Windsor Regional and Hotel-Dieu unveil plan for new healthcare system

by Sean Previl

 

The location of the new mega-hospital has given us a look into the future of healthcare in Windsor and Essex County.

Windsor Regional Hospital and Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare had brought city councillors, business leaders, local healthcare officials and members of the media on a bus tour July 16 to show what is planned for the future of the region.

Currently in what is being called “Stage 1B” of the process, the proposal for the single-site acute care hospital will need to be approved by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care before shovels can break ground. After receiving more than 20 suggestions in October, the site selection subcommittee scored each site using 32 different criteria and made more than 700 individual decisions before settling on the final location of a 60-acre farm property located at County Road 42 and 9th Concession.

David Musyj, Windsor Regional CEO and co-chair of the hospital steering committee, said the choice for the proposed 1.6 million square foot, 10-storey facility, was made for the benefit of the community. The proposed facility is planned to be 30 per cent larger than both the Ouellette and Metropolitan campuses combined.

“The community told us accessibility was important, we listened and we delivered,” said Musyj.

Musyj said the location is beneficial because 70 per cent of patients currently admitted to the Ouellette and Met campuses live within 12 km of the facility. Also, 76 per cent of the 130,000 people who visited the emergency department each year also live within 12 km of the new hospital. Employees and physicians would additionally see benefit as 60 per cent of current employees and the offices of 84 per cent of physicians are within 10 km of the site.

The new hospital will feature emergency and trauma services, obstetrics, paediatrics, inpatient units, surgical services, the WRH’s Cancer Centre and outpatient clinics.  It will have 500 beds, 80 per cent of which will be private, while the remaining 20 per cent are semi-private. Windsor Regional staffing will remain the same at the new hospital with about 4,000 staff and 500 physicians.

The O’Keefe family, who owns and operates what is currently a soy-bean farm, submitted the proposal for their land to be used at $100,000 an acre with a deadline for the deal to be closed by July 2017. Shawn O’Keefe, son of owners Michael and Mary Jane, said although the farm has sentimental value, he thought the location would be perfect for the hospital.

“Because it’s a hospital, such a great project, I think, what better way to give up the property,” said O’Keefe.

The acute care facility was not the only location visited. Hotel-Dieu CEO and president Janice Kaffer called the day a ‘transformation in how we deliver healthcare services across Windsor-Essex communities.’

Starting at the Tayfour Campus on Prince Road, Kaffer announced if the proposal is approved by the ministry, the Tayfour site would become the location of a new 60-bed acute care mental health unit. Hotel-Dieu will also be adding more renal dialysis stations and diagnostic services.

“It brings care closer to home for many of our community members,” said Kaffer.

For Hotel-Dieu, the day also included the proposed reclamation of the Ouellette Campus. This would see the demolition of the current building and construction of a Transitional Stability Centre, access to more mental health services at a ‘central location’ and will also help in chronic disease management.

“We will come home to continue this important work in order to benefit the downtown community and everyone who needs accessible mental health services,” said Kaffer.

Two other changes were announced during the tour regarding the Met Campus of Windsor Regional on Tecumseh Road East and the old Grace Hospital site, currently an empty lot on University Avenue West.

In exchange for the Grace site, Musyj said they would transfer ownership of the Met Campus to the City of Windsor, giving control of the property’s future development to the city. Mayor Drew Dilkens said taking ownership of the Met Campus will allow the city to control any potential business or residential development while ensuring any change still reflects the area.

“That will enable us to make sure that any development on this site conforms with the unique characteristics of this very well respected and very established neighbourhood that surrounds the hospital today,” said Dilkens.

The exchange also allows a four-storey satellite building to be constructed on the Grace site. At a cost of approximately $130 million, it will also include an urgent care centre allowing people downtown a place to go when they need consultation or treatment for issues such as respiratory illness, broken limbs or workplace injuries.

“In effect, it’s a walk-in clinic on steroids,” said Musyj. “If someone has a health care issue in the downtown core or even outside, they can come here (and) be treated.”

If patients require further care, Musyj said they would be transported to the new acute care site.  Musyj stressed the urgent care facility would not be for long-term stays, stating people can be transported to the mega-hospital, but will not be accepted by ambulance at Grace. The trade will not be finalized until building the urgent care centre is complete to ensure patients still have somewhere to go during construction.

Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky was also in attendance and said she’s happy to see the amount of potential change for Windsor, especially for her constituency where residents have been concerned the acute care site is too far from their homes.

“The fact that there is going to be an urgent care centre and the expansion on Tayfour, as well as plans for the Ouellette Campus – that helps to alleviate some of those concerns,” said Gretzky.  “People would only come to the hospital when they absolutely need to come to the hospital.”

Windsor-Essex County will have to pay approximately $200 million, 10 per cent of the estimated $2 billion cost of the entire hospital plan. The remaining 1.8 billion will come from the province.

A decision is expected from the ministry in 2016. If approved, they are hoping to break ground in four to seven years, with the entire plan for the Windsor-Essex Hospitals System complete in seven to 10 years.