A capital grant of up to $7.4 million announced
Sep 25, 2009 - 04:30 PM
By Parvaneh Pessian
WHITBY -- By this time next year, Whitby residents can expect to see their hospital up and running again.
After an agonizing two-year wait, the Province announced Friday that $7.4 million will be poured into the reopening of Lakeridge Health Whitby, which shut its doors after an electrical fire in July 2007.
"It's a great day for the people of Durham Region as we celebrate approval to go to work and help reopen the Whitby site of Lakeridge Health," said Ontario Health Minister David Caplan to dozens of beaming guests at the Gordon Street hospital site.
The funding will be broken down three ways with $2.3 million to complete the necessary retrofits needed at the facility, $2.4 million to enhance dialysis services in the modular unit currently on site and $2.7 million to ultimately work toward upgrading infrastructure and extending the life of the building.
"Today's announcement allows us to focus on the future," said Kevin Empey, president and CEO of Lakeridge Health Whitby.
"Re-opening our Whitby site lets us move forward with much-needed infrastructure upgrades that will expand the life of the building, plus allow us to focus on the emergency construction project in (Lakeridge Health) Bowmanville,"
Lakeridge Health Whitby had about 300 staff members and 80 patient beds prior to the blaze, which was caused by the explosion of a faulty battery in the hospital's power supply. Patients were evacuated and, since then, have been receiving care at other Lakeridge Health sites, including Oshawa and Bowmanville.
"It has been challenging since the fire impacted Lakeridge's ability to use this building," said Deborah Hammons, CEO of the Central East Local Health Integration Network, as she thanked all the area hospitals that helped care for the displaced patients.
"We've all worked together to reach this day and it is these kinds of partnerships and support from the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care that allows us to continue to provide local access to safe, quality care."
One of the most excited members of the audience was Whitby's Mayor Pat Perkins, who has been serving as a fervent advocate for a speedy reopening of the hospital since its closure.
"The commitment and support that you're bringing to Whitby is immeasurable," she said, addressing Mr. Caplan directly, while acknowledging that the road to returning services back to the same level of quality will require continued support.
"In the interim, as you know, we are working so hard to look at what our health care needs are in Whitby and our region and you know within that period of time, we're going to be talking to you again and again, as we have in the past, about the future health care needs of our community."
The opening date of Lakeridge Health Whitby is now scheduled for September 2010 with patient care beginning in late fall of that year.
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