The effort to build a permanent pediatric facility at Health Sciences North “went from Stage 0 to Stage 1” Friday, when the province announced a $500,000 planning grant to move the project forward.
The long-term goal is to build a $49 million NEO Kids facility by expanding the hospital building and bring all the programs under one roof.
Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins made the announcement at HSN on Friday, saying the planning grant marks the official start of the project.
"A tremendous amount of work, as you know, has already gone into planning NEO Kids,” Hoskins said, a reference to the more than $4 million raised in the community already. “This is a wonderful project, the consolidation of programs under one roof... (the grant) allows HSN, together with the community, with the NEO Kids Foundation, to come together and design what specifically the NEO Kids expansion should look like."
Hoskins credited Sudbury MPP and Minister of Energy Glenn Thibeault for constantly lobbying for the project, “as he did with the PET scanner.”
Thibeault said Stage 1 of the five-stage process will move forward as fast as it can be completed.
"We're in the process of determining all that now," he said. "As quickly as we can work together with the ministry and the hospital and with the community we can see this as quickly as possible.”
HSN CEO Dominic Giroux traced the history of the project, starting in 2008 as a $100 million project in a new building, to a more affordable project that cost half that amount and will be housed in a 59,000 square foot expansion at the hospital.
"With today's announcement from Minister Hoskins, we move from Stage 0 to Stage 1 of the five-stage capital approval process for a potential future physical expansion of HSN to accommodate new programs and services for NEO Kids and for our youth," Giroux said.
"Today's announcement allows us to proceed with planning for what a physical expansion of this hospital would look like and, more importantly, what new services could be introduced for kids and youth to improve patient care and their growing mental health needs."
Dr. Sean Murray, NEO Kids medical director and chief of pediatrics, said with very tight budgets at the hospital, the importance of the grant can't be overstated.
"We have another four stages to go through prior to getting full capital approval for this project," Murray said. "It's a lot of work, which does, unfortunately, require resources. (The funding) is going to allow us to not only get on to the next stages, but will also I think help us do an even better job of planning this particular program change."
He's seen first-hand how difficult it is for families to have to travel around to access services for their sick children and knows what a positive impact NEO Kids will have for families in the North.
"That puts a huge impact and toll not only on the child, but the whole family," Murray said.
