On Sunday, March 24, 2013 a new era of health-care delivery will come to life in Niagara when our new St. Catharines Site goes live, enabling us to provide one million square feet of care in a state-of-the-art, patient-centred environment.
For those eager to work, provide or receive care at our new hospital, this means only 268 more days, 9 months, 38 weeks, 6,432 hours, 385,920 minutes or 23,155,200 seconds!
While months of planning go into the transition, the actual patient move occurs in a single day. The first step in the overall move sequence will occur at the beginning of next year when the regional kitchen will be implemented at the new St. Catharines Site. The remainder of services will be moved over a sequence of events throughout March of 2013, with the patient move occurring March 24, 2013.
We will be supported by Health Care Relocations (HCR), a renowned company that has been providing transition planning services exclusively to hundreds of healthcare clients in Canada and the U.S.A. since 1993. Our number one goal in facilitating the move is achieving a safe and seamless transition to the new facility, without unnecessary interruption to patient care. This includes ensuring a patient focus for move day, minimizing any time that services will not be available and looking after the safety of patients and staff in implementing the move.
For more information, please click here.
Enhancing the inpatient care experience
As part of an ongoing series featuring our new hospital, we recently invited the media to learn how we are enhancing the patient care experience at our new St. Catharines Site, even before we open the doors to provide patient care in Spring, 2013.
Click here to watch a short video, courtesy of TV Cogeco Niagara, illustrating how the new hospital will enable us to:
- Provide a revolutionized patient experience
- Improve work life for our staff, physicians and volunteers
- Recruit medical professionals to Niagara
Did you know?
The design of our new world-class facility took the strengths of local knowledge from our clinicians and staff and the global expertise of our architects to create a building that is focused on the patient experience and outcome.
The core principle guiding the design of our new state-of-the-art facility is the adoption of providing patient-client-centred care.
Exciting changes within the Department of Medicine
As communicated to all physicians and staff last week, the Department of Medicine is implementing significant changes to the way that acute medical care is provided at the St. Catharines General Site.
Effective this week, three new clinical services have been established for Cardiology, Respirology and General Internal Medicine. Each service will run from 07:30 to 17:30, seven days per week, with a single physician covering the overnight hours for the three new services between 17:30 and 7:30. This development also includes the implementation of a closed Coronary Care Unit (CCU) within the current level two Progressive Care Unit, which will be run by the Cardiology Service.
This is an important and exciting step forward in our progression towards a comprehensive model of high-quality acute medical care prior to providing care at the new hospital site.
One dollar for every square foot of care
PCL employees and their construction partners are the people who have built our new hospital and cancer, working alongside our project management team to construct the building on time and on budget. They have also played an important part in inspiring the true meaning of providing one million square feet of care.
It is heartwarming to think that along with hectic work schedules and busy personal lives, PCL employees and their construction partners have shown their very generous spirit by organizing and attending various fundraising events over the course of construction, which, along with PCL’s corporate donation is contributing $1 million to support medical equipment for our new facility; a gift that represents $1 for every square foot of care!
Our heartfelt thanks goes to everyone at PCL for their tremendous gift to the It’s Our Time Campaign and to the people of Niagara for helping us in achieving our goal of providing one million square feet of care!
As we countdown to the completion of construction of this beautiful new facility in just 150 days, we are very excited that the fulfillment of our shared vision for expanded healthcare services in Niagara is close to becoming a reality.
PCL employees can take great satisfaction in being an important part of this exciting undertaking for our region, which will allow us to provide an elevated level of care and much-needed new services for cancer and cardiac and mental health — for all the people of Niagara.
Interim President & CEO Sue Matthews
July 11 – First round of clean sweep days
As our project team can attest, it is a lot of work preparing to move! We didn’t realize how much time would be spent on going through old files and getting rid of things we no longer needed. It can be a very emotional exercise! In the same regard, all programs and departments transitioning to the new site must be fully prepared in advance of the move to begin safe clinical procedures starting on day one.
One of the necessary steps in this preparation involves three rounds of clean sweeps to dispose of items that will not be needed at the new site. July 11, 2012 will be the first in a series of clean up days aimed at getting ready for the move. Stay tuned for a more detailed correspondence.
July 12 – New Hospital Town Hall
We will be holding our next New Hospital Town Hall on Thursday, July 12 at 2 p.m. in the St. Catharines General Cafeteria Meeting Room.
This forum for all staff, physicians and volunteers will feature the latest updates about our new hospital, with a focus on how the new hospital facilities will be maintained, as well as information about the move! We will also film the update so that we can share the news with staff at all of our sites, as well as the Niagara community.
149 days until construction is complete!
With 149 days left in the construction schedule, the building is looking more like a hospital with each day that passes. On budget, on schedule and over 91% complete, the design of this world-class facility took the strengths of local knowledge from our clinicians and global expertise of our architects to create a building that is focused on the patient experience.
Although construction will be completed on November 26, 2012, the period between then and “go live” on March 24, 2013 will be used to train and orient staff to the site and also welcome community members to tour their new hospital before it opens to provide patient care.
Please join us in achieving the goal of providing one million square feet of care
