Town hall for new regional hospital showcases concerns from community  

There was a community town hall Tuesday night at the Kitchener Public Library to discuss the final site-selection stages of a project that would bring a state-of-the-art new hospital to the region.

The Building the Future of Care Together project was first created in 2020 by Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital.

Now, they’re evaluating three sites to determine which one would work before presenting the option to the Ministry of Health for final processing.

The partnership between the two hospitals was created to help better serve the growing population and modernize existing hospitals In the region.

“This region is one of the fastest growing in Ontario, it’s actually one of the fastest growing in the country. What we also know is the aging of our population is accelerating rapidly,“ said Ron Gagnon, president and CEO of Grand River Hospital.

Gagnon was part of the panel that invited the community to come out and talk about what they want from a new hospital – or to voice concerns they may have.

The project consists of a large, new hospital being built at a proposed location, repurposing Grand River’s mid-town Kitchener-Waterloo campus into ambulatory and urgent care, as well as the expansion of the Freeport campus to increase rehabilitation services for the community.

“When we look at the number of beds in this region, we have one of the lowest number of acute care beds per 1000 population of Ontario communities; we’re actually amongst the very lowest,” said Gagnon.

All the proposed sites would be shared by Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital.

During the town hall, Gagnon said the current site of St. Mary’s would no longer provide acute care after the new hospital is built and the future of the site has yet to be determined.

The new hospital will more than double the size of hospitals currently in the region, increasing capacity to care for more individuals. Gagnon said it will almost double the permanent intensive care unit bed capacity as well as add diagnostic imaging equipment.

During the town hall, several members of the community voiced their concerns over the current staffing levels at hospitals, which have been an ongoing issue.

Some raised concerns as well over whether it will impact student services at local universities.

One of the speakers during last night’s community town hall, Sarah Farwell, is the chief strategy and governance at St. Mary’s Hospital. Farwell said the new facilities will help recruit and retain more doctors or nurses in the region.

Gagnon added that there will be space for new ideas, and more innovation or research happening after the facilities are built, which attracts new talent to the area.

Concerns were raised over the long wait at local emergency departments currently and whether or not this is the best option to increase those services.

“We heard from you that you want the best possible emergency care in Waterloo Region. So, we explored a myriad of options with our stakeholders, and this is what we put forth as the best possible option to serve our growing community,” said Farwell.

Farwell added that hospital infrastructure needs are high across the province right now.

“We have a 40-year partnership that is going to be developed even further and so, I’m actually really excited that we’re going to be able to set an example – that the province can look to,” said Farwell.

Cliff Harvey, the joint vice president of redevelopment for the project previously worked for the Ministry of Health. Harvey said projects like this can take up to 10 years to complete.

“It becomes an economic hub for the community and things grow up around the hospital,” said Harvey.

Aislinn Clancy, the new MPP of Kitchener Centre, attended the town hall on Tuesday and asked the panel for reasons why the project might not move forward.

“What happens at a government level is ‘give me a reason to say no’, and so, what we have to work really hard on is get what we need for our community without giving the approvers a reason to say no and that’s a constant balance for us,” responded Gagnon.

In the coming months the panel will be looking for community feedback on the project.

More information about the Building the Future of Care Together project can be found on their website.