
January 21, 2021 · 0 Comments
By Peter Richardson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Area healthcare services were top of mind at Mono Council’s meeting last Tuesday (Jan. 12).
The President/CEO of Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston, Jody Levac delivered a presentation to Council about the hospital’s new expansion and the impact it will have on both the facility and roughly 200 Mono residents who use it instead of Headwaters Health Care Centre.
Long a staple of both Alliston and the surrounding area, Stevenson Memorial has been struggling with its size compared to its growing patient load and is thrilled to announce the new expansion.
Opening in January of this year, will be a new Level 2 ICU at the hospital, with four ICU beds initially and a fifth to come later.
In addition to providing care for patients with advanced care needs, close to home, the facility will house respiratory therapists – a new area of care at SMH.
The trauma room, originally built in 1964, in the Emergency Department, is being renovated and updated, with new flooring, paint, lighting, fixtures and glass door entrance that can be turned opaque, for patient privacy. All this is being done, while waiting for the much needed redevelopment.
The hospital stepped up when COVID-19 struck, opening an assessment centre in the parking lot, which is now operated on an appointment-only system, doing thousands of swabs to date.
The clinic has since been converted to a two car at a time heated and winterized drive-through facility. SMH is working on establishing an Influenza Like Illness (ILI) Clinic to assess patients.
The hospital is working to submit a Stage 2 submission to the Ministry of Health for the proposed redevelopment.
The submission will see a total of 47 beds in the redeveloped hospital.
The next step in the process will be to secure the local share of funding for the project, $30 million over the next 18-24 months.
The proposed revitalized Hospital will see a new two story wrap around addition, which encompasses the existing hospital in its design. Also included in that design is a new trauma centre with an indoor ambulance bay that can house four ambulances.
In his wrap up, Dr. Levac expressed his appreciation for the support that SMH has received from both Mono residents and businesses, and added that he hopes Council can afford to help out with fundraising for the new development.