FERGUS – A new Groves hospital, that is being called “a state-of-the-art facility,” received a $5.5 million boost last Friday from the provincial government for planning and designing the new building.
Guelph MPP Liz Sandals, along with Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott, who has spearheaded efforts to bring a new hospital to Centre Wellington, made the announcement on April 19 in the lobby of the current hospital before an enthusiastic crowd of hospital staff and volunteers, doctors, health care representatives and politicians.
Education minister Sandals, who made the announcement on behalf of health minister Deb Matthews, said the $5.5 million will go toward building a “state-of-the-art” hospital that will include facilities to train new doctors.
She billed the funding announcement as “the next step” in a process that is expected to see a new hospital in place by 2016.
Matthews was in Fergus in December when a sign showing the location of the new hospital was unveiled on the property off Beatty Line adjacent to the county museum and archives.
Arnott quipped with Sandals that as the “harbinger of good news” she was welcome to come to Centre Wellington any time.
“This community needs some good news,” Arnott said of the funding announcement that comes in the wake of the announcement two weeks earlier that production at A.O. Smith was shutting down, throwing 350 employees out of work.
“We can celebrate one more step forward. We all share in this good news today,” added Arnott.
Sandals said the new Groves Memorial Community Hospital “will be built to the latest standards of accessibility and infection control.
“People who are training as family physicians will have an opportunity to train in a small community hospital. Training will help you recruit new doctors.”
Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj also welcomed the funding for the planned hospital and said the community “must pull together” in efforts to raise the 10 per cent needed to cover the costs. The province is expected to pay 90% of the cost for the multi-million dollar facility.No final cost has been made public.
“We must pull together to make this a reality,” the mayor said.
In December Arnott noted the community had raised about $5 million towards the new hospital.
“This is not a system of the past,” Arnott said of the planned, three-storey hospital. “We’re moving in a wonderful way to keep your future healthy.”
Groves hospital board chairman Paul Smith said the announcement will “help us build momentum towards our final project.
“The Groves hospital complex is going to be a truly unique design campus of care. We’re on budget and on track to go out to tender.”
Several who spoke at the announcement couldn’t pass up the opportunity to comment on a recent CBC, Fifth Estate program that gave Groves a ‘B’ grade among hospitals across Canada for the services it provides.
Chief of staff Dr. Patrick Otto said hospital staff are “working together” on the new hospital. “The medical team provides great care; more than the ‘B’ the CBC would give us,” he noted.
It was view shared by Arnott.
“If this hospital is to be given a grade for patient satisfaction you would be given five stars,” Arnott said. “Groves is the bedrock of our community. We are one step closer to achieving our dream.”
Otto said doctor training at the new hospital “is where (rural) medicine is best learned.”
The $5.5 million is in addition to $500,000 the hospital initially received when planning began for the new facility.
“Continuing to invest in this community is a really, really good bet,” Otto said.
Hospital CEO Jerome Quenneville was pleased with the announcement and said it will assist with the design for services the new hospital will provide when completed.
