Posted by Sudbury Northern Life Reporter Laurel Myers
Sudbury's new one-site hospital is on time and on budget, according to the project manager for the capital project.
Robert Hofmann said construction on Phase II of the project is
about 74 per cent complete, with substantial completion set for
Dec. 2.
"We're really in the final stages, we're on the final stretch of construction, there's less than a year left to go," he said.
A number of occupancy moves have already been completed, while Ellis Don - the company employed for the construction of the one-site hospital - continues construction to the final stage.
"A lot of the addition work still has to be completed, and a lot of the renovation work within the existing building has been done. It's just being wrapped up now," Hofmann said. "Ellis Don is focusing on a lot of the interior work of the new east addition."
Once completed, the project manager said the hospital will take several months to make sure everything is in order, cleaned and stocked. However, much planning is still needed before moving the Memorial and St. Joe's sites into the Laurentian site, which is anticipated for early 2010.
"Everything is still very positive," he said. "We have full confidence it will be done on time."
While Phase II is being wrapped up, hospital administration is moving forward with Phase III - an expansion plan to accommodate additional beds.
Population studies done by the Ministry of Finance show the population demographic in Sudbury is aging and will comprise much of the demand for care in the northeast.
"We try to anticipate what their medical needs will be and what services are going to be required to meet those medical needs," Joe Pilon, Sudbury Regional Hosptial (SRH) senior vice-president, explained. "We had a draft business plan that identified future expansion of the hospital that we were looking at planning out for the years 2020 or 2021."
It is estimated by 2020, the hospital will require a total of 546 acute care beds, which excludes the number of beds needed for Alternate Level of Care (ALC). As well, Pilon said 22,000 sq. ft. of space, to accommodate medical learners, will be an aspect they will build into the business plan for Phase III.
The hospital was pursuing a vertical expansion of three floors to the newly-built centre tower. However, Pilon explained the top floor in the tower would be occupied by critical care and the labour and delivery area, and "you can't build above occupied space."
Shelling in the floor above would have protected the occupants and allowed the hospital to build the other two levels. However, Pilon said the Ministry does not fund shelled-in space.
"That buffer we needed, we couldn't build unless we paid for it ourselves. That would cost us $20 million. The hospital doesn't have $20 million of capital just to build that shelled-in space."
Hospital administration has been considering other options, the preferred option being a northwest expansion beside the new children's treatment centre and day care. Other options include freestanding or abutted expansions to the south or east.
"All of those are viable options that we have to delve down into deeper, but we certainly have capacity on the site, we're not landlocked," Pilon said. "Our challenge will be ... parking, because our parking is pretty well at capacity when we move here in December."
The senior vice-president said the expansion hasn't been fully investigated yet, because the focus had been on expanding the centre tower - the most economical option. He estimated the new business plan would be completed over the next year, following meetings with the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) and the Ministry, with hopes of the plan being entered into the queue for the Ministry's next capital project approvals.
The financial specs and contracting of the expansion have not yet been considered, however, Pilon expects the project to follow similar arrangements as Phase II.
As for his outlook on Phase III, Pilon said it's promising.
"I think they recognize they need to continue to provide services in the North. The LHIN has done some recent studies on our aging population and the need for services. Those numbers are consistently saying we need capital infrastructure in the northeast. The challenge is it has to compete against other capital projects, like courthouses, schools and other hospitals. The challenge is usually a political one of getting into the queue."
