By Adam Brazeau
CORNWALL, Ontario – Third South is now Fourth North. And the cafeteria is going to have its own Tim Hortons. This is just a small dose of what you can expect to see at the new Cornwall Community Hospital.
Jolene Soares, CCH public relations officer, led a media tour of the hospital Sept. 19, detailing the third and final phase of its $120-million renovation, expansion, and consolidation, which is scheduled to be completed by Jan. 2015.
Cornwall and SDG chipped in a total of $12-million to the CCH redevelopment project through municipal funding and community donations.
“We talked about it, fundraised for it, saw designs and renderings. The contruction crews arrived. But then you see the upgrades to the building and it being used for its purpose, that’s the exciting part,” said Soares.
She wanted to inform the community of the services moving over to the McConnell Avenue site from the nearly vacant Second Street building. One of the final pieces left at the former hospital site is the sleep lab, which is switching over in October.
The tour began with a peek at some newly opened additions to the hospital’s first floor.
The housing out-patient registration waiting area featured a touch-pad automatic queuing kiosk that prints a numbered ticket for patients as they wait for their appointment time to be announced on a monitor.
Further down the hall was a new patient registration area, the Cornwall Hospital Foundation office, the soon-to-be-opened cafeteria, as well as clinics for general surgery, orthopedics, pain treatment, and endoscopy.
A diabetes centre, opthamology clinic, and pacemaker clinic are located on Level 3.
Part of the final phase was a total renovation of Level 4. The former operating department is now home to the inpatient and outpatient mental health units formerly known as Third South and addiction management services.
Soares said Phase 3 is actually continuing with renovations in administration, IT department, and the chapel.
In addition, the old emergency department on the hospital’s south end has been converted to ambulatory clinics.
When the project first broke ground in May 2010, Phase 1 focused on mechanical and electrical upgrades.
The next added a 95,000 square foot addition, which included a state-of-the-art operating room, diagnostic imaging, and emergency department. These new additions opened in April 2013.
