First work on new hospital could begin this year
Roger Varley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Hospital executives, staff, board members, volunteers and members of council were on hand Friday for the announcement. Photo by John Cavers
Work on preparing the hospital site for the beginning of construction of a new hospital could start this year following an announcement last week that the provincial government is providing $4.5 million for the project. The $4.5 million is in addition to $3 million the province provided earlier to cover the cost of early planning for the construction.
Finance Minister and Pickering-Uxbridge MPP Peter Bethlenfalvy was joined by Oak Valley Health executives, several Uxbridge Hospital board members, members of Uxbridge council for the announcement. He said the early work will put in place the necessary infrastructure for the new long-term care and hospital buildings planned for the site which houses the current Uxbridge hospital.
“I first started discussions over this new hospital during a boiler room tour in the basement of the current hospital eight years ago,” joked Bethlenfalvy. “And I’m not going to rest until the ribbon is cut and we can welcome in the very first patient in this new building.”
An artistic rendering of what the new Uxbridge Hospital hub will look like. Photo from oakvalleyhealth.org
Site work is set to begin once the construction contract is awarded and is scheduled to be completed prior to the main project commencing construction. The redevelopment of the hospital campus will bring together three facilities: a new hospital, a long-term care home and an ambulatory care building.
The long-term care home will accommodate 192 beds, an increase of 92 beds for Durham Region. The hospital will include an additional 11 new beds, bringing the total number of beds up to 31. The long-term care home will be run by UniversalCare Canada.
Mark Fam, the new president and CEO of Oak Valley Health, appeared pleasantly surprised by the support for the announcement.
“This is my first week as president of Oak Valley Health,” said Fam. (He replaces Jo-anne Marr, who retired last June.) “And I am excited to be leading this project over the next number of years!”
Mayor Dave Barton said it was "a historic day for Uxbridge," calling the undertaking “the most significant project for our community in the past 70 years."