,” Mr. Levac said. “So why would you want to develop Stevenson? There’s [population] growth, aging infrastructure, and innovation. Politicians want to see leadership and ideas that are creative and actually help improve the community. If you can come up with those three, that galvanize the community, political leadership, socioeconomic and political will, they might consider it.”
Mr. Levac and his team at Stevenson have followed those guidelines throughout the planning process.
The audience posed several questions regarding the redevelopment project, including questions about the building itself as well as other questions about improvements in wait times and services.
The current capital cost estimate for the project is $365 million.