Windsor Mega Hospital is Officially a GO!

December 1st arrived in Windsor, Ontario with sunny skies and mild temperatures – fitting weather to welcome Ontario Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Dr. Eric Hoskins, to the Windsor-Essex-Region. Minister Hoskins was here in the Rose City (aka as the Banana Belt) to announce the official go ahead for the new Windsor-Essex Regional Hospital redevelopment project. The new mega hospital will serve over 400,000 people and will provide advanced acute care services designed to meet changing health care needs of the region’s residents.

The Minister was welcomed in the Atrium at the Windsor Regional Hospital Ouellette Campus by the Scottish Society of Windsor Pipe and Drums under the direction of Pipe Major George Kay, Pipe Sergeant Jesse Thivierge and Drum Sergeant Stu Tait.

Scores of political and civic and community leaders filled the Atrium with an exuberant anticipation of the pending announcement. The mezzanine above was packed with Hospital staff gathered to witness history being made here in this region.

The province, along with the Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network, Windsor Regional Hospital and Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare are working on early planning for the new mega hospital, urgent care and other system components. The hospital will offer a variety of programs and services including emergency department, intensive care, coronary care, cardiology, and neonatal intensive care services. These services will be finalized as the planning process moves forward.

Building new hospitals is part of Ontario’s plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change. The plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of Medicare in a generation.

Minister Hoskins stated, “Today’s announcement is an important milestone in development of a leading-edge health care facility for the Windsor region. Once built, the new Windsor-Essex Regional Hospital will greatly improve the patient experience and continue to deliver high quality care close to home.”

A beaming David Musyj, President & CEO, Windsor Regional Hospital, underscore the Minister’s comments, “The approval of a new modern facility represents a once-in-a-lifetime, major system reform that will transform hospital services in Windsor-Essex for generations to come. We are extremely grateful to Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Dr. Eric Hoskins, for their commitment to modernizing healthcare in this region.”

Musyj’s cohort, Janice Kaffer, President and CEO, Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, stressed the unified front of support from the community for this development, “The investment in bricks and mortar is just part of plans for a patient-friendly system. From the beginning, one of the best things about this project has been having everyone at the table. This includes all three hospitals in the region, the city and county, medical community, CCAC, LHIN and Hospice.”

QUICK FACTS

• Ontario is providing funding for over 2,000 additional beds and spaces across the province this year. This investment includes 20 additional beds at Windsor Regional Hospital to provide access to care and reduce wait times, whether in hospital, at home or in the community.
• Windsor Regional Hospital is one of Ontario’s largest hospitals made up of two sites. In 2016-17, there were 15,006 emergency department admissions (admitted for further care), 300,398 radiology procedures and 114,998 emergency department visits (treated and released).
• Ontario’s health care budget in 2017-18 is $53.8 billion — a 3.8 per cent increase from the previous year.
• As part of the 2017 Budget, Ontario is spending an additional $9 billion to support hospital construction projects across the province — bringing the investment in hospital infrastructure to more than $20 billion over the next 10 years.

Joe’s interview with Minister Hoskins