One phase of ADMH renovation project nearing completion
Posted Jul 29, 2010 By Theresa Fritz
Email
Print
Tweet This
Click to Enlarge
EMC News - Visitors to Arnprior and District Memorial Hospital will soon be able to make use of a renovated emergency department.
Theresa Fritz, Arnprior EMC
Work is progressing well on what will be the new emergency entrance at Arnprior and District Memorial Hospital. Visitors to the emergency will soon be entering from the back of the hospital and into a brand new and redesigned space designed to meet the needs of a growing community. It should be functional by mid August.
Work is progressing well on the 18-month project, which will modernize the emergency department and allow staff at the hospital to see more than 24,000 emergency visits per year.
According to ADMH manager of communications and fund development Wendy Knetchel, the new ER entrance will be open to the public by mid-August, even though the entire renovation/construction project will not be fully completed until March 2011.
As part of the $12 million project, there will also be many improvements beyond the ER. These will include bigger, patient friendly waiting room with a children's play area, an increase in the size and number of examination rooms, better patient privacy, a quiet room for psychiatric consultation or grieving, and in response to an increased focus on patient safety the hospital will construct new isolation and decontamination rooms to address new infection control standards and practices.
Last week, the EMC was given a sneak peek at the work done so far by Massicotte Construction of Ottawa. Massicotte has a project team that specializes in healthcare facilities. In addition to the team, the firm has also been using a number of local trades to complete the project.
"It's going to be nice," said site supervisor Kevin Tomas. "Everything is on time right now."
He pointed out the main difference from the current setup is the fact visitors to the ER will be accessing the site from the rear of the hospital, rather than from the front. The entrance has a modern feel, despite the fact it is a retrofit of the existing building.
"From brick to brick, it is all glass," Tomas said of the new entrance.
The ambulance bay will be larger and the children's play area will have a heated floor and a wall of glass bricks to let the light shine in.
Those coming in the new ER entrance will enter through the sliding doors in the vestibule and walk straight to the new front desk. The triage room will be off the front doors as well as the waiting area, completed with new furniture and televisions.
All the new sidewalks around the new ER entrance will be heated, Tomas explained, adding this will be a good safety feature in winter.
While he noted that any construction project has its challenges, doing work at a hospital carries its own unique challenges because the work must be done while the facility remains function. Special attention, he noted must be paid to the "safety of the public, infection control" and meetings are regularly held between Massicotte and hospital managers.
"I follow the protocols set up by the hospital," Tomas explained.
Along with how the public accesses to the emergency department, another big change that construction will bring is a new front entrance. Gone will be the steps, covered by the blue awning, leading down to the ER. These will be replaced by a street level entrance into the front of the building.
blog comments powered by Disqus
